Katelynn was born in the wee hours of the morning. We had very little sleep but her birthmother did not want the baby to go into the nursery. I promised her I wouldn't do that, so....she stayed with us! It was a crash course in parenting!
We also promised that we would stay in the hospital until both birthmother and baby were released. At first the hospital had a hotel feel about it. After the second day I was ready to leave. It is so difficult to stay at the hospital when you are not sick or hurt. But, we were troopers and we stuck it out for the 3 days of recovery for birthmother. She was giving me a tremendous gift -- the chance to be called a mom -- how could I not keep these small promises?
Each day brought more visitors. My husband and I danced between both rooms showing off the baby when visitors came and learning to care for her during the down time. It was such an amazing experience to get to meet so many members from both birthfamilies.
It is interesting because these introductions to other members of these families made everyone much more secure with the choice of adoption for Katelynn. They were able to meet us and see that we aren't bad people who are trying to steal a baby away. We were able to explain that we just want to give Katelynn a different kind of family -- a "mega-family" of sorts. We want to surround her with love from her birthfamilies and adoptive families. An adoption plan doesn't have to be good-bye forever to the birthfamily. It just means more people to love a child.
This truly is how adoption is meant to be.
As we prepared to leave on that final day (which took especially long because of the nurses' strike), there were many tears from us all. If only we could live in this little utopia forever -- just across the hall from one another, sharing our love for this little girl. But, life has to go on and we all needed to take a step into the next chapter of our lives.
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