So, our son's birthmom who from now on I will refer to as N was due August 31st. In anticipation of her going into labor, my mom came to stay with us a few weeks before that. We were simply waiting to get 'the call'. It was stressful in a lot of ways because we had to be ready to go at any moment. N mentioned to me on the 26th she didn't think it would be happening anytime soon because she didn't feel anything to indicate she was close. I mentioned to her that perhaps her water would just break one day. She said she hoped that would be so.
I took advantage of the fact that my mom was here, and on the 27th I went for coffee with a friend. We had a great visit and as I said my goodbyes, I checked my phone as I always do before I headed for home. There was a text message from N, saying she thought her water just broke! Even though I was hoping for this, I was shocked. I quickly called Jim and told him it was time! I got home quickly and we started to make plans. We all sort of divided and conquered. My mom played with Nathan while I looked at flights and Jim started packing. The 27th was a Saturday so there was exactly one flight, that connected in Chicago, on all the airlines that had seats available and would still fly out Saturday afternoon. We booked our tickets, finished packing and called a cab to bring us to the airport. The taxi took forever, and I was worried we were going to miss our flight. We got there in plenty of time and soon learned our first flight was slightly delayed. There was still about an hour between flights so we were going to be ok. As we got through security and got to the gate we heard an announcement that our flight was going to be further delayed. That it was going to land when our connecting flight was supposed to take off. I went to lady at the gate desk and asked what we should do. She told me that we should still go to Chicago that often flights are delayed there too and we still had a shot of making it. So we took her advice and got on the flight.
We soon realized we would have little to no chance of getting on the plane. It didn't help that our connecting flight was 2 concourses away. Just in case that plane was delayed, we came up with a game plan. Jim would grab Nathan and my mom and I would run ahead and try to get to the gate as soon as possible. Well, I got off the plane and started running. As I was running, I took a glance at the departures listed on the big sign and our flight info stated it was already departed. So, I slowed down. We were not going to get to Florida that day. We rebooked our flight for the following morning on yet another connecting flight. The plane was going to get us there at 2 p.m. But, for Saturday, we were stuck in Chicago. We were flying out at 7 am the next morning so it didn't make sense for Jim's family who live in the area to come get us as it was already late. We stayed at the hotel connected to the airport. We found out our luggage was at O'Hare but we did not have access to it. So we would have to make due with just our carry on's for the night. In our rushing that morning, I didn't pack an extra outfit in the diaper bag for Nathan (I ALWAYS have one in there but took it out a few days before because it was getting small on him) and all of our pajamas, toothbrushes etc were in our luggage. We had a pack n play but it was also checked. Thankfully, the hotel was nice and accomodated us with a pack n play and we were able to buy Nathan an extra outfit.
None of us slept well that night, as N was still in labor. Every hour or so I would check my phone for updates. It was so frustrating. We managed to get ready in the morning, and despite the lack of sleep everyone was ready to go. We were in the security line when I got a picture of Jacob sent by birthdad with the words "He's here". The picture was him still all full of gunk from birth but we could see right away he had a lot of gorgeous black hair. I turned to Jim to tell him that our baby was born when I hear "Ma'am! Ma'am! You need to get your double stroller weighed. You cannot take it through security" We were travelling with a double stroller as we would need it on the way back. I had never been to an airport where you could not take a double stroller through security, but at O'Hare I guess you cannot. And, this lady ruined our moment of celebration. We had to stop everything, get out of line, get our stroller weighed and since it weighed too much, check it. We now had to carry Nathan through the airport as well as all of our carry on luggage. We got back in line and managed to finally get excited that we had a new baby. We were upset though that, unlike Nathan's birth, we were not there for the first hours of Jacob's life. N and birthdad were really good at keeping us informed though.
We had an uneventful flight(s) to Jacksonville and got to the hospital about 4p.m. and finally got to meet our precious Jacob. Jacob briefly got to meet his brother, but poor Nathan was so tired from the whole ordeal that he just wanted to go and nap. My mom and Nathan stayed at the hospital for a little while and then we drove them back to the hotel and came back.
We were extremely fortunate that we were able to come back home after only 2 weeks away. While we were in Florida, there was a hurricane that basically only created a lot of wind by the time it reached Jacksonville. But, it really hit Tallahassee hard, which is where the offices are that process the paperwork we needed to wait for in order to come back were located. Our lawyer told us to expect to be there quite awhile because the offices were closed and they weren't sure when they would reopen. We were ready to be there for the long haul, but we got back in the same amount of time as we did for Nathan's adoption. We were so blessed.
These first few weeks have been great with the two boys, but I know once my mom leaves that the real work will begin. Jacob has been a really great, laid back baby so far. He only cries when he has gas or is hungry and is generally pretty happy. He has done stretches of 5 hours sleep at night and has not yet gotten his days and nights mixed up. All of this is helping make our lives a bit easier as we feel fairly rested. Nathan is adjusting ok. He, for the most part, ignores Jacob. But when he does want to interact he doesn't really get that Jacob is little and he needs to be gentle. That will be a work in progress.
We cannot thank God enough for the blessing these two boys have brought to our lives and our family. We are done with adoption now, and are fairly certain our family is complete. We couldn't have imagined a more perfect family.
No comments:
Post a Comment