Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Adoption not final quite yet and Baptism pic!

Our sweet Mary Jacinta, or MJ as we have been calling her is doing so very well thanks be to God. Her iv is gone, she is on room air at 21% with tiny tubing in her nose, she is up to 20ccs or 4 teaspoons of breast milk every 3 hours, and she has had no signs of apnea (when she quits breathing as alot of preemies do) and her brain scan yesterday was clear of bleeds. The nurses are all in love with her, as you can clearly see why in these precious pictures below, as are we. I asked DH last night if he thought he would be in love with our adopted baby as soon as he was. He said, "No, I thought it made take a few days, but it took me about a second." I feel the same way. We are so very blessed.

The birthmom has not signed the paperwork yet. We met last Thursday and there were a couple things wrong on the paperwork: her last name and the fact that we are not adopting a "well baby" they have to change it to a preemie who may or may not have developmental delays at some point. So we planned to meet Monday, but they didn't show up at the lawyer's office. I panicked, I sobbed, I was an emotional wreck. Our lawyer assured us she is not backing out or changing her mind. Her step father, who is the only one of them that speaks English, is running the show and he is scared to sign the paperwork until he hears from Medicare or Medicaid that they will be covering MJ's medical bills for the next several weeks. He is deathly afraid of being stuck with all her bills. I had the social worker call him to assure him that the adoption would not in any way discredit her from this benefit - it is a given due to her weight and the fact that the birthmom is indegent and has no insurance on the baby. He is taking the BM to the Medicaid office today or tomorrow to try to get an answer and then he said he is ready to sign.

I wrote our lawyer last night after leaving the hopsital saying that we are ready to sign NOW. I understand the stepdad's concerns, but we can hold the paperwork from filing, just get her name on the line. I should hear back from him this afternoon. I am so ready to tell my students and everyone that we are her parents officially!!!

The BM saw her once immediately after the C section, the day of discharge when she brought down breast milk for her, and also last Sunday when she brought more milk for her. I was concerned at first that she is pumping for a baby she is not keeping, but when we met last week she said she knows it is so important for preemies to get the antibodies from breastmilk and she wants to do this as long as we will let her. DH and I were a WRECK that day. We were all crying, all trying to make decisions for the best for this sweet little girl. DH and I want this adoption quite open now after spending so much time with BM and the family over the past week which is so strange when originally I wanted to adopt from Colombia because I wanted no contact with the birth family. She tearfully asked if we would be willing to send pictures and emails with updates as well as letting her see her maybe in the future. She emailed Sunday night asking for pictures of her baptism if that doesn't trouble us to much. I go from feeling sadness for her, to anxiety to have papers signed, to immense joy when we are with her every night in the NICU.



My sweet 1st grade nephew just brought me his journal entry to read. His teacher Sister Margaret Sue sent him to my room after she checked it as she knew I would love to see it. How precious?


Mommy, Daddy, and Tiny (as one of my best friends call her)


Our dear preist, Fr. B came to baptize her last week. One of the most emotional times of our lives! They gave her a gown donated by a sewing circle and we were able to keep it after the ceremony.


Awake before feeding!


My very favorite picture. She is everything to us!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Meet Mary Jacinta !!

Here she is - strong and fighting!! We met with the hospital social worker this morning and the BM told her to give us access so we were able to go to the nicu and see her alone. It was VERY emotional at first and shocking to see her so teeny tiny, but after the initial emotions and fear, we didn't want to leave. I didn't know I could fall in love so easily and quickly.

Her nurse and the nicu doctor said she is tolerating food very well, has good urine output, is breathing well, and we could expect to bring her home in 4-6 weeks! They said the don't foresee any serious problems and that she is very strong, she just needs to get bigger and gain weight.

They still are doing a brain scan in 9 days and said anything can happen but that she is doing extremely well, better than they expected before she arrived ( crying and breathing on her own straight outta the womb ;)

I'll update more later but thanks for the prayers and keep em coming!!!!! They are working!!!!

What about that hair!! Love it ;)





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Monday, August 8, 2011

Home study anxiety !!

After many days of gathering information for the home study like biographies, bank statements, IRS info, etc we are finally ready to begin the interviews that will allow us to bring our Mary Jacinta home!!

We also had some unexpected costs, dogs' shot records up to date and DH'S Physical to name a couple, but we are up and running with the home study! I turned in the mountain of initial paperwork, minus the fingerprinting and FBI background check that we will do this month on our own, and the social worker at a local adoption agency wrote me back today saying that Thursday was great for our first joint interview. I am leaving school a tad early and DH will meet me at the agency and I am NERVOUS AND ANXIOUS ;)

Calling all adoptive parents out there..... Can you give me an inkling of what the heck we are going to be asked? What do we need to be prepared for?

Any information is greatly appreciated ;)


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