Enjoying our baby girl

I'm so sorry for the long delay in posting. First, there was the fact that we were living in a hotel for a week, and then we got home and it took about a week to get settled and on a schedule. Then, I was having a debate about whether or not to create a separate private blog to keep the families updated (I did). This blog will continue to be about our journey with our open adoption, but I will try to add a few other things from time to time. And here we are and a month has passed. I can't believe it. Our baby girl will have a nickname on here because I am still trying to feel out my comfort level with the whole online situation. We will call her Kbear until/unless I think of something else.  : )

Kbear was born on May 12, and it was a whirlwind. We are still in a bit of shock, I think. We had gotten into town the night before because A was going to be induced on the 12th. I texted A to let her know we made it to our hotel, and she said that was good since she was having pains. It was a long night for everyone, with me texting A and her sister and friend at various times. I think Mike is the only one who got any sleep (military training to sleep when you can!). We went up to the hospital at 5:30 a.m. on the 12th and met up with A's sister and got to step into the room to say hello to A and P. Then we were all just waiting. We met P's sister for the first time and spent most of the day with her in the waiting room. We also met A's mother. They were all so welcoming to us. We have definitely all become part of a much larger family now.

I was nervous to talk to any of the nurses about our adoption situation, but I wasn't sure if A had been able to speak with the social worker. I wanted to make sure they were taking care of A and following her wishes. I finally got up the nerve to go speak to a nurse and they couldn't have been more wonderful. They followed up to make sure the social worker had been to see A, and they answered my questions about how A was doing.

Kbear was being a bit stubborn, so we just kept hanging out in the waiting room. At one point a nurse poked her head in and said that A told them I could wait outside the room during the birth and to follow her. I was stunned for a second and Mike asked what was going on. I said, "I think they mean right now." Once Kbear was born, she was taken to the room across the hallway, and I got to follow.

Here I am holding Kbear when she is just 10 minutes old. I barely remember this moment so I'm glad we have a picture! I just had so many emotions running through me, it was a bit of a blur.

Again the nurses were fabulous. We got to follow Kbear to the nursery and I was present for her first bath, a vaccination, a hearing test, and her first feeding. The staff asked if we wanted a room to stay overnight, and they even ordered our meals. Other than Kbear staying in the nursery that night for about 6 hours (we had to get some sleep), we've been with her ever since.   : )  We were released after 24 hours, so we then got settled into our hotel.  We were quite excited to realize that Wal.mart was right next door!


I'll end this post with a couple of pictures.

Kbear at 3 days old:

And Kbear at 1 month old:

We are quite smitten.