Friday, May 12, 2006

The Adoption Chronicles: The Birth

Today, I didn’t go into work. Lara and I went to St. Mary’s Hospital to hopefully witness the birth of our new son. We spent almost the whole day there; I can’t even explain how lucky we are to be here I doubt that many adoptive parents get this chance. I worked on a blanket that I was crocheting for the little guy. Nikki, her Mom, and her Sister, along with Lara and I were there all day. With me crocheting I was just like one of the girls. It was good to be able to spend that much time with Nikki. We mostly just talked all day about things. Nikki really doesn’t love the name Roe. She wants to name the baby Bryson. So it was a little awkward every once in a while because Lara or I would refer to him as Roe, and Nikki would refer to him as Bryson. A couple of times it was almost like a competition, as though the last one who said the name would get to be right. After lunch Lara and I talked about it and decided we would just call him Bryson. We decided that this was Nikki’s time with him. After spending the day with them I felt certain that this was going to go off without a hitch. Nikki was induced sometime in the morning, but it was taking forever. But after being there all day she finally went into labor… I remember “The Simpson’s” were on the TV, and Lara stood and held one of Nikki’s legs. Nikki had invited me to watch the actual birth, but I wasn’t really comfortable seeing what one see’s when they witness a birth. I was fine just being in the room, not able to see all the gory details. I sat off to the side; there was a lot of commotion, a lot of coaching from the Doctor. Nikki was in pain, but it wasn’t anything like what they show on TV. It happened pretty fast, it was very much a blur. I first saw Roe amidst a forest of adult arms and legs. I stood up to actually see. His tiny gray body seemed lifeless to me, and for a moment I was very concerned, I thought he was dead. The doctor massaged his body violently, I remember thinking if Roe wasn’t dead he would be they way they were handling him… but to my surprise he suddenly started to cry. And his teeny body turned flesh colored really fast. The nurses quickly cleaned him up and Lara got to cut the umbilical cord. They put him in a little tray, and then I’m not sure what happened for the next little while. Lara and I stood there watching him and we both cried. It was… literally, it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. This little person just like came to life. He hardly cried at all, he was wide eyed and just contently looking around. The sensation was overwhelming. I was able to collect my emotions, and notice Lara had already stopped crying. We didn’t say a lot, we just smiled at each other. I got to hold him a little while later. I was nervous, he seemed so fragile, and I was afraid he would cry once I had him or something, but it went really well. Nikki hogged him though, and I can’t blame her for that. We left about an hour ago (8:00pm) and even knowing that he is over in the hospital makes this possibly the most surreal night of our marriage. Nikki is going to keep him at the Hospital as long as her insurance will allow, which means till Tuesday morning. The plan for now is that we will be taking him home then. We did it!

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