the birth story, part 3

On Tuesday morning, March 2nd, we found out that C was going to be discharged from the hospital that day. We went to Wal-Mart and got some photos printed to give to her, and I wrote her a card to go along with her gift, and off we went to the hospital. When we arrived, a staff person from the adoption agency was already there in the room, visiting with C and admiring the baby. We stayed in there all together for awhile, chatting and getting instructions from nurses who came in and out of the room, then the social worker from the agency (we’ll call her A) told us that C was ready to sign papers and we could wait in the waiting room and then she’d come and find us. So, once again, we went to the little waiting room and sat. We ran out to the car to get our gift for C and some paperwork we didn’t know if we’d need or not, and then we waited some more. This morning when we woke up, we thought that C would be in the hospital for another day of recovery, so this suddenly seemed very real very fast. This was really happening! After what seemed like forever (as well it should), A showed up at the waiting room with a stack of papers for us to sign. While we were in the midst of our own stack of paperwork, there was a bit of a kerfuffle with a miscommunication with the hospital staff, but that was eventually sorted out. Finally, all papers were signed.

We returned to the room where C was hanging out with the baby, holding him and talking to him. In addition to the photos at Wal-Mart, I’d also purchased a pink tote bag to put our gift in (why buy another paper bag when the fabric one–infinitely reusable–was only a few dollars more?). I was holding the bag (with the gift and a card inside) when we came into the room and C said, “cute bag!” (whew, she liked it!) and I said, “oh! this is for you! Would you like me to open it since you’ve got your hands full?” she agreed, so I took out the gift to show it to her.

I had made her a quilt to match the one I made for Gabriel. Only the “story” on her quilt starts out with her and ends with us (instead of the other way around) because this quilt is HER story. I briefly explained the concept of the story, but didn’t go into all of the symbolism because I’d explained it in the card so that she could read it later and because we were already all feeling pretty emotional. I started crying when I was telling her about the quilt (and also showing her the one I’d made for Gabriel so she could see how they matched) and that started her crying a few tears and she said, “Look at what you made me do! This is the first time I’ve cried!” (but I don’t think she was really angry).

“A” took some pictures of us all together with each of our cameras and then we gathered our things, ready to go. As we were leaving, the nurses asked us to wait for a pediatrician to come give us some instructions, so we trooped BACK into the tiny hospital room and sat and waited. Finally, the doctor arrived and gave us some basic baby care instructions (that we pretty much already knew) and some things to watch for and some things that might happen that were normal (which we also pretty much already knew) and asked us to come back next week sometime for his one-week check-up. And then? We were ready to go. A nurse brought a wheelchair for C (standard protocol) and we all went to the front desk and checked out.

We all left the hospital at the same time. “A” was going to take C home, and before she got in the car, C came over to say goodbye to the baby. He was all strapped into his car seat and his little hand was up by his face, fingers splayed wide and it totally looked like he was waving. She pulled the sunshade of the seat up a little higher because she thought it was a little chilly for him. She said her goodbyes and then took his quilt and draped it over the seat so that he wouldn’t get cold. Then, she got into A’s car and we went to our car and by the time we were all settled into our places in our vehicle, the other two were already gone.

We drove back to the hotel and I kept peeking under the blanket to see if he was really there. He really was. When we got back to the hotel, I snapped a photo of J holding him and sent it to C to let her know we’d all arrived safely. Such a long journey, but we have finally arrived safely.