Sorry it took so long, but here it is…
While I waited for DJ to get home I started getting everything ready to head to the hospital. Luckily since the last false alarm we had everything washed, put away in nice little bins and ready to go. Getting the diaper bag ready to go was the easy part, getting me ready to go was crazy!! It took me forever to figure out what to wear! Seems silly now, but I just had no clue. I wanted to look nice, but not too nice. Luckily my friend Adrienne was there to keep me sane (while she cleaned my house – Thank you Ade!!!!)
Once DJ was home and Mackenzie was picked up from school we were ready to head to the hospital. It was a very surreal drive. We headed up to Winnie Palmer and met with Michelle, the director of our Adoption Agency. We got a quick background on the birthparents and a rundown on how the rest of the evening would go. Then we got our hospital stickers and headed on up. Walking into the hospital room was such an amazing and overwhelming experience. We were lucky to meet both Avery’s birthmother (ABM) and birthfather (ABF) and spend some time talking to them and getting to know one another.
ABM asked me if I wanted to hold her so I did. She then asked Mackenzie if she was excited to be a big sister. In true Mackenzie fashion she said “I’m already a big sister.” It was comforting to know that since they had read our profile book there was no need to explain :@) We sat with them for awhile and I’m proud to say that I did not breakdown crying like I was afraid I would. We took some pictures together and then left to give them some time to say their goodbyes. I will confess that I did breakdown crying right before we left the room. I just couldn’t contain the overwhelming sense of greatfulness that I felt. I tried to express it and hopefully it came across.
After we left we then had to wait for the hospital social worker to handle the discharge paperwork. We learned that she had been called to Arnold Palmer to handle an emergency and we would have to wait. We decided to head down to the cafeteria where amazingly, part of our church family was waiting having just visited another member of our church who had their son the previous day. We ate some dinner, hung out and answered Mackenzie’s endless requests to “Please go get my baby sister.” We were finally able to go back up and start the discharge process.
They brought Avery to the nursery and we changed her into her going-home outfit (the same outfit Mackenzie and I both wore) and wrapped her in her blanket. We headed down the elevator to the lobby. Amazingly, Jack’s nurse, Brie, was working and was able to meet us in the lobby. It was at that moment that it really struck us that we were leaving Winnie Palmer with a baby. We got Avery loaded up and headed for home.
I’m sure that I missed many details as much of the night was a blur. We are settling into life as a family of four. It’s still amazing to think that we have a new daughter. She currently has her days and nights mixed up but is getting better. I'll get some new pictures posted soon.
Post again soon,
~Jeny
