A Little of This, A Little of That... (Part 2)

Sooo, where was I?? haha!

Our first night as a family of 3 was wonderful. We had very little sleep, but it was still wonderful. I couldn't believe we had a teeny tiny little baby waking us up.

And as a side note...I know they say sleep when the baby sleeps. But they don't warn you that you'll want to look at baby with every squeak, wiggle, or tiny sound he makes! But anyway, moving on... :)

The next day we met B, Little Pirate's birthmom. She came into our hospital room with two of her friends. Strangely enough, the first thing that happened when she walked in the room was she looked at me and said, "Huh. You look different than your pictures." (meaning the ones from our profile book). I had no idea what to say to that!! I'm sorry? Thank you? My bad?? Yeah, I was at a loss. So I just mustered out an "Oh." followed by an awkward laugh.

But things were fine beyond that. She only stayed in our room for about five minutes. She and each of her friends held him and took a few pictures. We felt very confident about the entire process, so we told her that if she wanted to spend some time with him in her room, we were fine with that. We told her to just let the nurses know and they would come get him from our room and bring him to hers. She seemed very appreciative of this and said that her grandparents would be there later that evening and would love to meet him and take pictures. We, again, told her that of course that was fine with us and to just let the nurses know.

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Later that evening a nurse did come in our room and very nervously said, "Umm...the birthmom said she was wanting to see the baby...?" We assured her that it was fine and she took Little Pirate to B's room.

About 20 minutes later there was another knock on our door. It was B's grandparents wanting to meet us. Definitely did not see that coming! That shocked us a little. But it was a wonderful experience. They simply wanted to meet us themselves and talk to us for a few minutes.

They told us about how they raised B and how they are pretty much also raising the two children she has. The grandpa got choked up several times talking to us about how difficult this is for them, but that they know this is best. He told us that he himself is adopted, so he knows the blessing this process can be.

He also told us that he never got to meet her third child, which was the first one she placed for adoption. He was in Brazil on a mission trip when it was born. He said that the family never sends pictures to them either, so they don't really know anything about the child. Besides raising Little Pirate in a strong Christian home, his only other request was that we send pictures. We guaranteed him that we would.

After talking for a little bit he asked if he could pray with us. Umm...wow! We definitely didn't see it coming that we would meet them, but then we really didn't see it coming that he would want to pray with us. It was just so cool. He teared up through most of it and had a hard time getting his words out, but what he did say was just wonderful. We were so happy that we got to meet them.

A few minutes later B brought Little Pirate back to our room with her two children in tow. She wanted us to meet them as well. I couldn't help but stare at them and think about how they were my son's siblings. What an interesting world adoption makes.

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On Wednesday afternoon B came into our room to say goodbye to us before she was discharged from the hospital. This was the first time I saw her show any emotion. She began to tear up a little. She gave us both hugs and asked that we please keep in touch. And then she walked out the door. She left the hospital with her son in our arms. Wow. What an overwhelming feeling.

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All in all, it was a wonderful experience. It was so nice to be able to be at the hospital and have our own room with Little Pirate. I apologize to anyone who wanted to come visit and wasn't able to. We had very few visitors since B was in and out of our room, sometimes without any notice. It was just a little bit of an awkward situation, so it was better to keep it as simple as possible.

But anyway...adoption is an incredible process. I feel so blessed to be a part of this.

And now for my favorite little tidbit from all of this...

We have had Little Pirate's real name picked out for at least a year. It's the only boy name the hubs and I have ever agreed on. Well, when we got to the hospital we found out B's first and last name for the first time. Turns out that the meaning of Little Pirate's name just so happens to be a form of B's last name (hope that makes sense).

I could not believe it when I saw her last name. What a way for God to show us that He absolutely handpicked this child and situation for us. And also, what a way for her to always be a part of Little Pirate. So happy that I serve this mighty and wonderful God.

Headed home as a family of three!