Hope discharged from the hospital

Hope was discharged from the hospital today.  We were able to take her to the hotel with us, but there is still some red tape to get through before we can bring her home to Utah.  

The birth parents signed papers in the hospital reliquishing their parental rights.  The adoption agency representative said beforehand that it would be up to the birth parents whether we could remain in the room while that was happening.  Apparently, in some cases the birth parents can feel pressured or threatened by having the adoptive couple in the room.  They agreed to let us stay in the room, and it was really hard to keep from falling appart emotionally while we watched these two brave, loving people make this difficult decision.  The pain and grief behind it was shared by all in the room.  This is a great couple who are trying to do what is best for their child.  We will always love and respect them for that. 

Somehow, the Florida version of DCFS got involved through a "report" being made of Susan having given birth to a child.  This means that they had to send a representative to the hospital to check out the situation.  He showed up and was a bit confused, since due to the adoption placement there really wasn't anything for him to do.  However, since the report was made the DCFS agent has to give us a letter of "no interest" in the child's custody.  The paperwork to transfer legal custody of Hope from the agency to us cannot begin until we get that letter.  Being late in the week, we may not see that letter until early next week.  We'll just have to sit tight and see what happens.  We think we know who filed the report but it's probably best not to dwell on that, except to say that sometimes medical professionals are not always "professional."

We're sincerely hoping that we can bring Hope home within a few days.  More pictures:

Hope Marissa is born

Tuesday at 10am we got a call that Susan, our birth mother, had been sent to the hospital to be induced.  This was about two weeks prior to her scheduled due date, but the doctors saw something that suggested that Susan needed to have that baby that day.  During preparations for a normal delivery, Susan's blood pressure dropped dangerously and they proceeded with an emergency c-section.  During that transition Susan recalls hearing one of the doctors say that "they might lose one or both of them."  What a scary thing!

In the meantime I called Loren to let him know it was time to come home to pack for a trip to Florida.  However before he even got home from work, Hope Marissa was born.  She was born just minutes after the emergency c-section was started.   Apparently things were hit and miss for both mother and child for a time, but thankfully both are doing very well at the moment.  Hope weighed in at 5 pounds 14 ounces, and measured 18 1/2 inches long.   So she's much smaller and shorter than any of our other children (or Susan's) were.  We are eternally grateful that neither of them were lost during this experience and thank heaven for wise and well-trained doctors and nurses. 

Loren and I scrambled to pack, make arrangements to watch the kids and make travel plans on the spur of the moment.  We ended up traveling from Salt Lake to Tampa, FL via three separate flights: first to Vegas, then to Houston, then finally to Tampa.  What should have been a 4 1/2 hour trip ended up taking about 14 hours.  That's what happens when you have to do this kind of stuff at the last minute.  I definitely have decided that trying to sleep on a plane (or on the airport floor) is not advisable.  We left Salt Lake at about 8:20pm on Tuesday and arrived in Tampa at 11am on Wednesday.  Despite being exhausted, the first thing we wanted to do was to see Hope and Susan.  After quickly freshening up, we went to the hospital and spent several talking with Susan, and of course holding Hope.  Meeting Susan was a bit unexpected, because we were told that she probably would not want to have contact with us.  However, when we arrived in Tampa and called the agency, we were told that Susan and John (the birth father) were waiting to meet us.  Unfortunately, by the time we made it to the hospital, John had left for work, so we are planning on going back to meet with him this evening. 

Anyway, on to what you were expecting to see in this post: PICTURES!

We also had some "professional" pictures taken by the hospital photographer, and we bought a package that included the four cutest poses.  Between the two of us, Loren got to change the first dirty diaper and as you can see I got the first feeding. 

So far it seems like Hope is a very calm baby.  Susan says she only crys when she's hungry or needs a diaper change.  Sure enough, while we were there she started crying and both things were needed.  Hope will probably be released from the hospital tomorrow.  After that, we're not sure what's next. 

We have lots more pictures to share, but that will have to wait because the red eye flight is finally starting to catch up with us.  We're going to crash at the hotel until it's time to go back to the hospital this evening.  More to follow.

Hope was born yesterday around 11 o'clock. She weighs 5 pounds and 14 ounces.

Parker's 6th Birthday

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY PARKER!!!
    Parker woke up at 6:15 ready to open presents.  We were going to get up early any how so Braden could be there when Parker opened them.  But wow that was early.  Ethan was so excited about the present that he got for him that he started to open it himself.  We stopped him and he was kind of embarassed but he'll servive.  He quickly handed it to Parker to open.  It was Lego Indianna Jones for the Wii.  They had plenty of time to play it before school.   Parker had a party with a few of his friends after school.           

                                                                   

       Eat Cake!! and icecream. This is the part they all like the best

Play a shoe game and a bell game.  Then the really fun penny in the flour game.  This was a blast.       What a FUN day!

Playing cars after the party.  They all help build the track and maked the cars go.