Adoption Story --- Part 13

In case you missed anything:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
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Friday afternoon we went to the agency again. This time we were meeting Michelle and her mom. Micayla came with us so they could meet her, she didn’t stay the whole time just about 15 minutes – then my mom came to pick her up.

When Michelle came in she immediately started to cry. She was so cute and so nervous. She asked us a couple of times, “Are you sure you want my baby?” Of course we were sure. We chatted with them for almost 2 hours – but the time went so quickly. We made plans to meet again in 2 weeks.

During the weeks before the baby was born we exchanged several letters with her. From reading her letters we could tell that she had had a difficult childhood. Her parents had been divorced for many years. There had been abuse, mental breakdowns, and foster care in her past.

The next time we met we brought her favorite flavor of ice cream and she brought us a game that she and her family liked to play. We talked for a little while and then we sat around a big conference table and she kicked our butts at the game.

We met 2 more times before the baby was born. We chatted laughed and she helped me tease Matt. We really bonded with her. She told us time and time again that we were what she wishes that she would have had growing up.

The final time that we saw her she was in a lot of pain. She was having contractions and the visit was cut short because her mom had to take her to the hospital. It was a false alarm but we were worried about her.

On September 2^nd we got a phone call from our caseworker telling us that the baby would be born on Labor Day, the 5^th, via c-section. Michelle wanted to make sure we knew and that we were ready. Since it was a c-section they would be in the hospital until Thursday.

On September 5^th Matt, Micayla and I were all a little under the weather. We had colds. It was also the day of Hurricane Katrina. We decided that we wanted Jamba Juice but we also didn’t want to be away from the phone. I went with the promise from Matt that he would call my cell phone if he heard anything. He didn’t call me. When I walked in the house I just figured that we hadn’t heard yet. I sat down by him and he looked at me and said “7lbs 8 oz.” We wept.

To be continued..................