How the adoption played out

After getting the call that he was on his way. We called the travel agency and got everything put together. We had a 7 PM flight out of Logan. We went to see Grammy at the rehab in NH (we had a nice visit with her and told her that J was in labor and we'd be flying out tonight...she was so happy for us) This was the last time we saw or spoke to her :o(
Once we left the rehab we stopped at Panera to eat (C,F and Josh and I) when there I decided I should check the home messages via cell phone. There was 5 of them...yikes! It was so loud in there it was hard to hear them, Josh had to go get a pen from someone who works at Panera and I was writing #'s on a napkin, lol!
Our SW called and said that J was 5 cm dialated and had an epidural that it would prob. be another 4 to 5 hrs. I can't remember the order of the calls, but there were 2 more from our SW, one or 2 from J's Mom and one from our Facilitator. I believe it was the second call from our SW that said it's a boy! That he had arrived. OMG!
I went outside of the restaurant and called J and spoke to her. I asked her if we should still come down and she said yes. Her Mom said if anything changes she'd call me. When we got home we ordered her some flowers off line. We took out our girl outfit/stuff from the luggage and put in some more blue.
When we arrived at the airport I called J and spoke to her briefly then I called and spoke with her Mom (while standing at the baggage claim).We were in our hotel at 2:30 AM NV time(I believe). We were awoken at 5 AM with a call from J's Mom saying that the baby was transferred to another hospital due to something electrical wrong with his heart (no other info). Her Mom then tried calling for more info, but they wouldn't give it to her till she went in to see J sometime after 7 AM.
We found out later that he was in a level 3 NICU and had a partial heart block.
We met with J and her Mom at 10 AM at the hospital were the baby was born at. We gave her her New England bag of stuff we put together for her and she ate the taffy(she got d/c while we were there and we followed them over to the other hosp. to see the baby. J and her Mom went in to see him 1st then Josh and I joined them...OMG! What an adorable little boy we saw in that incubator!!
We visited him all tog. for a while then headed off. Josh and I returned that night and got to hold him and I got to feed him his bottle (they tried nippling him that afternoon and he did wonderfully. He was taking about 1.5 ounces at first and then 2, upon his d/c he was taking 2 to 2.5 oz and soon after d/c 2.5 to 3 oz). He had been on oxygen and an IV and in a heating bed. His o2 was gone that evening. We'd watch his heart rate, resps. and o2 sat on the monitors. His heart rate would drop to the 60's/70's at rest (later on his lows would be high 70's/80's), resps down to 18/20 and o2 to 89/90, but he'd bring all his numbers right back up again and was never in any distress. His heart was structurally sound and there wasn't anything else wrong with him. The doctors told us they believe he should out grow it. We visited him again the next morning and stayed with him for a while, left and came back that night. I can't recall exactly when right now (I do have it written down though), but he graduated to no heating bed then no IV, to an normal newborn isolette, etc... We shopped at the Carters outlet and got him his NICU outfit (they had put him in a donated onesie and hat). We also stopped off at the hospital gift shop and bought him a stuffed/beanbag Golden Ret. puppy for company for him. We ended up rooming in with him on the night of the 12-30-08 (I didn't get any sleep that night with the monitor going off due to a loose wire or low #'s). We went home the next morning and showered and relaxed and then got the OK to return for his d/c home. On our way home with him we stopped off to get some groceries, then home to the hotel. We did lots of venturing out each day. We saw J again at 9:30/10 AM the day of the surrender signing (Tues...72 hrs post birth) (we picked her and her Mom up)it took over 2 hrs. After we hugged and I gave her her gift. We went to lunch and over to see the baby. The next time we saw her we brought Joel over to see her daughter. Then we saw her again the day we left (briefly...15 mins or so) for her to say goodbye.
Joel saw both a pedi. (great heart rate and o2)out there on the 5th and the cardiologist on the 7th (normal EKG and Echo. The Cardiologist told us that both EKG and ECHO were perfect and that for whatever reason he had the partial heart block it is gone now and that there would be no reason for him to need to be followed by a Cardiologist at home...WOW! What an amazing little guy you are Joel!
Then we went back to our hotel and packed the car for the airport.
We headed home!
I don't think I ever posted his birth stats...He was:
6 lbs, 3 ounces (down to 5. 14 (I believe) in the NICU and d/c at 6 lbs
19 1/4 long
his hc was 13 at his pedi appt. on 1-5-09.

Post from DM
52073.1

Hi all!

I got a chance to hop on the computer at the hotel. We are so enjoying our little boy :o)

Thanks everyone for all your support and prayers.

His birth/ adoption story:

His Bmom called us bright and early on Sat. morning 12-27-08. She thought she was in labor and was heading to the hospital. We talked with her Mom shortly after and her mom stated that she was spotting and cramping/uncomfortable. They decided to induce labor. We got a call from our SW a few hours later saying J had gotten an epidural and was about 5 cm that it would be about 4-5 hours. The next call announced he had arrived. I spoke with J a little while after that and asked her how she was doing and if she still wanted us to come out to NV. She of course said yes. She said she named him Bryan and he was 6.3 and 19 1/4 inches long.

We arrived in our room at the hotel in Las Vegas around 1 am. Since then it has been a whirl wind.

We got a call Sunday at 5 am from J's Mom saying that the baby was having heart issues (electrical) and was transferred to another hospital in the area (to a level 3 NICU).

We met J and her Mom at 10 am on Sunday at the hospital. She gave us a card that she had written a beautiful note in for us and a letter she had written for her baby boy. She also gave us a little outfit for the baby as a gift. While we were there visiting she got discharged. We all went over to the other hospital to see the baby.

BTW: We thank God that there was such a wonderful children's hospital in the area. This place was truely a gift for him. It had a level 3 NICU with capacity for 70 babies, so much love and care from the nurses. All the nurses, docotors and staff were so incredibly nice and supportive to us (which could go either way in the event of adoption).

The instant we saw him in his incubator we fell in love. He was so precious!

All the while we felt terrified that he might not become ours, but enjoyed every moment with him, rubbing his tiny head, hands and body. He was in his incubator surrounded by DH, myself, his Bmom and Bgrandmother...you could definately feel how loved this little guy was.

DH and I visited him again that evening and again early the next morning, we stayed with him almost the entire day and would return in the evening after shift change and be back bright and early.

Tuesday morning @ 9:30 am we picked up J and her Mom and headed to the adoption agency where after 2 hours of paper work J had relinquished her rights to her son and we signed to make him ours. OMG what an amazing moment. J was so confident that day, so confident in her decision and in herself, happier then we had ever known her to be. We told her how proud we were of her afterwards and gave her a white gold neckace with the December birth stone in the shape of a tear drop with little diamonds all around it and a card expressing all our feelings for her and our little boy. The 4 of us went out to lunch and then over to see the baby.

He was DX with partial heart block. Which has to do with the elecrical impulses in his heart sometimes not firing right. He may out grow it, we will have to wait and see. Some children end up needing a pace maker type device at some point. He has so far impressed everyone in how well he is doing. Basically he has a very slow resting heart rate which in turn lowers his respirations and 02, but when they do go down he brings them up so quickly he doesn't cause and concern.

The nurses arranged for us to stay over (room in with him) on Tuesday night. What a night...he was great, but the monitors he was hooked up too were awful. I didn't get any sleep because the leads kept coming unattached or caught up on something and sounding alarms which resulted in me lying there staring at the screen. A few times his heart rate, respirations or oxygen would drop enough to sound the alarms, but as always he brought them all back up with out any distress.

Each day in the NICU he progressed from incubator to open bed, to having his 02 removed the second day, nippling well, his heating bed turned off, IV out and into a regular newborn isolette (spelling). We were so proud of his daily accomplishments.

He had his carseat test Wednesday morning and we went back to our hotel to get ready for him. He was discharged later that afternoon.

He has been awesome! He is such a sweet baby. Crying when hungry and eating like a champ. He was taking 1.5 to 2 oz when out of the NICU and is now taking 2 oz- usually 3 oz every 2.5 to 3 hours. Sleeping great too :o)

We have bundled him up and headed out yesterday and today to see all the sigts of Las Vegas. He has slept the entire time in his carseat/stroller. He is definately used to sounds and commotion, LOL!

Well, since I have been mostly awake since getting here last weekend I am exhausted.

As of now Joel has got two DR. appointments next week. A regular pedi appt. and a f/u with his cardiologist. We are being told that the earliest we may return home may be Wed. of next week.

OMG, this ended up being so long. DH is waiting here for me laying on the couch in the hotel lobby with Joel. So got to run.

Thanks for reading Joel Bryans story. (Joel is the name DH and I chose and his Bmom chose Bryan).

We will be meeting with J and her daughter tomorrow morning so her daughter can meet her little brother (she is 7 years old).

I am sure I probably missed something, but...

We are so looking forward to getting him home and having him meet our family and share pictures with everyone. My Grandma is doing worse so we pray constantly that she remains with us all to meet him.

Jill

In Vegas so no sig ;o)