Well Andy wasn't kidding in his last blog about us being parents!! 4 days after he wrote that blog our little girl, Samantha Janell, was born. First of all....she wasn't supposed to be born for another 2 weeks. Second of all...she wasn't supposed to be a she at all! Sara had an ultrasound that indicated a baby boy! That technician needs to be fired! Thursday the 29th of July I got a call around 5 pm from Sara telling me that I was a mom! I was in complete shock and insisted that she was kidding and playing a cruel joke on me. Her story was just too unbelievable....an early baby, a girl instead of a boy, and she delivered in her bathroom at home!!! Come to find out, she wasn't kidding! She gave birth at home around 11.30 am and she and baby Sam were taken to the hospital by fire truck! Our little girl sure has a great story to tell. She was 9 lbs 5 oz and our little chunk is now 2 months old and 11 lbs 8 oz!!!
Andy and I flew to Utah the next morning and drove straight from the airport to the hospital to meet Sara and Samantha. Sara was so sweet and handled the whole situation so well. Samantha was a beautiful baby that didn't look like a newborn! She never looked like a newborn but rather a month old baby! We suspect she wasn't in fact early, but late in her arrival. There were some complications simply from timing since all of our paperwork hadn't been approved yet. We weren't going to be able to take Samantha home with us right away or even take custody of her until some things were done. Our amazing lawyer stepped in and managed to get a judge to sign an order on a Friday afternoon to allow us to take custody of her for the time being. We were very relieved and grateful. We didn't want to stay in a foster home with people we didn't know as we began our parenting journey. We felt much better that we were going to my parent's home to stay until all of the other paperwork was done. We weren't sure how long that was going to take and it ended up taking a lot longer than we thought. Poor Andy couldn't stay in Utah with us forever so he had to go home to work which made all of us sad. He was able to come back for a weekend but sadly missed the majority of his baby's first month of life. I was in Utah for a whole month before being able to fly home to New Jersey with Samantha. It was a long wait, but as I look back I'm so grateful for the help that my mom and sisters gave me. And so, Samantha and I flew home August 27th.
Those are the main details of how we became parents. There was a lot more involved and Andy may add some things into it, but now I'll just jot down some of my feelings about it all. We weren't expecting to be parents so quickly and while I thought I was ready for it....I don't think you can ever be totally ready for the life-changing event that it is. You suddenly forget all about yourself and you forget your needs and your whole life is wrapped up into this little, pooping, crying, eating, fussing, adorable infant. I had a rough first couple of days coming to terms with the whole adoption. I felt so horrible for Sara. I felt like I had stolen something from her. She never gave me any indication that she felt that way, but that's how I felt. I broke down one night and so I received a blessing from Andy with the help of my dad. I felt a lot better after that. I still thought of Sara everyday and I still do. She is an amazing girl.
