We are Home!

It has been a couple of days since we have posted, but that doesn't mean we haven't had some memorable moments occurring! :)  We found out on Monday, that Mommy D had come back to the hospital and tried to get in to NICU to see Jaydon.  Praise the Lord they did not let her!  She ended up waiting in the waiting room, and had to be escorted by security to the ER.  She was complaining of being in pain.  Thankfully by the time we got there, she was no longer there.  I kept feeling like I should watch my back though.  When we got back to Jaydon's station, we found a note from Mommy D, saying that she was having a rough time, and that we should call her so that she could come see Jaydon.  Of course, we did not call her (I feel guilty, like we are being mean).  Legally, we could not have called her to come see him anyway, because at that point Jaydon still belonged to the state and we did not have say over him.  I do feel badly for Mommy D!  Never having been able to see him, will be something she will have to live with forever!  I can only imagine how painful that must be for her!  However, we, as well as others have tried to help her get some help, and she has chosen not to accept that help, and so for the safety of our family, which now includes Jaydon, we will not be having direct contact with her.

Jaydon was doing so well, that they let us room in with him, in a special room in the NICU, on Monday night.  It was not a room like what I had pictured, but we got to spend time alone with Jaydon and that was all that mattered.  I wish he wouldn't have had to go to the NICU, but I am thankful that he did so that we could spend some time with him alone that we might not otherwise have been able to do.  It was also much easier to keep him safe there as you have to have a passport to get in to the unit. 

Yesterday, Jaydon had to sit in his car seat and be observed with monitors for an hour and a half, to make sure that he could handle sitting in a car seat for an extended period of time without causing stress to his breathing.  Thankfully, he passed wonderfully!! We were dismissed from NICU yesterday afternoon, and then were escorted by two elderly ladies to our van.  They decided I should ride in a wheelchair with Jaydon, being treated just like any other mommy who had just given birth.  The nurses there were absolutely amazing!  These ladies provided us with quite the humorous exit, but I loved their enthusiasm.

So glad he likes to cuddle!

Where we got to room in with Jaydon!

Hi, Daddy!

Getting ready for the car seat test.

I think he likes his going home shirt. :)

Leaving NICU at 5 days old!

After we left the hospital, it was finally time to finally introduce Jaydon to the family.  No one but us had been able to see him at this point.  

Siblings together, finally!

This morning we headed for home!  We had a follow up appointment this afternoon to check on Jaydon's bilirubin levels, which praise the Lord have gone down!  He has even gained an ounce since yesterday.  Jaydon tested positive for cocaine being in his system, but so far has shown no signs of going through withdrawal.  The nurse prepped us for things to watch for, but so far....you wouldn't even know that he was a drug baby.  He is so content most of the time!  The doctor was even amazed at how well he was/is doing!  We prayed that God would do something that only could be explained as being done by Him, and He did just that!!

Welcome home, Jaydon!

We are now trying to get back into a routine and schedule, starting with getting back into school tomorrow.  In the meantime, we will enjoy little Jaydon and appreciate that he enjoys being cuddled!!

When we got back home, we discovered that a cleaning fairy had visit our house and had also left some clothes for Jaydon!  Now we have friends working on getting us some meals.  What a blessing!  We even had a friend drop by just after we had arrived home for a present for Jaydon.  So thankful for how the Lord continues to bless us!

I am also thankful that food is tasting good again!  There for awhile, when things were so stressful, food was just not that appealing!  You don't realize how much you miss food until you stop eating very much!  :)

Anyway the whole theme behind this adoption story - - God is working miracles!!  God has something very special planned for Jaydon!

This story is not yet done, however!  Because we do not know who his birth father is, they attorney will have to run an ad in the paper once a week, for three weeks, and then if there is no response, his rights will be terminated.  We are praying that no one will show up.  With the lifestyle of Mommy D, it would be pretty hard to try to determine who the birth father actually was.  Then we can officially finalize!!!

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

Three Days Old

Today, Jaydon drank 2 oz at a time!  Yay!  If he continues to eat well, we are looking at him being discharged in a couple of days.  They are also trying to keep an eye on him for a total of about 5 days just to make sure he doesn't struggle with going through withdrawal from the drugs Mommy D took.

Tomorrow could be a really big day as far as legal work is concerned.  We were meeting with one of the nurse practitioners today and she mentioned that she was needing to hear from Children's Services where the adoption process was at.  This caused some confusion, so I text our social worker and ended up talking with our attorney instead.  They had paperwork that they needed us to sign on Friday, but neglected to have us do it.  Grr! :(  So, they faxed it to us there at the NICU, where we quickly signed it and then tried to fax it back to the attorney.  But then we found out that they needed the papers with the original signatures.  So, we waited and waited for our social worker to come to the hospital to come and pick them up.  Then, our nurse noticed that we were having some questions, and caught the hospital social worker and had her come see us.  Praise the Lord she did that!  We come to find out that the social worker on duty on Friday didn't have us sign paperwork either!!  All of these papers need to be signed if we are to be able to be cleared by Children's Services for us to be able to take Jaydon home from the hospital.  So tomorrow we are expecting a call from the hospital social worker to set up an appointment so we can get together and sign all of the paper work that should have been done on Friday.  So we are praying that once ALL the papers are done being signed, that the clearance will follow quickly.

Having eye to eye contact with mommy! :)

Jaydon's Miracle Story

I haven't been able to take the time to individually read all the posts and comments that you have shared with us on facebook, as I've mainly been getting on to post and then getting right back off.  But I do thank you all so much for your support and prayers!  We can definitely feel them.  I promise I will go back and read what you all have said! :) 

I would like to share with you some of the amazing ways that God has been working.  We will start with the birth of Jaydon.  During the delivery process, Mommy D had an abruption (we are guessing this has to do with her placenta???).  Anyway, she tends to be a heavy bleeder anyway, but as a result of this abruption, Jaydon swallowed a LOT of blood.  As a result, it was pretty scary at the beginning.  They needed to intibate (I have no idea how to spell that :) ) him, put him on oxygen, and get a tube down his throat to suck out the blood so his little tummy wouldn't have to digest all of that blood. Thankfully, he recovered quickly!  We are also praising the Lord that with all that he had swallowed, that his lungs are continuing to check clear!!  He had trouble sucking, which is why they had to give him a feeding tube.  With all the trauma, it sounds like this is why he is having a bit faster of respirations than most as he is transitioning to breathing "normal" air.  Praise the Lord he is not needing oxygen any longer.  We also found out that Mommy D tested positive for Hepatitis C, so Jaydon was thoroughly exposed to this! :(  We are praying he won't get it, but will definitely be touching base with our doctor about it and testing, etc, so that we can keep him as healthy as possible.  In the midst of all this hubbub, Mommy D, from my understanding, didn't ever get a chance to see him.  I feel badly for her as I know this made her quite upset. But I also know that the hospital social workers did not trust her at all, and did not want her having any contact with her.  Sometimes in cases like this, they will put a perfectly healthy baby in NICU for added protection.  Unfortunately, our little guy, did need some extra attention.  But the nurses have been absolutely wonderful as the love on these babies!

The following day, Friday, August 23, was another huge day as far as getting legal things out of the way.  At 2:54 p.m., we were told that the psychologist was on his way to evaluate Mommy D (the letters we brought, were said to have been put on her chart, which the doctor would see).  At 3:46 p.m., we found out that she had passed her evaluation and that she would sign at 7:00 p.m.  She ended up signing before then as we were called up to the hospital earlier than that.  After she signed, the attorney wanted us to be able to see Jaydon to see if he "met our approval".  So the social workers took us back to see him, but we were not allowed to touch him.  We were there for probably less than a minute and then was taken back out.  We then went back to the attorney and took care of our legal stuff.  We also found out that once Mommy D signed, that meant the DCS (Dept. of Children's Services) had cleared us to be with Jaydon!!  After not having anyone dispute me when I asked if this could take weeks, we were very pleased that the Lord had seen fit to work all of these details out so quickly.  Mommy D was getting ready to be discharged, so we waited to see if she wanted to see us before she left.  We had seen her that morning, which I am thankful for, because after she signed (which I am told caused her to tear up), she did not want to see us.  We gave our gift of the backpack of goodies to the social worker to take back to her, and from what I understand she enjoyed going through her bag.  So we were then ready to get our passports so that we could go and finally visit with our sweet Jaydon.  We were even thrilled to be able to be a part of getting to watch him take his first bottle.

By Saturday, August 24, his feeding tube was taken out as he had continued to do well with his bottle feedings.  His IV port had gone bad, but because he was doing so well, they decided to go ahead and take it out.  The doctor had also decided to take him off of his antibiotics.

Praise the Lord for how He is working!  We are thankful that God chose to heal Jaydon and keep life in his little body!

2 days old

Today, Jaydon got his feeding tube and IV out.  He was also able to stop taking his antibiotics and eat more food.  Yesterday he was eating about 10 mL and today we got him to eat 45 mL two times! :)  He is still a little jaundice and his respirations are still a bit high, but we are thankful for how God is continuing to heal his little body.  Skeeter and I also did skin to skin time with him as well.

Meet Our Little Blessing

Taking his first bottle!

We would like to introduce you to: 

Jaydon (God has heard) Sean (God is gracious)

Born August 22, 2013 at 11:24 a.m.

6 lbs 2 oz, 18 1/4 inches

I promise Skeeter held him!  I couldn't get the picture of him to upload after several attempts - -grr!!  Will definitely get another picture and post it.  When I have more time I will post how God worked some amazing miracles yesterday! :)

Surprise! It's a Boy!

Well, this morning started off with a call at 6:52 a.m., with a call from our social workers saying that Mommy D's water had broken and that she was at the hospital and wanted us to come.  Skeeter had already left for work, so I called him and then got busy finishing up the packing.  By 8:23 a.m., we were on our way.  At 9:30 a.m., our social worker called, and let us know that Mommy D was dilated to a 4 (she was also 80% effaced, we found out later).  Mommy D was in quite a bit of pain but absolutely refused to get an epidural.  The baby's heart rate without contracts was around 138-142.  I spent quite a bit of time rubbing Mommy D's lower back during her contractions.  She then said to get the doctor.  So we left the room, went to the waiting room, kept touching base, but we couldn't go into the room, and there was quite a hubbub of people going in to the room.  I knew something was going on, but I didn't know what and no one could tell us.  So about 11:40 a.m., or so, we decided to go to lunch while Mommy D was busy.  We weren't gone very long for lunch, and then went to check on Mommy D, and they said she was in the shower.  So I thought she was doing some labor in the shower.  When they let us in, Mommy D asked us for some food.  I asked if she could eat, and the nurse said yes.  Then Mommy D asked if we had seen "him".  Seen who?  The baby was not only a boy, but no one had told us the baby had even been born.  Then it was pulling teeth to find out where the baby was - - NICU.  So somewhere between 11:40 - 12:30, the baby was born.  We then worked on meeting with the hospital social workers to see what kind of information we could find out.  So at 1:50 p.m, we met with the two social workers, who told us that because of the drugs, the baby was going into police protective custody.   We could not have contact or see the baby at all.  Because the privacy form hadn't been signed, we couldn't even find out how the baby was doing.  The social worker told us he was cute, but that didn't really help!  When the privacy form is signed then information can be given to our attorney and social worker who can then pass the info along to us.  At this present time, we know nothing.  We don't know how much he weighed, or how long he is, or what he is having trouble with or anything.  It breaks my heart to think of him laying there without a lot of love and attention, which is what he so desperately needs.

On a normal delivery, Mommy D, would sign 12 hours or later after delivery.  Because of her mental struggles, they are not going to have her sign until she is evaluated by a psychiatrist.  We have no idea how long that will take.  And then once that is signed, we have to get things cleared with the state, so that we can get him.  This could take days or weeks, no one seems to really know.  The social worker at the hospital, thought she may know something more tomorrow late afternoon???

We are staying with my parents for now, but are trying to decide how long to wait before we come back home -- empty handed. :(  With the weekend coming up, it may not be until next week until things get done?

This is not at all how I pictured today when we left to come for the delivery of the baby.  I envisioned getting to hold and cuddle the baby and at the very minimum being able to see the baby.  Not only this, but we are getting over the shock that we are not getting a girl, but a boy.  All of our things at home are for a girl, so we will have to start all over again!  We are also back to the drawing board on deciding a name.  If it was a girl, her name would have been Mikayla Joy.

Mommy D wants us to come back to see her, so will try to go and see her tomorrow.  I have no idea how long she will be in the hospital, but we do want to show her that we care about her as well.  She thought we were with the baby, so I don't think she knows that we aren't even able to see him.

Thank you for continuing to pray!  Been lots of tears today!

Update on Doctor's Appointment

Well, as we have said before, this adoption journey has been nothing like our first one.  We are constantly having to lean on Jesus as He takes us down roads that are FULL of twists and turns.  Today is no different!  Imagine getting all excited to bring your baby home, thinking that the baby you have been waiting so long for, could be coming any day!  You have been busy making sure the clothes have been washed, that the car seat is ready, that the bassinet is all made up and cute, etc, only to find out that you might not be bringing your baby home in 3 days but will have to possibly wait for another MONTH!!!  Yes, we just found out that she is only measuring 35 weeks!  Uggh!! :(  Talk about bursting your bubble!!  I just feel like sitting down and crying!  Both Skeeter and I have been a bundle of nerves, sitting on pins and needles just waiting to hear, hopefully this week, that we would finally get to go and meet our baby girl.  Now to make the mental switch that we will once again have to wait....We are trusting that the Lord knows what is best!  Now whether or not the baby is just measuring small due to the drug usage, I don't know.  But we will go from thinking it could be any day to just waiting.  Please pray for us that we will feel the Lord's peace as we wait on Him and His timing!  Because the due date has been tentatively changed to September 20, we are now faced with most likely needing to once again update our home study.  I will check with one of our social workers and see what she recommends.

We are also praying that Mommy D will be arrested for the sake and safety of both her and the baby.  The lifestyle she is leading continues to land her in the hospital.  She was in the hospital Saturday, and went back in last night (therefore, she did not have her 11:00 a.m. scheduled appointment).  From what I am hearing, her blood pressure does seem to be alright, which is a huge answer to prayer. 

On a more positive note....over the weekend we were blessed with an anonymous donation towards our adoption!  What a huge encouragement that was for us!  We praise the Lord for the generous gift and pray that the Lord will richly bless them!

Thank you for praying with us as we continue on this path full of uncertainties that the Lord has called us to journey on!

Could this next week be the week??!

We are 5 days away from the baby's due date!!!  This week we have had some discouraging moments, but we have also had a couple of HUGE answers to prayer!  Thursday, Mommy D was to have had a doctor's appointment, but when the social worker took her to the appointment, they said that she did not have an appointment.   Whether or not there really was an appointment, only the Lord knows.  But later that day, her MEDICAL CARD came in!  YAY!!  No matter if there really was an appointment or not, the Lord may have allowed this to happen so that we wouldn't have to pay for her visit and her next scheduled appointment on Monday, will now be covered by her medical card.  Please be in prayer as her next scheduled appointment is on Monday, at 11:00 a.m.  Our hope and prayer is that the social worker who takes her to this appointment will go back with her so that she can be another set of ears to hear what the doctor says and get a more accurate picture of what is going on with the health of both mommy and baby.

We received a call this afternoon by one of the social workers that Mommy D had gone into the hospital early this morning, and was discharged this afternoon.  However, she did not know why she had gone in.  She did say that Mommy D was still swollen, but hopefully since she was released from the hospital that that means she isn't pre-eclamptic (sp)? I have tried reaching the other social worker who might know more but so far have not been able to reach her. :)

Since we are getting quite close to the arrival of this precious one, we have had to take a serious look at the financial situation as a HUGE chunk will be coming due after the baby has arrived and the mother signs.  We are about $5400 short of where we need to be!  So I spoke with the social worker about some options, and praise the Lord, they will be willing to work out a payment plan with us!  God is so good!  Not too many agencies would be willing to do that!  We really did not want to take out a loan or pay by credit card, but would have done whatever needed to be done to bring home our little girl! We are so thankful that Skeeter's job will give him 4 weeks of paid time off after the baby comes!  What a huge help that will be to me to help us get into a BRAND NEW routine! :)

As more people find out about our adoption, they have been such a source of encouragement to us!  We have been so blessed!!  This could be a huge week for our family, but we are praying that the Lord will help us wait on HIS timing!  Ultimately, though, we are also heavy hearted about Mommy D.  We are so concerned about her lifestyle, and fear that her habits will not change after she delivers.  I know that we can not change that, but pray that in someway with what little time we have left to communicate with her, that we can be an encouragement to her and that she will see her need to draw her strength and identity in Jesus!  She so desires to have a place to belong and to be loved!  It breaks my heart to think about what she must daily face in not only her habits, but continually trying to run from the law.  We also pray for her that as her body goes through labor and delivery that she will have the strength she needs.  And then...the ultimate sacrifice of signing over her rights.  No matter what she has done, she is still a mother....who has to say good-bye to her baby.  I can only imagine how painful that will be for her!  We pray that she will have the strength and courage to do what is right for her baby!

Please continue to pray for everyone involved this week.  We will do our best to keep everyone posted even if its through quick little blurbs.

Lastly, our roof has been repaired and school has officially started!  Jonathan is loving Kindergarten, but Adia isn't quite as thrilled with 1st grade.  She would rather be playing. :)  Anne is in 7th grade and is excited about learning Spanish this year.

"Our" Baby Has a Name

We are a little under two weeks away from Mommy D's due date.  This past week has been incredibly stressful, as we started out hearing on Monday, that there could be an issue of pre-eclampsia.  So we prayed and prayed and prayed some more and called and called and called the social workers, hoping that somehow they would at least get Mommy D into the doctor to get her and the baby checked out.  We were hoping that one of the social workers would go with her so that we could have not only proof that she went, but to also have another pair of listening ears to what the doctor would have to say.  Needless to say, our pleading did nothing, and we were left with literally having to stretch our faith muscles that much more in knowing that God knows what He is doing and that He cares for this baby much more than I/we EVER could.  I felt so helpless, knowing that there was nothing else I could physically do to not only help Mommy D, but to also help protect the baby.  We kept wishing and praying that she would just go into labor and get this whole thing over with.  But, this did not fall into God's scheduled plan....at least for this week. :)  Nevertheless, our van is mostly packed and ready to go, for when the call comes through that it is FINALLY time to go to the hospital (which right now seems like it will never happen). 

Even though our week started off on a stressful note, the week ended more pleasantly.  We had to go to Andover for our kids' school orientation, so on the way back, we stopped by to say hi to some family in Wichita.  At my sister's house, she had a box of donated clothes for us to come pick up, coming all the way from some friends of my cousin in Michigan.  Oh how fun it was to go through all of those cute clothes and find some extra cute surprises included as well.  God has been so faithful in providing so I know that we can continue to trust Him to provide for the rest of our adoption journey.

Our last update for this post is that we were asked the question today by our social worker if we had decided on a name yet.  For most expectant people this is an exciting question to answer, but for those of us who are adopting and have had a failed match, its not a question that we are quite as excited to answer.  Why?!  Because when we have to select a name, that baby, which isn't yet ours, becomes buried even deeper into our hearts.  Adoption is financially expensive, but you can't ever be prepared for all the prices you will have to pay emotionally.  No matter how hard we try to protect our hearts, it still hurts when plans and adoptions fall apart. We had narrowed down the list to two names, and were keeping the options open, so that we could keep our baby's name "safe" if something should happen and the placement would fall through.  So, yes, we have chosen a name, but, we will wait to share it with all of you after not only the baby is born, but Mommy D has signed and she is really ours.  Mommy D can sign anytime after 12 hours after delivery.  A perfect scenario would be for her to have the baby in the morning and then sign in the evening. :)  If there is space available, the hospital will provide Skeeter and I with a room so that we can take full responsibility of the baby.

School officially starts next Thursday!  It has been nice to have something else to prepare for to help keep my thoughts preoccupied! :)  Mommy D supposedly has a doctor's appointment next week, so we will wait to see how that goes and if it actually happens.  We continue to pray daily that in spite of all the wrong that Mommy D is doing to her body, that God in His mercy will protect that precious life that she is carrying inside!  Little girl, we are so ready for you to come home!!

It's August!!

We are officially into August, and are 3 weeks away from the estimated due date!!  What does this look like for me as an adoptive parent?  The closer we get, the more nervous and anxious I become!  After all the waiting and working with Mommy D, we will soon reach the end of that wait.  Will she continue to choose us to parent her child, or will something come up that will cause us to be "empty handed"?  Some people are asking me if I am excited.  Yes, I am, but I am also trying to guard my heart in the event that something should happen and we lose yet another child.  If this were a normal pregnancy, we would know that after delivery that the child is ours and that nothing, but God, could take the child away from us.  We would have a name picked out, the nursery all ready, etc.  For an adoption, we have the bare necessities ready.  We have not yet chosen a name, but have a list of some of our favorites.  My nesting instincts have kicked into overdrive, so now we are mostly ready for whenever this precious baby enters the world.  We moved a dresser into the bedroom so that we could get the clothes that we have organized and ready, hoping that as I pulled out each cute and adorable outfit, that we would get to see our baby wear those items.  We finally opened up our travel system, still new in its box from other failed matches, last night so that the car seat would be ready to grab.

The bottom of the pack n play is filled with the items we will need to grab when the time comes to leave for the hospital.

I have the phone with me or on me now 24/7 just waiting to hear for any updates.  Since Mommy D, last I heard, still does not have her medical card, she has not been going regularly to the doctor.  Therefore, we have no idea how she and the baby are continuing to progress.  They had suggested at her last appointment that her due date may be moved to Sept.  We pray this will not be the case for more than just being anxious for the wait to be over.  Depending on when in September the baby would be born, it could cause a complication with our home study as it will be due to be renewed then. The kids are very anxious for the baby to come home and are daily praying for the baby's safe arrival.

For our prayer drive, we still have some days left in August that are available for praying for Mommy D and the baby.  Please continue to be in prayer as we get close to the end!  The social worker said that there is a chance Mommy D will want me to be in the delivery room with her (and the social worker).  We haven't yet had a chance to finalize birth plans with Mommy D, but know that even the best plans can change once the event actually occurs.  If I/we are asked to be in the delivery room, please be praying that I will be the friend and support that Mommy D will need.  Although I have delivered two of my own children, I have never been in with someone else, much less someone that I don't know all that well and I am kinda nervous about that.  We pray that labor and delivery will go smoothly and safely for all involved!

We continue to be amazed at how the Lord is choosing to bless us.  We have had a family not only donate some nice bottles and a bottle warmer, but they also chose to donate part of their garage sale proceeds towards our adoption.  It is so touching to see how the body of Christ can come together and encourage one another. 

Two last prayer requests (they have been scattered throughout the entry), school will be starting up soon and we just pray that God will work out ALL of the details between getting into the groove of school as well as being there for the delivery of the baby and then getting back home and adjusting to a new baby in the home with the new school schedule.  All three kids will now be in school!  So thankful that Skeeter's work will give him some time off after the baby arrives so that he can be home during the initial adjustment period!  We are also in the midst of trying to get estimates done on the damage done to our house from the recent hail storm.  So we will be trying to get that all repaired and finished up in this whole mix as well.  God is good and HE is in control....now to see what HE will do!