This is a blog about our journey of adoption from the beginning;
typed by me, written by God.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Braeden Nathaniel

This is the story of our son, Braeden:

Tuesday:
On Tuesday, November 27th about 12:30pm, we got a call that the birthmom was in labor. The hubby got off work about 3pm (as early as he could leave) and we packed up and left for San Diego, CA. We drove all night, taking turns driving and sleeping.

Wednesday:
Arrived in San Diego about 6am on Wednesday and waited for the call from the hospital. We drove around town a bit, seeing the Ocean, eating breakfast and just killing time. Finally got the call from the birthmom's advocate. Our baby boy was born the night before: November 27th, 9:40pm weighing 6lbs, 6oz and 20in long  :-)  
(He has the same birthday as his Grandma Hurley - she got her first grandchild as a bday present this year!)
We went to the hospital that afternoon and met our son for the first time. We didn't get to stay long, but did have an hour-ish with him and it was great!

Thursday:
Stayed overnight about a half mile from the hospital and waited for them to call us again with his hospital release information. Long day, but we went back to the beach and took a walk until they called us. He had developed jaundice so they wanted to make sure he was okay to leave. When we arrived that afternoon, he was ready to go!

Then came the twist: his birthmom was apprehensive about signing papers at that point. She has a traumatic brain injury, so she isn't able to comprehend a lot of things quickly and once she makes up her mind and you throw her a lot of information (like: are you sure you want to sign these papers? etc), she freaks out and doesn't know what to do. Which is what happened. She then got into her mind that if she got a house and a job she could keep him and his brothers and sister (who are all in foster care). However, Braeden does have Down Syndrome, so she isn't able to keep him at all...ever. He would be relinquished now - to us, or relinquished in 6 months after being in foster care and have to stay in the system. We decided to take him for the weekend as foster parents until she would be asked again and hopefully sign on Monday. We prayed and prayed all weekend long. We believed that God wouldn't allow her to change her mind about us parenting him, but it was hard to wait for the final answer.

Also, he had slight jaundice, but was healthy enough to leave, so we made an appointment with the doctor the next day: Friday, and went home (back to the hotel).

Friday:
We went to the doctor for a well-baby check-up in the morning. They did another blood test and found that his Jaundice was improving and his platelet count is near normal now. His reflexes are wonderful and all vitals look great. Even his heart sounds good still  :-)
We decided to head further into San Diego and find things to do. We went to the beach and then got stuck in that lovely rush-hour Friday night traffic. So much fun. ha
Headed back to the outskirts of town to get a hotel for the night.

Saturday:
Starting Braeden out right: we went to the Automobile Museum in San Diego and even went to see the USS Midway that was at Pearl Harbor:

Automobile Museum (in his new carrier made by Gma Hurley)



USS Midway

USS Midway (it was cold, so Braeden is bundled up)

We had a full day and it was great being able to spend time with Braeden out and about too  :-)

Sunday:
We went to IKEA to waste a few hours. Braeden liked walking around (he was sleeping in his car seat in the cart anyway, haha). Went back to the beach for awhile and just watched the waves roll in from the car. That was nice. I love the ocean  :-)
Got a call from the birthmom's advocate who told us she had a hard talk with the birthmom on Saturday about making the right decision with Braeden's well-being. She told us when she spoke with her Sunday that the birthmom was better and pretty much ready to sign. They had an appointment with the agency to get the relinquishment papers signed Monday morning. That night was a long night, as you can imagine.

Monday:
We waited for the call about how the birthmom's appointment went and if the papers were signed. At last we got the news: she had signed and all they needed was our signatures! We went to the agency that afternoon and signed our papers. Then, we left town and headed north. We had to stay in CA until the paperwork went through and NM said we could leave, but we wanted to get out of So Cal, and we have family farther north in CA.

Tuesday:
Headed to San Francisco. We went across the Golden Gate bridge which was beautiful (as usual!)  :)
Met with my cousin, Deborah, who was the first family member to get to meet Braeden  :)

Braeden and cousin Deborah



Then we headed to the hubby's Aunt Carmen's house. It is so beautiful up here!! Braeden is being loved on and Mommy is getting more sleep  ;)

We just got a call this afternoon saying that we have been cleared to head home as well! One day turn-around is AMAZING and pretty unheard of, but we are very thankful  :)

Thanks everyone for all your prayers! God is amazing and we are having so much fun with our little boy  :)

Alright, enough of that, here's some pictures of our sweet son:




















God Bless!!

7 comments:

  1. Caitie,
    Thank you for sharing your story and your beautiful son! You had an amazingly short ICPC-that was great! You both definitely look in love with your precious little one! Blessings to all of your family!
    Debbie

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  2. Welcome to your forever family! Be careful we adopted 3!
    Elizabeth Coonan, Patrick Coonan's Mom and Rachel, Madeline, Ryon who is now 10, Jonathan, and Michael.

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    1. Haha :) We love him so much and will probably adopt more in the future ;)

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  3. Oh Caitie!!! I love him so much!! I love this post and his face and your hearts! I praise God for giving him such a wonderful family...and you such a wonderful son! What a beautiful testimony this is!

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    1. Thanks sweet Mandy! We are loving being parents and blessed to have this sweet boy! Hopefully you'll get to meet him someday ;)

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  4. Caitie,
    I hope you and a wonderful Christmas and I wish you many blessings for the new year! I would like to see some updates on you and your precious little son!
    Debbie

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