Weeks 1 & 2 - Pictures

Visitors

Grandma Childers

Grandpa Childers

Great Aunt Caroline Rouse

Cousins - Ruthie Labranche & Her Cutie Son, Lionel

Cousin - Jyssica Burrow

Cousin - Lisa Tracy (Jyssie's Mom)

Friend - Jenna Ayers

Friend - Emily Bough

Grandpa Whats-His-Name (aka Friend - Bob Bingham)

Friend - Judy Bingham (Bob's Wife)

Great Aunt Caroline & Great Uncle Ron Rouse

Uncle Christopher & Aunt Jennifer Childers

Friend - Katie Crook

Cousin - Ansel Childers

Cousin - Owen Childers

Cousin - Jonas Childers

Cousin - Sadie Childers

Aunt Jennifer & Sadie

Friend - Joanna Reynolds

Friends - The Grimmett Family

Hannah Grimmett

Coming Home!

We spent 17 days in California. I keep trying to figure out a good way of saying what it was like in California. It wasn't hard, but it wasn't easy. It was just...different. We were enjoying Lilly, but wanted so badly to finally be home. We had some wonderful family and friends surrounding us while we were there and visiting as much as possible. We had so many generous and amazing people enter our lives while we were there - it truly made us not feel so alone.

When we got the call on Friday afternoon that we could finally head home. It was like when we got the call that Lilly had been born - just hard to believe! We had plans to meet up with our babymama and her mom that evening, so we decided to leave first thing Saturday morning. It was so nice to have Mandy and her mom over before we left. It was the perfect conclusion to our time there and we have become more than friends with them, we are forever a part of each others family's - and we couldn't have picked better people to have had this experience with than them.

I don't think either of us slept that Friday night, we were too excited, anxious and nervous to get home. We got the car all packed (I still don't know how we fit everything in there and I don't know how we had accumulated so much stuff while in CA!) and headed out. We had planned to visit with some friends and family along the way, but we had gotten out of town way earlier than expected, so it was too early to knock on anyones doors. Lilly was amazing, she slept the whole way - of course minus when she wanted to eat! We were a little worried it might be a hard trip when we were only an hour down the road and she had the biggest blow-out in her diaper that we had experienced thus far! But I think she knew we were headed for a big trip and just wanted to get that part out of the way early, thankfully.

We were able to stop in Portland, OR and visit my Aunt Mary. It was so nice to see her and stretch our legs for a few minutes. Then we drove the last 3 hours home - and those were the longest 3 hours ever. There are now words for how amazing it was to finally come home. We were driving through town a few miles from our house and we just kept saying, 'this is so strange.' When we left a few weeks ago, we kept saying, 'the next time we walk into our house, we'll have a baby.' Now it was really happening. We had waited for so long for this moment. We didn't know what we were going to feel, but when we walked in those doors, there wasn't an overwhelming emotion, or this big ah-ha moment. What we felt was just peace. It was all so natural and nothing overwhelming - just perfect.

To make it even better when we got home, 2 of our friends (Joanna Reynolds & Katie Crook) had filled our refrigerator with groceries, dinners and treats. They put together a few "must-need" items on our table of earplugs, cookies, candy, medicines and more. Then Joanna and her students (she's an Elementary School teacher) had made a big banner and hung it in our entryway. It was just awesome - they are the best friends anyone could ever have!

Our Story

We made our way to California a few days before the baby's due date. We tried to wait as patiently as we could, but as each day went by, it got harder and harder for all of us. Just as we were about to eat dinner for the evening, Wednesday evening, we received a phone call about 6:30 p.m. from Mandy's mom letting us know that the baby had been born at 1:07 p.m. We had gone back and forth about being in the delivery room when she was born, but it turned out for the best that we weren't. We were grateful that Mandy and her family were able to spend some time alone with baby Lilly for a few hours before we came. Once we got the call, we were out the door and on our way to the hospital.

We felt so anxious, nervous and excited as we drove to the hospital. So many questions: What would she look like? Would it be awkward when we got there? What if she decided to keep the baby, how would we deal with that?

We were like walking zombies when we got to the hospital and were ushered into the waiting room to wait until Mandy was ready. That was a very long 15 minutes - sitting there and thinking and wondering. There were so many moments during the next few days that are hard to put into words - when we walked into that room and saw baby Lilly for the first time was one of them.

Mandy's mom and sister were with her at this time. Everything just felt so comfortable it was overwhelming. We held her for a short time and then my parents came by the hospital shortly after to see Mandy and Lilly. I hadn't been feeling very well for a few days and was fighting a cold. Soon after we got the hospital, my ear drums felt like they were going to rupture. Luckily, we were close to the E.R. and I went in and they said that my left ear was indeed about to rupture and my right ear wasn't looking good either. They gave me some medicine and ear drops to numb my ear and sent me on my way.

I was gone for almost an hour and by the time I had gotten back to Mandy's room, the doctor had taken Lilly away. They had noticed that she was having a hard time breathing and wanted to run some tests to see why. After they did a chest x-ray, it showed that she had some fluid in her right lung and they told us she had pneumonia.

They hooked Lilly up to an I.V. and told us she would probably be alright, but she would need to stay in the hospital for a few extra days. Mandy's mom (who works at the hospital Lilly was born at), worked it out so that we could have our own room from the first night and be with Lilly. We are so blessed to have been able to have that experience. How many other adoptive parents get to have that opportunity? We hung out with Mandy and her sister, Emily, for a few more hours before we headed over to our room.

This was one of the hardest moments so far in the process. When we walked into our room with Lilly and sat down on the bed. We just cried. It was the first time we were alone with her and it was just hard to believe what was happening. Everything we had worked towards for 8 years was finally here. It was hard to figure out how to feel. Every emotion was flooding through us.

Obviously, we didn't sleep at all that night. The nurses were coming in every hour to check the I.V. and at one point in the night, the nurse asked if we were going to spend the whole night looking at Lilly or try to get some sleep. Every time I looked over, I could see Brandon looking at her. He fell in love with her the first second he saw her.

On Thursday, Mandy was getting checked out of the hospital and we were to stay through Saturday. I think the relationship that we have with our birthmother was a bit strange for the hospital staff to understand. We found out that this hospital only does a few adoptions a year and for some of the nurses, this was the first one they had ever seen. For some of them, it was hard for them to understand that although this was a hard decision for Mandy - she felt at peace with her choice and it wasn't as though we were taking her baby away forever - they didn't know that this was binding our families together forever and just adding more people to love this baby.

It's hard to describe any of the feelings we felt during that Thursday while we said goodbye to Mandy for a few days and were truly left alone with Lilly. We had spent some of the morning talking with Mandy and her family. We had quite a few of the hospital social workers and administration come into our room to talk with us about the adoption process and go over paperwork. By the time we went to bed that night, we were so exhausted from the emotions of the day and about as cried out as we could be.

Lilly, being held by Emily (Mandy's twin sister), Mandy & their mother Shannon

Mandy holding Lilly before she was discharged from the hospital

By the time Saturday came, saying that we were ready to leave the hospital is an understatement. The doctor said that her pneumonia was all cleared up and she was good to go home. We got her all dressed up in her going home outfit. We had found a cute shirt that said "Hand Picked" on it with a cute Daisy, a few months ago and thought it was perfect!

It was the best feeling in the world to leave the hospital. We drove to my parents house (about 15 minutes away from the hospital), where we have been staying ever since. Now we are just trying to enjoy every second we have with Lilly, while still trying to make it seem real that this is happening. We'll be in California for another few days at least. We are waiting for all our paperwork to be sent to Washington state ICPC (Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children Agency) and from there they have to approve for us to go across the state lines and bring Lilly into the state. So, now we wait until we get the call that we can go home. Right now, it feels like a dream. It'll be amazing to get home and bring our baby girl into her room that we have been waiting for so long to do!