(Cut and Pasted "birth story" from The Bump)

Happy birthday to my sweet MJ (a different sort of birth story)..


I am an adoptive mama and today I celebrate my baby's first birthday.



Our journey to Mary Jane was long. Twenty two months after we initiated our adoption search we finally met our baby girl on December 7th. We had three failed matches. One of the matches we had nearly boarded the airplane... the baby was born and we were sure she was ours... but she wasn't so our hearts broke a bit and we waited longer.



My "water broke" on December 2nd when we got a surprise phone call that a young woman was going to be induced on December 6th. Would we "want" this child? Of course! And so we began to prepare for the next three and half days.



On December 6th we drove two hours to go to the hospital where our daughter would be born. We met my daughter's birth grandfather and we met with social workers and lawyers. We did not get to meet my daughter's birth mom. She asked that we not meet. It was crazy to know that my daughter was waiting to be born yet I could not meet the woman who brought her into this world.



The induction was slow and labor did not progress. We waited 24 hours and were told it would still be several hours. At 5 pm on December 7th we took a nap in our hotel room. At 8:45 PM our phone rang. A nurse named Rebecca called and said I was about to be a mom! Those were the sweetest words ever spoken.



We woke up, rushed to grab our hospital bags, and left the hotel. I was giddy. I wanted to shout to the hotel clerk that I was going to be a mommy in just moments.



The car ride to the hospital was cold and quiet. We prayed for the baby. We prayed for the birth mom. And we prayerd for us. We were scared.



At the hospital, the nurse met us and whisked us into a nursery where there were no babies. We sat there. We were told to rush to the hospital because she was pushing. Well, she pushed and pushed for nearly three hours.



We paced as we could her her screams and cries. It was awful yet joyous. What a mix of emotions. Finally, I could tell she was nearly there. I was grinning ear to ear knowing that our baby would be here in moments. My husband was scared and didn't understand how I could be smiling while our birth mom was screaming.



Finally, the screams stopped. Moments later our nurse walked down the hall with a new person. A daughter she yelled!



Mary Jane was here. We met her three minutes post-birth. I cut her cord. We watched as the nurses cleaned her and stabilized her. She didn't cry at first but soon began wailing.

She was here and our live was forever changed. What a blessing adoption is!




And because I am too tired/lazy to post pics, here's a link to our Christmas pics (including our three month old Betsy!...also an adoption blessing)



http://lovecandeeblog.com/2011/12/los-angeles-portraits-mary-jane/