Hospital time is stressful for any parents, but it can be extremely stressful for the birth and adoptive families. Sure, you have met and may or may not know each other well, but when the baby is involved emotions can run high. The birth family is going through emotions that I cannot imagine including reconsidering their adoption plan. As the adoptive family we were told to expect the unexpected and go with the flow. Our caseworker also said that the hospital time tends to be the most stressful for everyone involved.
Since Kearsta was born so late at night we found ourselves running on adrenaline into the early morning hours. After birth the hospital allowed one hour for the family to hold the baby before going to the nursery. After the hour Kearsta's birth father, Derek and I walked Kearsta down to the nursery to be checked out form head to toe.
As the nurse checked Kearsta over she was passing all of the requirements. Kearsta's birth mother had gestational diabetes which contributed to her large birth weight. It also can cause newborns to have a drop in blood sugar. While in the womb babies manage their blood sugar through the umbilical cord. Upon birth they suddenly lose that and the baby has to begin managing their own. The nurse checked Kearsta's blood sugar and it registered at 30. She had to have a 50 in order to be cleared for that blood sugar round. Lucky Kearsta got to eat right away! She took the bottle like a champ in her birth father's arms. After she ate we had to wait another hour before testing her blood sugar again.
After an hour Kearsta's birth mother walked down to the nursery to give Kearsta her first bath. It was a really special time for her birth parents and something that they really wanted to be involved in. We also had Kearsta's footprints and a fingerprint of each of her birth parents inked into a book about adoption called "Forever Fingerprints."
After our time in the nursery we all retreated to our rooms in hopes of getting some sleep. Kearsta went to her birth parents' room for a couple of hours and then came to Derek and my room for the remainder of the night. I remember her waking up at one point and I jumped out of bed and had her in my arms to care for her. The next morning I only had vague memories of this happening and I knew that I was exhausted!
Friday Derek and I tried to stay out of the birth family's way. We wanted them to have the time that they needed with Kearsta. We took a nap and I dealt with getting Kearsta added to my health insurance. They had some visitors and my mom and stepfather, Gary also came to the hospital to visit. Derek and I kept pinching ourselves as the time was so relaxed. There was never a point that Derek and I felt scared that Kearsta wasn't going to be coming home with us as we had been warned of by our caseworker. We continued to laugh and enjoy each others company as we passed our sweet baby girl around the room to be loved and snuggled. There was even a point in the day that we compared Kearsta's length and size to that of a foot long Subway sandwich. There were many laughs and memories made that day!
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