Elliot's Birth Story - Part 4

This is the conclusion to a four-part story of how our lives got flipped, turned upside down :)
Start from the beginning here

Elliot did awesome in the car on the long drive home - slept the whole way.  I sat in the back seat with him and stared at him, still trying to wrap my head around the fact that there was a baby in our car! A carseat installed with a real life baby in it!! I couldn't believe it!

When we walked into the house late on Friday April 17 - we found that our sweet friends Amy and Kendall (and baby Isaac) had "broken in" and decorated our house with streamers and balloons and flowers and filled our refrigerator and freezer and countertops with groceries!! We were blown away.  Such a kind and generous gesture!!

Kain's mom came over that night to bring our dog back and to love on Elliot.  We were exhausted and excited and fearful and fidgety.  What would the next 24 hours hold? Would she sign? Would she change her mind?  Was he ours?  Was this all a dream?

We were all pretty worn out after such a long few days

On Saturday the 18th of April, we lounged with our little love.  Took lots of pictures, gave him a bath, introduced him to more of his family.  And waited.  And paced.  And prayed.

Grandpa Rob

Great Grandma Betty - "GG"

Great Grandpa Dick

6:39 pm.  That was the 72 hour mark.  Nothing could happen before then.  The social worker had let us know that she was planning to meet with B at 6:30 and thought that she would be finished around 8 pm.  She would send us a text - either "done" or "problems" as soon as she was able and would call us after she had left B's to talk over whatever the outcome was.  All we could do was wait.

Around 3 pm, we got a call from the social worker.  My heart sank.  It was way too early to hear from her.  This could only be bad news.  She told us that B was having second thoughts and wanted to wait a few days to sign her surrender papers.  B was concerned about how open our relationship would continue to be and worried that she would never get to see Elliot.  The social worker asked us to send B some pictures of Elliot quickly and said that she would call us back as soon as she knew anything.

When she called back, she said that the pictures had helped and that B was on board with signing that night again.  But that if she voiced concerns about waiting a second time, we would have to oblige and wait.  We prayed not to get that phone call.

At 7:06 pm my phone rang. It was too soon. She had said 8! My stomach churned and my heart rate picked up.  I couldn't bear it if this was a bad phone call.  Four words changed our life,

"It's done.  She signed."

And just like that, we could rest.  We could settle.  We could start to tear down the walls around our hearts that were set up to protect us from the worst possible scenario.  We could fully welcome him in.

We called everyone we knew.  We cried together and prayed together, thanking our Father in Heaven for the gift of realizing our dream of being parents.

And that, my dear friends, is the (long!!) story of how our family changed from two to three.  Thank you for sticking with me, and for being a part of this journey.  Thank you for your kind words and your messages of love and support.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Today Elliot is doing AWESOME!! He's a typical newborn -- eat, sleep, poop, repeat.  He's growing like a champ, and I swear he changes by the minute.

I will be back soon with some updates about how our open adoption plan is progressing and how Elliot's little heart is doing in light of his Congenital Defects.

xo - Kate