Exactly two weeks after our official meeting with his birth parents, Baby R has officially joined our family!
Not only was the timing of this placement really fast, it is also amazing that just one week after we received our legal authorization to foster, we were contacted about Baby R. Usually families wait for months.
When we were told about Baby R, we didn’t know if he had been named yet. Ds14 told my husband that if we would be able to name him, he had a particular name in mind that he thought would be perfect.
A week and a half later when I first spoke with his birth mother I asked if the baby had a name. She told me the name was Rafael. When I told ds14 the name, he told me that this was the name he had thought of! Ds14 told me then, ‘It just feels like this baby is meant to be part of our family.’ Indeed we all had that feeling. And the name fits perfectly with the kind of names we choose for our kids. (Not to mention it’s not a name we’ve used yet for our other seven boys!)
Yesterday the placement took place and honestly I found it emotionally extremely draining. Everyone involved was great – it’s just not the easiest experience.
I called from the taxi when we were a minute from home and the seven children who were at home all ran down and were waiting to greet us when we opened the doors to get out. Such excitement! (I’m sure the taxi driver was wondering what the big deal was. :))
Everyone wanted a turn holding the baby, and to be fair we went from youngest to oldest. I cautioned everyone to stay calm and quiet because going to a home from the hospital is a big transition, and we didn’t want to overwhelm him.
Dd20 was at work and didn’t get home until later, and somehow even though dd16 spent hours holding him, we don’t have any pictures of her!
Dd22 with Rafael
Ds23 usually comes home only every few weeks for Shabbos but made a special trip home for the night to meet Rafael.
I was up every couple of hours in the night since his days and nights are reversed, but that’s okay. We’ll get that straightened out within a week.
I am so grateful for the generous nursing mothers who shared their milk with me so we would have it here for Rafael when he arrived. His immune system and digestive system are already benefiting! I’ll be needing lots more as time goes on but right now we have enough for at least the next couple of weeks. (If you are a healthy nursing mother of a baby under 6 months who would like to help out with this and live in this area or have a way to get milk to us, please be in touch with me!)
It’s funny how everything happened so quickly but it feels so right for him to be with us. It’s really, really wonderful and I feel very blessed.
Avivah
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