Discharged!!!

Miss Molly

I tried to do a little photo shoot with Miss Molly after her bath the other day - because she was finally unhooked from all her wires!  I got a couple of good ones, but I'm excited to take more as soon as we are out of here. 

 

I don't think she enjoyed her first bath too much.  Oh well...  she will learn to love it!  :)

Tired

I'm too tired to write much of a post tonight. But more than anything I'm soooo tired of this hospital/hotel living. :(

I know that it's all worth it and a small price to pay for this sweet baby girl. But it's getting really old... cafeteria food, hotel pillows, dragging Tommy back and forth all day, running out of clean clothes, telling our story to each new nurse on duty, having no time with my hubby (we are each with the other child), leaving the hospital alone late at night, and the absolute worst is having Molly on a "leash"!!! She is connected to a bunch of wires measuring her vitals so we can't go more than 1-2 steps away from her bed.

I also spoke with our lawyer this morning and I get really anxious about our legal issues involving the birthfather. We feel good about our "case," but I don't like having all of this hanging over our heads. Especially since I know it will take months and months to resolve and finalize. Will you please pray specifically for this situation?? I would be so grateful!

Good news is that unless something unforeseen happens, she will definitely be discharged on Saturday!!! But now I'm nervous that ICPC paperwork won't be cleared yet and of course it's a holiday weekend... oh well, one thing at a time. Our dear friends from Maryland are arriving tomorrow and that will be a huge help! I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

St Augustine, pray for us.
St Monica, pray for us.

Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.
-St Augustine's Confessions

Indy Bloggers!

I spent the afternoon with three lovely bloggers. It was so wonderful to meet them in person after "knowing" them for so long!

They are just as I expected - cute, sweet, and so much fun! The kids were adorable and we had fun together playing at the park and then relaxing at the mall.

They brought Molly and Tommy the sweetest gifts! I'm so grateful they rearranged their schedules and made the trip out to see me. Thank you ladies! :)

Now I'm catching up on my sweet Molly time since I was gone the entire afternoon. Can't get enough of this sweet baby girl.

"Molly's Mom"

I overheard the nurses talking this evening and they called me "Molly's Mom." It stopped me in my tracks and of course I loved being called that!

Today was another good day for Molly. Here is what our daily schedule has been like: my hubby goes to the hospital in time for the 6:30am feeding while Tommy and I have breakfast and get ready. Then he comes back to get us and we spend the morning at the hospital. Mid-day my hubby takes Tommy back to the hotel for a nap while I stay at the hospital. After his nap I've been trying to take Tommy on outings to the park or somewhere else fun. After dinner together we go back to the hotel for bath/bedtime and then I return to the hospital for the evening. I'm usually back to the hotel by 11pm and we start over again the next day!

We are surviving, but I'm sure this will get old soon. The good news is that Molly should be discharged by Saturday!! :)

Six Days Old

Hard to believe that we've been here a week - in a way it's flown by, and yet it feels like we've been here forever.

Molly continues to make great progress. She is eating more and the doctor weaned her again from the morphine. Hopefully she keeps it up!

I am so grateful for all the loving care she receives from the nurses. Any idea how I can thank them?? Donuts in the morning??

Thank you again for all the love, prayers and support. It is keeping our spirits up over here!

Good Day

Another good day for Molly! Her scores continue to stay low and she weaned down to a lower dose of morphine. Apparently she pulled out her feeding tube in the middle of the night, so it's gone now! She's eating from the bottle like a champ.

It's a little challenging to spend as much time with Molly as we can while still meeting Tommy's needs, but we are making the most of our situation. Having a big room and access to all the Peds toys and movies definitely helps. :)

We are so grateful for all the love, support and prayers we have received. We have also been touched by the kindness of strangers. The first night we were in NICU we got a gift bag that all families receive when their baby is there. It was full of hats, socks, booties, picture frame, toiletries, etc. These gifts are put together by a woman who had a child in the NICU that did not survive. She calls this ministry "Project Sweet Pea." We were so touched!

Then today we received two hand-made quilts (one for Tommy and one for Molly.) They are made by women from a local church for the kids and babies in the hospital. What a nice gift!

Baby Blessing

Molly's hospital tags have her name listed as "Baby Blessing" since she is being adopted... and I couldn't agree more! She is truly a blessing and we are loving her more and more everyday.

Today my hubby and I spent some quality time with Molly since my friend H was able to take Tommy for the day. She also brought us a delicious home-cooked meal which was so thoughtful!

Here are a few quick updates on Molly and our situation. She had a good day and starting the weaning process. She is on morphine and they will slowly bring down her dosage each day and observe that she's handling the changes. Hopefully she has a good 24 hours and can continue lowering the levels tomorrow.

She also took a bottle during her 6:30pm and 9:30pm feedings. It was so great to feed her and give her a little more care and attention than yesterday. Hopefully they will be able to remove her feeding tube soon. Also her body temps have maintained and she no longer needs to be under the heaters. Lots of good steps today!

Despite our situation we have been very blessed. We are in a Catholic hospital which is wonderful. Tommy and I visit the chapel 2-3 times a day. It's both helpful and sad that the chapel has been empty every single time we are there. I love that there is a cross in every room of the hospital and a prayer comes over the loud speaker at noon.

Also, even though Molly is still a NICU patient, we were transferred to the Pediatric unit. (They needed the space for more critical babies.) This means Tommy is allowed to be with us and we have a huge room! The Peds unit has a big play room full of toys that has been helpful to entertain Tommy.

The staff has been wonderful and we feel that Molly is getting great care. The cafeteria food is pretty good and the room service is super convenient. Somehow we will make all of this work!

Quick Update

Overall Molly is doing well and responding to her treatment so far. She has a feeding tube and is under a heater so we didn't get to hold her today. Hoping that soon she will be back to her bottles so we can have some snuggle time with her.

NICU

Unfortunately Molly has been admitted to the NICU for withdrawal. (I posted an update last night but took it down because the details kept changing.)

The good news is that her long term prognosis is good. In the short term we will be here in the hospital for two or more weeks. Definitely not what we were expecting!

All the paperwork was signed this morning by the birthmother and we had a good talk with the lawyer about the birthfather situation.

Please keep us all in your prayers - for Molly's health as her little body goes through this process and for our legal battle in the upcoming months regarding the birthfather.

Obviously we were not expecting any of these bumps in the road, but we are so in love with this little girl and just want to take her home!

Mary, Queen of Heaven, pray for us.

Good morning!

Meet MOLLY!!

Mary “Molly” Margaret

Born: August 20 at 8:06am
Weight: 7 lbs 2 oz
Length: 20 inches

The name Mary is meaningful to us because of our devotion to the Blessed Mother. We are grateful for her powerful intercession in our lives – not the least of which was during our pilgrimage to Lourdes. She is the perfect model of holiness with her everlasting “yes” to God’s will.

Mary and Margaret are both family names. Gina's mother and Troy’s paternal grandmother are named Mary.Troy’s mother and Gina’s maternal grandmother are named Margaret.We are happy to honor those women who mean so much to us.

History is full of many great St. Marys and St. Margarets. We are partial to St. Margaret the Barefooted because of her advocacy for the poor and St. Margaret Mary of Alacoque, known for spreading the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

We hope that these wonderful saints will intercede for our little girl and the great women in our family will be models for her to follow.

Things are going well here at the hospital. Molly is in good health and we were able to hold and feed her right after she was born. We hope to bring her “home” to the hotel on Wednesday.We have to stay in Indiana for up to 10 days while the ICPC paperwork clears and then we will begin the drive home.

Please keep us in your prayers during this time – for Molly and especially for her birthmother.

We are full of joy and so grateful for God’s blessings.

Troy, Gina & Tommy

Indiana

I intended to write yesterday but was just too exhausted and emotionally drained after spending the afternoon with the birthmother, A.

It was an easy drive from Columbus to our hotel here in Indiana. We arrived with just enough time to check into our hotel, quickly freshen up and meet A and her family. Despite a miscommunication about the time, it worked out well because the restaurant was very crowded and there was a long wait.

I was so nervous, to say the least! She had seen our profile and obviously chose us, but I was couldn't help but think, "What will she think of us? What if she doesn't like us?"

When we first saw her she stood up and gave me a hug and I said, "You are so beautiful!" Ha! I hope that wasn't too weird. She is so pretty and the cutest pregnant lady. I hadn't seen any pictures of her so I had no idea what to expect.

Despite all of the obvious awkwardness of the situation, it was a great first meeting and lunch together. The caseworker from the adoption agency was with us at the very beginning but didn't stay long. A's four year old daughter and Tommy entertained each other and shared their toys, so that was nice.

A suggested that we go by the hospital after lunch to see everything, which was so thoughtful! It turns out that we will get to have our very own room to be with the baby. I couldn't believe it! Although Mrs Mike had told me about her experience and that she had her own room. Have I mentioned that her beautiful daughter was born in the very same hospital?? What are the chances?? Both coming from Maryland to adopt baby girls and both due on Aug 20!! Small world.

Anyways, it was a great afternoon together.  We were exhausted afterwards - my hubby took Tommy to the pool while I unpacked our room.  Everyone went to bed early. 


Today was a lovely last day as a family of three, until it ended with a trip to Urgent Care for Tommy.  Ugh! 

We went to Mass at the Cathedral here - St. Mary's - then back to the hotel to nap.  I did some shopping at Target for some last-minute essentials.  After lunch we spent the afternoon at a sweet park in town here.  It was a big park that included a lake, playground, train rides, zoo and water park!  The weather has been gorgeous and we enjoyed our time together. 

After dinner we were ready to head back to the hotel to rest, relax and prepare for the big day tomorrow.  Unfortunately in the parking lot Tommy fell and hit his head on the curb.  (He had actually fallen this morning and hit the same spot, just not as badly.)  It immediately swelled into a HUGE bump.  It looked so awful.  He has had plenty of bumps on his forehead, but nothing like this. 

Thankfully there was an urgent care just a mile away.  They checked him out and said everything was normal (no passing out, no vomiting, eyes looks normal, he's acting happy, etc.)  The doctor suggested we wake him once during the night to check on him - although I really don't want to wake him unnecessarily. 

Ugh, my poor little guy!  He didn't seem to even notice it after we got back to the hotel, but I feel so badly.  It looks awful and of course I'm bummed about all the pictures we will be taking this week.  The doctor said he will probably get black/blue eyes after the blood drains.  Oh well, in the scheme of things it could be much worse! 

Keep us in your prayers tomorrow!  Here are a few pics....

Columbus

We made it to Columbus, Ohio around 3:00pm this afternoon. The first part of our drive was great. My hubby did the driving and I kept Tommy entertained in the backseat with movies, games, toys, music, etc.

He napped for an hour and when he woke up we started looking for a place to stop for lunch. Unfortunately we didn't stop soon enough and hit major road construction traffic - one hour to go 7 miles. Ugh.

After that we had a nice long lunch break and it was only an hour or so more to our hotel. We swam in the pool, went out to dinner and Tommy is out like a light. Fingers crossed that he sleeps well all night long!

A few pics...

And We're Off

Well not until tomorrow morning.  But I wanted to post quickly. 

The car is mostly packed - we will put in all the last-minute stuff tomorrow morning.  We are hoping to leave shortly after Tommy wakes.  He's been waking up around 5:15am, so we will probably hit the road pretty early. 

The plan is to do most of the driving tomorrow and the rest Saturday morning.  We should arrive mid-day and we are meeting the birthmother at 2:00pm.  Sunday we will get settled into the hotel room (we are staying in a suite-type room with a little kitchen.)  Monday morning is the delivery date!  Her c-section is scheduled for sometime that morning. 

We spoke with our attorney yesterday for the first time to discuss the issues that have come up with the birthfather.  Unfortunately it was pretty disheartening to hear all the "worst case scenarios" but I know that it's his job to inform us.  We feel called to pursue this adoption and hope and pray she will be ours forever!

Thank you again for all the prayers.  We truly appreciate them and really need you to keep praying!

Assumption

Happy Feast of the Assumption! 

Tommy has been up super early lately and we all made it to 6:30am Mass this morning.  For the most part he is good in church and it was really sweet to be together as a family. 

I came across two great quotes this morning that I thought I would share:

"Precisely because Mary is with God and in God, she is very close to each one of us...Our Lady knows our hearts, can hear our prayers, can help us with her motherly kindness...We can always entrust the whole of our lives to this Mother."
-Pope Benedict XVI

This quote is from a letter by Blessed John Paul II and gives a good definition of the Assumption:
"The Second Vatican Council affirms that the Immaculate Virgin 'was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, when her earthly life was over' (Lumen gentium, n. 59).
The Council Fathers wished to stress that Mary, unlike Christians who die in God’s grace, was taken up into the glory of heaven with her body. This age-old old belief is expressed in a long iconographical tradition which shows Mary ‘entering’ heaven with her body.
The dogma of the Assumption affirms that Mary's body was glorified after her death. In fact, while for other human beings the resurrection of the body will take place at the end of the world, for Mary the glorification of her body was anticipated by a special privilege.”


I started packing this morning.  Ahh!  I'm trying to be prepared without over-packing.  I had hoped that I could use one suitcase for me, Tommy and the baby - but so far the baby stuff is taking up most of the space.  Hopefully all our stuff fits in our little car.  Hard to believe that we will leave as a family of three and return as a family for four! 

Prayers

We got some sad news yesterday - my husband's uncle passed away.  He had been battling cancer for awhile and this past week we knew the end was near.  Please pray for his wife, children and grandchildren. 

I know it's tough for my hubby to be far from his family.  If we weren't in the middle of this adoption, he would have most likely traveled last week to say good-bye or this coming week for the funeral.  These are the times when the distance is a so hard.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.

Time continues to move very slowly for me.  I'm going a little bit crazy!  The weather was nice yesterday so Tommy and I spent some time outside and spent the afternoon at the pool. 

Last night I went to my dear friend L's house because she is graciously giving us tons of baby girl clothes and items!  Her daughter is three months old and they are finished with all the newborn stuff.  This is not the first time she has helped us out - her son is just three months older that Tommy.  Isn't that amazing?  Just one of the many coincidences surrounding this adoption. 

Another one involves my parents.  When Tommy was born, they had already scheduled a trip to visit us in late-May - which was just two weeks after his birth.  The same thing has happened again!  They will be on the East Coast for the USC-Syracuse game,  I was planning to meet them in NYC for the game and then we would travel back to my house together and they would stay for a week.  Obviously I will miss the game, but they will still come visit and meet the baby just a few weeks after she is born.  Crazy!

I'm trying not to get ahead of myself and take things one step at a time. But I couldn't resist buying these shirts:

We have every reason to be hopeful that this adoption will go through, but I can't help guarding my heart.  We are going through all the motions, but it still feels completely unreal and it's hard to feel  excited - if that makes sense.  I'm still keeping all my emotions at a distance. 

Thank you again for all the prayers.  I would be so grateful if you could keep them up!

St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.