I’m 35 weeks pregnant this week — and we got to bring our precious baby boy that we’re fostering home from the NICU on Wednesday!!
All three kids have anxiously been waiting for two weeks to get to meet this very loved baby boy! They have willingly stayed home 24/7 to protect our home from germs, done the bulk of the laundry, cooking, and cleaning while I was taking care of this little guy at the NICU, and have talked incessantly about the day we would get to bring him to our house!
It brought tears to my eyes to see my husband and kids loving on this tiny boy whom I have fallen so in love with the past two and a half weeks. (See a video here.)
Welcome to our home, Champ. We already love you more than you can imagine. Our heart and hope is for you to have reunification with your mama, but we promise to love you, care for you, and advocate for you as long as we get to be your foster family.
(Note: We debated over what “internet name” to give this sweet guy and finally all decided on Champ. Because though he is little, he is so strong. And I kept finding myself reporting to people that he did this or that “like a champ”. I realized it was the perfect moniker for him online! Also, thank you for your understanding that there’s a lot we can’t share when it comes to photos and details. While everything in my mama heart wants to show the world how cute and amazing he is and how proud I am of how much progress he is making, protecting his privacy and story is much more important to us.)
Highlights:
It’s pretty surreal and special to get the opportunity to love on a tiny little newborn during the last few weeks of my pregnancy. Since I’m the only one who is trained to feed him right now (and he eats every 3 hours) and he’s still adjusting to being in a different bed/place after weeks in the NICU, my sleep has been a little on the short side this week.
However, God has been so faithful to carry me through — through the 24-hour stay with him at the hospital so the nurses could observe my care of him and make sure I was ready to bring him home, through a few relatively sleepless nights, and through so many meetings/appointments with various medical professionals about his long term medical needs.
I’m learning so much and feel like I add new words and terms to my vocabulary every day! Also, this whole having babies with older kids is just about the best.thing.ever!!! Jesse and the kids have done SO much this week and the transition has honestly felt so smooth and easy, thanks to them!
Notable:
I feel like my belly popped yet again this week and I outgrew more clothes! Baby has been SO active and seems very healthy.
I’m also having much more intense contractions — which is very common for me in the last month. I get to start weekly ultrasounds next week and I’m excited to get to see our little babe on the screen again! We’re also hoping maybe just maybe baby will cooperate and we’ll be able confirm the gender with the DNA test.
We have almost everything ready except we need to buy another car seat, finalize a few things for the birth, and pack the hospital bags. I also am hoping to get Champ all adjusted to sleeping in his bed in our room and need to get Jesse and Kathrynne trained on making bottles and feeding/caring for him. (We’re supposed to have a nurse come stay at our house to care for him during my birth, but I still want to have some backup!) I don’t expect to go early, so I should have time!
