Tuesday, March 30 (Day 19): Today was my "little boy's" 7th birthday. He is not such a little boy anymore, although he started out that way. He was only 5 lbs 7 ounces when he was born b/c he was about 3 weeks premature. Actually, the fact that he was premature is how we ended up with Matthew. It is a pretty amazing story. You see, Matthew's birthmother had originally selected other adoptive parents. When she went in for her doctor's appointment 4 weeks before her delivery date, the doctor told her that she was going to deliver in a few days. When she called her original adoptive parents she called to tell them that Matthew would be born in a couple days, the previously selected adoptive parents told her that they did not want a premature baby!! Can you believe that. Well, the birthmother called the agency crying b/c she was going to have a child without adoptive parents and they told her not to worry that they had the perfect adoptive parents for her, US!!! Jean rushed down to meet her at the adoption agency and 36 hours later on March 30, 2003 our son was born!
Because he was premature, Matthew's sucking reflex had not fully developed so he would barely eat any formula. In fact, he ended up spending 9 days in the neo-natal ICU because he wouldn't eat more than 40 ml of formula at one time. That is only 1 small dropper and the kid wouldn't eat it. Now we watch him eat non-stop all day long. lol. During those 9 days Jean and I literally lived in a small room at the hospital. The nursing staff at the hospital was absolutely amazing to us. They knew we were adoptive parents and they cared for us with as much compassion and tenderness as they cared for Matthew. We really felt like they were our guardian angels during those days at the hospital. We even had one of the nurses come into our room one night and ask us to talk about the adoption process b/c she and her husband had just found out that they could not have kids. We have never forgotten the incredible kindness the nurses at the hospital showed to us 7 years ago. Today, I picked up Matthew at his school and we drove out to the hospital where he was born and dropped off a big tray of cookies and brownies and a thank you card to the current nursing staff of the nursery unit. Matthew got to see where he was born and I got to once again say thanks to those responsible for making the first 9 days of Matthew's life the best 9 days of our lives.
- Jeff Hamilton
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment