Lucy is home

A few years ago my husband and I embarked on a journey; a journey in adoption.  I wanted to share that journey with you.  

April 14, 2012

"Lucy" has been home for a week now.  We are all adjusting nicely to her and I am starting to learn her rhythms.  In the last week I have been able to get her on a feeding schedule every 3 hours during the day and in return she has BLESSED me with 5-7 hours of sleep every night.  She is a sweet heart and adorable.  Nadia is enjoying "the baby" most of the time.  Her most difficult moments are when other people are around.  

At home with just mommy and daddy she is a huge help and really seems to be okay with less immediate attention.  I have tried hard to find the things that seem most important to her and not neglect them.  I make sure we still get at least 15 minutes of uninterrupted play time and story time before bed is a must.  Nadia and I snuggle while Lucy lays on the bed propped up in front of us "reading" the cover of the book. 

This works out great because Lucy seems to be a night owl.  She is most awake from about 7PM -10PM, right at Nadia's bed time. She as a few other hours of awake time through out the day but sleeps most of the rest of it.  She is in bed around 10PM and then wakes between 3 and 5AM for a quick feeding then goes right back to sleep.  I usually have to wake her up around 8:30 so we can keep her on some kind of feeding schedule or I really think she would sleep the entire morning away. 

Nadia is a huge help but does often do things to get attention when people come over or we go out.  This is to be expected and though we are sure to correct the behavior, we understand this whole thing is a huge transition for her.  

We have seen the Dr this week for the first time and had a total of 5 social workers visit us.  It has been a lot. Through these social worker visits we now have a little more insight into how long this process will take, and believe me it will be long.  We have several hills to climb before we find out if she will be staying with us forever or if she will be going home to her birth family.  Again, I am unable to share more details with you in this format and there are some things I cannot share at all.  Just know that we were worried about Nadia's adoption and compared to this, that process was a slam dunk.  It was easy, this will be hard and there is absolutely NO certainty. 

Scott and I have talked about this possibility and feel the same way we did when we started the process with Nadia, even though the possibility of re-unification is so much greater.  If we were to keep little Lucy at arms length, not letting her completely into our hearts in order to protect ourselves, that would be unfair to her.  We are willing to put our emotions on the line because that is what this little girl needs and deserves.  This means of course we are also putting Nadia's heart on the line and in reality anyone following our story.  However, we are certain that we can overcome the sadness we would feel if she were to be reunited with her birth family.  In the end, if that does happen we will rest in the knowledge that we gave the absolute best we could to this baby for as long as we possibly could, understanding that it will help her in the long run. 

We have most defiantly fallen in love with this little girl.