Kaleigh Anna Racine

Kaleigh was born on Wednesday, January 9th at 4:46 p.m. She was 7lb. 13oz. and 20in. long.  To say that we love her is a huge understatement. We cannot imagine our life without her. We want to share our story of our time down in Florida. To be honest, before we started the adoption process we had so many fears about adoption, but this experience has far exceeded anything we could have ever hoped for. We have been told by many that this is not a normal scenario, so we feel so blessed to have this be our story.

We got a call on Monday the 7th around noon that our birth mother (M) was going to be induced on Tuesday night and that they'd break her water on Wednesday morning. We immediately started packing the car and making plans to head that way. That afternoon we drove to TN to spend the night with my parents in order to give us a jump start on our trip. Very early on Tuesday morning we started towards FL. Our birth mom was going to be admitted around 8 p.m. so we had plenty of time to get there.

When we first got to Florida we met up with a woman who had worked hard to get us a condo for a good price. She is the aunt of a friend of ours and she was so helpful. We met up with her to get the keys to the condo and the info we needed for the condo. We then met up with M and her mom for dinner. We had been talking to M every week so we felt like we knew her, but this was the first time we met her in person. It was so great to finally meet her and also have the opportunity to meet her mom.  They are some of the sweetest people we've ever met.

We then went to the hospital so M could get checked in. We went back and saw her for a few minutes and then decided to leave for the evening to get some sleep. Since our condo was about 20 minutes away we decided to stay at my friend Meagan's house (her and her husband went to Murray State while I was on staff with CO and were involved with CO and also we went to church together-they were a huge blessing to us in so many ways).

The next morning we went to the hospital. As we set ourselves up in the waiting room-Diet Coke, Netflix, the works!-we texted M's mom (who was there with her) to let her know we were there and told them that if they needed anything to let us know. They said there was no sense in us sitting in the waiting room and that we should come back to the room with them. It was so nice to just be able to sit with them and get to know them. We felt like we learned so much about them that we can one day tell Kaleigh. What was really crazy is how much M and I had in common-we both HATE when people touch our feet, we don't like any of our food on our plate to touch, etc. I thought it was neat how God did that. We also got to meet M's dad. He is so great too! The thing that really stood out to us about this family is how much they love and care for each other.

At about 4:15 p.m. the doctor came in and said she was stuck at about 8.5 cm and that if she didn't progress in the next 2 hours he would have to do a c-section. He told M to let him know when she was done. She immediately said she was done. She didn't want to have a c-section (therefore we didn't want her to have one) because she wanted to be able to go back to work sooner, but she took it like a champ. They told us it would be about an hour long procedure. They took her back around 4:30

At this hospital, every time a baby is born they play a song over the intercom. At 4:46 we heard the song and I said "Aw someone else had their baby!!" About 5 minutes later a nurse wheeled around the corner and stopped in front of the room we were sitting in. We jumped up and started bawling as soon as we laid eyes on her.  This was the answer to so many prayers. This was the end of our journey through infertility. This was what we had dreamed of. This was our little girl.

They immediately had to take her to the nursery to check her out, get her warm, give her a bath, check her vitals, etc. We got to go in there with her and talk to her and touch her and cry over her. It's hard to sum up the emotions that we felt.

We weren't sure what it would look like from there-would M want to see her when she got out of recovery? Would she just want us to stay in the nursery with her (they had a little room we could sit in)? Would M or her family want some time by herself with her? What was to unfold was beyond what either of us could have imagined.

We got a text from M's mom telling us that they were back in the room and that we could come and bring the baby whenever we got finished up in the nursery. By this point, we had gotten to know them all so well it seemed so natural to go in there. I won't go into all the details but over the next few days that M was in the hospital we spent everyday from about 9 a.m-11 p.m. in her room with her and her family. We got to see them hold Kaleigh, kiss her, tell her they love her and then encourage us that we were going to be great parents. We are so thankful that we got to see that because it shows us (and one day will show Kaleigh) how much they love her. We also got to know them so we have things to tell Kaleigh about her birth family. They even gave her gifts! This family is so sweet-words just can't explain it. I really feel like this blog post absolutely does not do it justice and I don't know how to do it justice. M and her family are people we are very thankful for and highly respect.

As we got discharged on Saturday morning the time was coming to say goodbye. At this point we had invited M and her family to come do pictures with us that Tuesday (thanks to Meagan) so we knew it wasn't a forever goodbye, but just more of a see you soon. But what do you say to a woman and her family who just gave you the greatest gift, the thing you have longed for? How do you put your gratitude into words? We told M "the words thank you don't do it justice, but thank you." As M and her dad got in their car and as we got in ours there were hugs and tears and so much gratitude. They were even thanking us for loving Kaleigh so much. I mean, seriously? At the hospital and in days since through text, they have constantly encouraged us in our parenting and have sent their love to Kaleigh.

On that next Tuesday we did get pictures taken and we will forever treasure those and can't wait for Kaleigh to see all of us together loving her. M's mom texted me the other day and said "to us, you're family." We feel the same way. We are a new family, us and them. It seems crazy that we have only known them a little over 2 weeks, it seems like much longer. In the beginning of this process Heath and I did not want an open adoption at all, but after day 1 we told them if they ever want to see us and Kaleigh in the future to let us know and we could work something out. They tell us this is not a "normal" situation, but this is our normal and we are so very thankful.

On that Friday morning we left FL and headed to TN. We spent a couple of nights there and then headed on back to IN. We have been home almost a week and we still feel like we are dreaming. Some times I look down at Kaleigh and think "she is really my daughter." After praying for this for so long, it is so sweet to see God's specific answer to our prayers for children. I am so thankful God called us to adoption because if not, we would not have our Kaleigh and we would not have had the privilege to meet M and her family. God has been so gracious to us and has been so kind. We have spent lots of time praising Him and asking for His grace as we raise sweet Kaleigh. This has been such a fun part of our beautiful journey!