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Seven Days to a Miracle
A Story of Adoption
By Stefanie O'Neill
They say adoptive parents in this stage should be cautiously optimistic. I am trying really hard to be cautious, but the reality is that my heart will break if something happens. We will go on and try again, but I can't not wish and wonder!
This is not our baby, yet. He is Mary and Dave's baby, and maybe they will give us the most incredible gift anyone could ever give us: the ability to raise their child as our own. I do not dismiss the magnitude of their decision. I can't possibly understand what they are going through right now. We just have to wait and see if it is our time.
August 18, 2002
On Monday, Brian and I visit what just could be our little boy. Mary and Dave have left the hospital and have signed a form stating that we can see, hold and care for their baby.
At the hospital, we wait for the social worker to call and OK our seeing the baby. They are making sure that Mary and Dave have not changed their minds. It's a long 30 minutes, but a nurse pulls the bassinet up to the window.
I don't burst into tears the first time I see him. I am just in awe. This little being fascinates me. He doesn't look like a newborn. He doesn't have the puffy face and squinty eyes. I just stare, and Brian is speechless. I think he is close to tears. After 15 minutes, the nurse pulls the baby into the station and tells us that we can touch him in the bassinet until the social worker calls.
