We're already offered to buy her a pony!

Last night was a rough one... not only because of the high emotions that we were riding, but because of the guest staying next door to us in the hotel. Around 11:30pm it sounded like the kids were jumping on the bed and seeing just how far they could land in their suites hallway... and around 12:15am it was pillow fight time. We're guessing that the parents were in one suite and the children were across the hall (next to us). Security came by once... which seemed to halt their activities - for about 20 minutes.

I tossed and turned until 6:15, just about the time Chris woke up. He wanted to get out of the room and head into the closest town to go to the stores - not so much for the shopping or the potential sales, but just to buy time until our 3:30 meeting at the hospital. He ended up coming back to the room around 9:30, just as I was waking up.

He walked in the door with tears in his eyes. Today was the day... so exciting yet also sad. To be honest, trying to wrap our arms around the multitude of emotions has hit us like a brick wall. We are so amazed at the courage that Kensington's bio's have had. We wanted to wrap our arms around Kensington and them.

So we spent the next couple of hours, literally, calling hotels to check availability for anywhere between 3-10 days. Once we take custody of Kensington, we have to stay in upstate New York until both NY and PA recognize that we have custody. We were told that because of the holidays, we're at the mercy of one gentlemen in NY and one lady in PA... each wanting to take time off during the holidays. We were able to get into the Residents Inn, but having to change rooms - we'll spend one day in a Studio Suite, then we'll move to a King Suite, which will allow for (or the plan is anyway), one of us to stay in the bedroom and get some rest, while the other will be in the general living area with her in her Pak-n-Play bassinet.

Once we made our reservations, we ended up heading off to town... picked up a couple more cute outfits (smile) and had lunch at Panera.

Barb told us that she, along with the lawyers, would be at the hospital around 2:00pm to discharge our Bio-mom and dad, as well as to sign over custody to the agency. This would take between 60-90 minutes and she would call us when it's complete so we could go and sign our part.

3:00 - we're in the parking lot 1 1/2 blocks away from the hospital waiting on the call.

3:30 - no call.

3:45 - still no call and I start getting antsy.

4:00 - now I start getting worried. What could be taking so long.
Chris is now in the back seat going through everything we packed as a means of getting his mind off things. He ask if I care to join him and I quickly respond no.

4:15 - beads of sweat start forming on my forehead. I'm turning up the music one second and then off the next. Turning the heater up one second, and then rolling down the window to let the cold air rush in... this goes on for 30 minutes.

4:47 - Barb calls. The Bio-parents are leaving the hospital. All went well, but she wants us to travel down the street to Wal-mart, away from the hospital.

We travel down the road and wait in the parking lot. Are we going inside to sign the paperwork? Wait... this CAN NOT BE. I don't want a "rolling back the prices" baby, unless they're going to roll back the price of our agency fees :).

Barb shows up and we suggest the Chinese restaurant across the way to go and sign everything - one small piece of "Yum-Yum" for the scrapbook.

Barb told us that the reason that it took so long was that the hospital's social worker was new, and approached this as a closed adoption, not an agency placement. The difference in the state of NY is, an open or semi-open adoption, the birth mother and dad can sign over custody of the child to the agency, and leave once the doctor okays the discharge. A closed adoption means that the mother has to leave the hospital with the baby, then the agency takes custody of the child, most times in the parking lot (thanks Mama Peckens for the clarification). The lawyers had to call and get a hospital supervisor involved, and they were taking their time to get up to the pediatric center.

We caught up on the days events, and signed our paperwork surrounded by boxes of fortune cookies and a sad, sad looking buffet table. The irony is Chris hates Asian food and they served Pepsi not Coke. Those who know us well, know that in any other situation, we'd walked out to find a place that served Coke products (hahahaha).

So, we then traveled back to the hospital, rushed up to the the third floor and went to the nurses station, "We're Kensington's adoptive parents and we were told we needed to watch some videos" (The agency told them we'd be on our way, so they were expecting us).

One nurse brings us to a private room, rolling in a small TV and VCR player along with two tapes. One tape had three segments, SID's, Brain Injuries and Shaken Baby Syndrome. The information was good, but shot in the 80's with piano music playing in the background that made all who's ever watched this zone out in a sleep daze. 30 minutes later we popped in the second tape. Only two segments on this one: bathing and breast feeding. It's state law that we watch both tapes, but the nurses said we could forgo the second half. I'm game if you are.

The bathing video had us cracking up, sitting on the back of our chairs, and biting our nails. It was locally shot (as in, the hospital did it themselves). Apparently the nurse who was giving instructions never watched the first tape on SID's, Brain Injuries and Shaken Baby Syndrome. She's slinging this poor baby around, saying things such as, "they tell you not to do it this way, but it works for me." At one point she picked the poor child up and almost hits his head on the edge of the bath. We were thinking, what parent in their right mind would have allowed this to happen. While we were watching this tape in pure terror - if was VERY reassuring... if that baby could survive all of that, there is nothing we could ever do to harm her.

As the tape started rolling into the breastfeeding piece, the nurse rolls Kensington in and asks us if we want to feed her and change her.

Day 2 was much better for her, as she finally got an appetite. We gave her about an once of formula and then tried to burp her. Nothing. So we fed her about a half an ounce more and then tried again. This time for about 15 minutes. Nothing. At one point, I had her on my shoulder and she lifted up her body, turned her head, and looked at me like, "would you please stop". It was the most precious thing ever. Chris was cracking up and then he tried burping her - nothing. I even offered to buy her a pony if she'd just give me one little gassy burp. So I decided to change her (won't go into details there), and then laid on the bed with her on my chest. Burp. All better, but because she didn't read the fine print of my original offer, she'd needed to burp before I changed her.


We rolled her back to the nursery, said our good nights, and off to the hotel we went.

Tomorrow morning we'll head back to the hospital to get her pictures done and then they'll release her around 3:00ish. We'll sign one more set of papers and then we're on our way.

Now, let the next part of the journey begin...