Not 24-hours after K was moved, we got a call from foster care about an infant in care who was being released from the NICU to his new foster home. "J" was born just 7 days before he came to us, and he was a ball of fire and sleepy cuddles all at the same time. He had been exposed to drugs and AIDS in utero, was born addicted, and on top of all of that, arrived 4 weeks early. The moment the caseworker said "newborn baby", we said "YES!" "J" was brought over a few hours later, only giving me time to run to Babies R Us for a few things (diapers, wipes, a carseat and crib mattress), while the hubs stayed home to fight with getting a crib up for him to sleep in that night.
J arrived and was perfect. We loved him immediately and fumbled all over each other to hold, rock, feed, burp and snuggle him as much as we could without waking him every 10 minutes. He was so beautiful to our baby-sore eyes. That was June 16, 2016, and we have been in love ever since. We have raised J as our own butter bean and have been there for every doctor's appointment, blood HIV test, neurology consult, occupational therapy visit, and even weekly visits with his bio parents at the foster care office (when bio mom isn't in jail, of course). It has been more of a roller coaster of feelings than I could have ever thought we could handle, but we would do it all again and again to have the opportunity to love this kid and see him grow! Luckily, he is happy, healthy, and part of our family as though he came from us.
Today, baby J is almost 7 months old! He is still a "foster", but we hope to adopt him this year. Foster care creates a 6 month plan for bio parents to follow and if they succeed, they are rewarded with more visits and eventually, reunification with their removed child. In this case, J's parents have no intention of working any plan, regularly miss visits, offer no support, and sometimes get arrested and incarcerated, missing their required drug intervention programs. Without following the plan, foster care expects to terminate their parental rights this June. Until then, we keep on truckin' and watching this little dude show us who he is and all his personality! He loves peaches, peas (ewww), and gnawing on mango slices while slobbering all over my hands. He's not yet on the move, but is dying to crawl. I give it 2 more weeks before he's a full on escape artist. He's full of affection and loves to smoosh his open mouth against your cheek for "kisses". He spends nightly tummy time on the floor with daddy, and wrestles with the best of them. We cannot WAIT to see who he becomes as he grows and changes. The joy he's brought could only be topped by multiplying him into more babies! Speaking of more babies.....
After 4 years, two surgeries, and 4 rounds of IVF....we are finally having a rainbow baby! I am currentl 19w pregnant with our little one to come, and couldn't be more excited to see baby J as a big brother. The new bean will arrive in early June (c-section due to my TAC and diabetes monster). Before you ask, you nosey Parkers, we aren't finding out the sex, so there is nothing to share there. You'll have to be surprised like the rest of us! Stay tuned for updates on how the new bean is growing and how baby J is adjusting to having a pregnant mom and what that means. There's been some stress at the idea that this was about the time I delivered our other babies too early and about what being diabetic may mean for this baby. Hopefully, it will continue to be an uneventful ride...right on to the delivery room!