Wishing she was here...

We just got home from spending time with Sami. She is doing great, and is so precious. It's so hard to leave her.

We were originally going to have a party for her a few weeks after she came home, but after talking to the pediatrician and nurses and the hospital, we have decided to wait until she is at least two months old, after she has received her two-month vaccinations. Because she is a premie, she is even more susceptible to germs than full-term newborn babies, and she really shouldn't be around large groups until after two months. No shopping malls, parties, events with large groups, etc. We also will only be having a couple of people over at a time, and will wait to have any group of people over at once for a couple of months. (This was also advised to us by the NICU nurses. We also are not supposed to have anyone around here with any symptoms of a cold or even not feeling well, just in case.) We also have to take her temperature often, and if it's ever above 100.4 we have to call the pediatrician. But we wont mind being cautious and limiting guests, because we know we will just be so happy to have her home with us where she belongs.

I have been visiting Elizabeth every day in the hospital. When Steven is with me, he visits her with me, and my mom and sister have each met her now. She is so grateful for the company, because she has no other visitors. Today we brought her a gift of bath products, and her whole face lit up. I know she hasn't done everything right, and I know she got a lot of financial support from us for the adoption, and she still gets support for the next eight weeks, and will have her December and January rent paid, but I still feel a connection to her and am so grateful to her. What she did for us is something I will always feel overwhelmed about. I do not agree with everything she has done, and we are very different people, but I feel bonded to her. I can't put it into words.

This morning Elizabeth signed the papers giving up her parental rights to us. In Florida, you can't sign those papers until 48 hours after giving birth, and once you sign the papers you can't change your mind. So she's ours for sure. The only thing still left is we wait for our court date, which should be in about 90 to 120 days to make it completely official and get her new birth certificate with our names on it, and apply for her Social Security card. Once it is official, we can convert her and do the baby naming, which will be a very special time for us.

We still needs tons of stuff, everything from clothes to diapers to bottles and blankets, etc. etc. etc. She will need premie sizes for a little bit, before moving on to newborn size. It may be a little while before she is wearing the 0-3 month size though. Only time will tell.

As I am writing this, I already miss Sami so much and wish she was here with us.