Elmer

On Tuesday morning last week (November 10th), I got a call about a six-week old boy that was going to be discharged from the hospital on Thursday.  He had been there since birth, so my question before accepting the placement was if he was medically okay to go to daycare the next week.  The placement worker said she would check on that and would get back to me.  End of the day Tuesday, I still had not heard anything back.  (Tuesday evening I went to a dance fitness class with an instructor that I know well.  I know all the routines, but I kept flubbing.  The instructor said, "I don't know what has gotten into you today!"  I thought, "I know exactly what has gotten into me - my brain is elsewhere!!") 

Wednesday came and went and still nothing; so I finally called the placement worker at the end of the day.  She still had not heard anything back from the caseworker about if daycare would be ok.  Thursday at lunchtime I got an email saying that yes, he could go to daycare; and that she would pass along my information for placement.  About ten minutes after checking my email, I got a phone call from the placement worker.  She said the caseworker had some unexpected things come up for that day and asking if I could go pick up the baby directly from the hospital. 

So after work on Thursday, I went to the hospital to pick up Elmer.  (He is another bald-headed light-skinned boy, and I figured one of these bald babies needed to be named after Elmer Fudd!)  It was at one of the sister hospitals to the one where I work, so the nurses were so excited that he was going to someone "in the family."  It was obvious he had been loved on - they had bought him clothes and a stuffed animal and had written him a super sweet note.  They brought me in to give me discharge instructions, and then put him in the car seat to make sure he was okay in it, and then signed me out, and we were on our way.  He cried in the car and then finally fell asleep and ended up staying asleep for two hours after we got home.  At some point during that time, I realized I hadn't touched him yet!  Things were so chaotic at pick-up and then he fell asleep so I just left him alone.  I swaddled him for bedtime and he slept really well - he woke up to eat every three hours, but always went right back to sleep.  (The last couple of nights, he has been sleeping one five-hour stretch each night.) 

He is settling in very well, and things are going better than I was expecting. 

And I have already fallen in love.