A Hard Day's Night

Welcome back to Day 24 of Our Adoption Adventure. Thanks so much for reading! To start from the beginning click here.

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         The second day brought more uncertainty. We did not know if Emma was thinking about parenting the babies herself or what she was thinking. We tried to talk to her, but she always had someone in her room. She kept the babies with her the whole day. My husband said,

“The more she bonds with the babies, the harder it will be for her to follow through with the adoption plan.”

         We called home. Our family wanted to know what was happening and if we were bringing the babies home. We did not know. We talked to our two older children at home. They were anxious to know if we were bringing the babies home also.

         The doctor checked the babies. They were healthy and there was no reason for them to stay in the hospital. Emma was healthy and hopefully we could all leave the next day. I prayed it would be in the morning.

         That night we slept in our tiny room attached to the nursery. We were asleep for a few minutes when the crying started. Loudly. I lay in bed staring at the ceiling. I tried to determine if it was one of my babies. The child was screaming as if in pain. Should I get up and go check on the baby? Was there a nurse there? After about ten minutes of screaming, we assumed the baby received a bottle and the crying stopped. We dozed off.

Forty-five minutes later more crying started. It started slowly and then ramped up in volume.

Waaah! Waaaaah! Waaaaaaaaaah!

Should I get up? Was there a nurse taking care of that baby? Were they going to let them cry all night? 

Fifteen minutes went by and finally the crying stopped.

Back to sleep.

1:15am the crying woke us up again.

My husband said, “Who thought this was a good idea? Do you think it is too late to go get a hotel?”  

We waited in the darkness debating whether we should pack our things and find a hotel.

Then the crying stopped.

Exhausted we fell back to sleep.

2:00am the crying started back up. It felt like we were in one of those sleep deprivation experiments. Fifteen minutes went by and another baby joined in the crying. Was I supposed to do something? Were those my babies? Did they give us this room so I would check on the boys at night?  I had to go find out.

         Climbing on the mattresses to get to the door, I walked out into the hallway. It was dark except for the small lights of monitors and equipment. I walked around to the front door of the nursery and stuck my head inside. Two nurses were rocking babies in the dimly lit room.

“Are those my babies crying?” I asked.

The nurses turned to look at me. “No, yours are the only ones who aren’t crying. We have been feeding and changing babies all night. ” 

         I looked around and found the twins, swaddled tightly and sleeping side by side in their single bassinet. They looked so sweet together. It was good to know they could sleep through the constant crying of four other babies. Each nurse was trying to calm the baby they held. The loudest crying came from the corner. There was the largest newborn I had ever seen, with a puffy face and rolls of fat on his arms and legs. He was hooked up to some tubes and screaming. His bassinet tilted up so he was almost vertical. He looked like he was three months old.

“Is he all right?” I asked. 

“No, the poor thing has diabetes and is in some pain. There is not much we can do.” One nurse replied.

         This pattern of crying, waking up, sleeping, crying, waking up, sleeping continued until we decided to get up at 5am to see if any restaurants were open.

         Driving slowly back to the hospital, we had lost our joy and energy.  We knew God was in control. We didn’t think we could physically do this anymore. This had to be the day we would go home. This was only the third day, although being awake for two of the nights made it seem like we had been there for a week.

“We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:51

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Have you ever had one of those nights?

***Join me here tomorrow for what we prayed would be our last day at the hospital. ***