Baby O: The First Night

Since my husband wasn't yet home with the formula, I immediately brought the baby upstairs and stripped him.  He was wearing a very wet diaper and a sleeper that was too big for him.  I filled up the baby tub and gave him a long bath.  He didn't even cry.  I had to wash his hair three times to get the smell of nicotine out.

By the time he was out of the tub, lotioned, powdered, and dressed in a fresh diaper, a onesie, and a warm pair of pajamas, my husband was home, so I made him a bottle.  He drank down eight ounces so quickly, I hardly had time to burp him.  He seemed perfectly happy to be with us, snuggled up, and went right to sleep.

Though I did have clothes in the house, I didn't have diapers and I only had that one canister of formula.  I had to spend the $200 voucher at Walmart (that's the only choice they give you).  I know I could have left him with my daughter since he was sleeping, but I just couldn't leave him. I had waited so long!  Plus, I didn't want him to wake up and be scared. I didn't want to leave her with a crying, frightened baby.

I decided I would take him with me, so my husband put the infant car seat in my car (he was well-practiced because we had our "adopted" granddaughter Aisha* in our cars many times).  Then it hit me that I had no idea what size diapers to buy, so we weighed the baby by weighing Darryl holding Baby O and then just weighing Darryl and subtracting the weight:  16 pounds; size three!  Clearly Baby O was not malnourished or underweight.  He was a little porker and was in 6-month clothes (which I had a ton of thanks to post-Halloween shopping!)

We got to Walmart and I put him in a front carrier.  I am a big fan of people who wear their babies.  I used to wear my own daughter all the time when she was a baby, and then Aisha when she was visiting.  Baby O seemed to love it and nested up with his head right on my chest.  Darryl had a calculator out and pushed the cart while I shopped so we could make sure we were buying what the baby needed while not going over the voucher.

We were instructed to buy clothes that the baby could take with him when he returned home (whenever that might be).    Since he came to me with literally nothing, I wanted to make sure he had what he needed when he left.  Everything I had purchased before was meant to stay in my house.  This was stuff he could take with him.

I bought formula, bottles, diapers, wipes, and a diaper bag.  With the rest, I wanted to buy warm winter clothes.  Except here's the thing: in late December, there ARE no winter clothes left in the stores, not even in Central New York where is it winter until late April.  It was all short-sleeved shirts and thin pants -- not to mention the fact that Walmart doesn't have the best quality.  We bought socks and onesies and sleep sacks and anything even remotely warm.  The whole time, he was cuddled up, happily sleeping.  

As we were leaving the baby section, I ran into a couple that I had met in foster class.  I pointed down at Baby O excitedly, "Look, look!  I have my baby!"  They oooed and ahhhed and the wife asked if she could hold him.  She was surprised this chunky love was only three months old.

I literally could not have been happier.  I had waited six long months from when I decided to foster to when Baby O came into our lives.  2018 hadn't even started and it was already amazing.

Mushu

* A word about Aisha:  Aisha is the daughter of my former student and his wife.  Neither of their parents live in the US and so we became her adopted grandparents.  We call her Mushu.  She's two-and-a-half now and just moved to Japan, but we love her and always will!