BIG Changes Take Place Fast In Foster Care!!

Oh geesh, I am the worst blogger ever!! There has been so much going on too...

To start, we sadly had to say goodbye to J on April 29th...very very sad day:( We delivered him to his grandparents with tons of clothes, supplies and instructions...all paid for by us. We didn't get around to starting his WIC (his appointment was actually that day) and our agency did very little to help with clothing. (BTW we have since learned our lesson when it comes to that) I was surprised with myself on how professional I managed to be to his grandparents considering how I felt about the situation...
Anyway, B and I went out for drinks lunch after and we probably looked like we just came from a funeral. I was very thankful that B took a half day off that day. The next day (Saturday) we got out of town!! And boy, I'm glad we did. We went to a MLB baseball game and took a long weekend to Nashville. Ate and drank too much, and slept a lot, just what we needed;)

Came back late Monday night and I felt a little lost...when was the next call coming? am I going to need to go back to work? are we able to do this time and time again??

Low and behold; Wednesday morning the phone rings:))

They had a baby girl at the children's hospital in town that needed therapeutic level foster parents. She had a rough start in her short 10 weeks on earth...born on drugs too early with no prenatal care; went into traditional foster care but 3 weeks later ended up in PICU with seizures, strokes, suspicious meningitis and frontal lobe damage:( The hospital social worker insisted that B and I sleep on it before accepting the placement because she could be a HUGE responsibility. I was ready to say yes immediately, after all this is what we went into foster care for! I ached to help her before I even met her!!

I got to meet R Thursday...oh poor baby!! She had a PICC line and pulse ox attached to her, these BIG (ok, maybe a little bulging due to the swelling) blue eyes, jaundice skin and so skinny! You could definitely see the swelling and veins in her forehead. Oh but I was IN LOVE! I was there for 5 hours the first day and many more hours by the time we left Monday evening. I learned how to mix and give her shots (all those years of fertility meds finally paid off;) in her tiny little thigh 2 x day. I also learned how to give her her anti-seizure medicine (oral liquid) and how to look for signs/symptoms of R in distress. She had MANY appointments scheduled including a weekly nurse home visit.

As the days go by she does and looks better and better! Praise God! She is pinking up and filling out. She is a beautiful angel! We also found an angel in M, her former foster mom. She helped us out tremendously! She gave us SO MANY clothes, had plenty of formula (she even got all of her May WIC allowance!) and just eons of info on R. I hope we continue to be friends and allies in R's life.

As for her bio family...mom is a piece of work! She was in jail (for a previous warrant) when R took a turn for the worst and begged the judge to let her out early so she could see and be with her baby. He allowed her to be released...did she go see her baby??? NO!! Not once!! And Children's service bent over backwards trying to get her to the hospital numerous times. R's social worker was sure to tell me that she will be telling that to the judge when she next talks to him this week. GET THIS!!! Bio maternal grandfather WANTS her adopted by us! He hasn't even met us, but social worker gave him the lowdown last Saturday when he visited:) He would like to be just a small part of R's life and that is A-OKAY by us!!

Stay tuned for more, I promise to be better!!