Coming Home

We got up the morning of November 21 and prepared for checkout.  We packed up all our bags and placed them by the door. We grabbed some breakfast in the kitchen of the RMH and we waited for the call.

And waited.

Then, at around 10:30am, we were notified that our ICPC had been approved and we could come home!  We printed our boarding passes in the RMH offices and were on our way to the airport in Fargo!

But we had to get a picture with this guy first!

We returned our rental car and checked our luggage and were waiting in security before we knew it!

 

I kept Ellie in the wrap pretty much the whole time and she slept wonderfully on our first flight. 

 

Flying from Fargo to Minneapolis.

 

Took her out to feed her, but she fell back asleep.

 

We had enough time at the airport to grab some lunch and change her diaper before our flight from Minneapolis to Louisville.

 

 

By the way, this is what a tray looks like when you travel with a newborn :) 

 

At one point in time, Ellie had been sleeping on me and I laid her down and noticed this dragonfly imprint on her cheek.  I had forgotten I was wearing that necklace for a split second and it caught me off guard.  It is just kisses from her sister...

 

 

Our wonderful friends met us in Louisville and drove us to the Lexington airport, where our car was.

 

We made it home around 11:30 the night before Thanksgiving.  Ethan was so excited to get to meet his sister, he hadn't slept yet.  He knew we were on our way and didn't want to be asleep when we got to my Mom's.

 

 

When we pulled up to my Mom's house and got out of the van, we could hear him yelling inside the house, "They're here!!! Praise God!!!  Thank you Jesus!!!!" at the top of his lungs!

 

He was in awe of her and loved her from the minute he saw her.

 

 

Fargo Bound!

Our last day in Bismarck led to our first day in Fargo.  As we waited for the ICPC to pass and get the all clear to leave the state, a few things happened that made our agency contact encourage us to head to Fargo and wait.  We got a rental car and drove the three hours to Fargo where there was a room waiting for us at the Ronald McDonald House (have I mentioned how much I LOVE them?)

 

 

The roads are long, straight, and flat there!

 

She didn't mind the car seat at all and slept most of the way.

 

We had to stop once and change her diaper and give her a bottle.

 

Still feeling like this wasn't real.

 

We got to meet up again with my blog friend and have dinner with her and her family in Fargo.

 

Then, the re-pack of all our luggage!  We left Bismarck quicker than we expected and kind of packed in a hurry.  So, before we could fly, we needed to re-pack our bags to be best suited for flying home.  We still hadn't heard when that would be, but we were praying for the next day.

 

The RMH had just put up their first Christmas tree and we couldn't help but snap a picture there.

 

A friend of ours in Kentucky had been updating everyone on her friends list on FB about our crazy journey trying to get to North Dakota and had posted a request for her friends to pray we would get home before Thanksgiving (just our own personal wish and so that we weren't there waiting through the holidays for the ICPC to pass).  Some one she barely knew contacted her and said he wanted to get us home.  He said he was an international businessman and had lots of Sky Miles saved up he wanted to cash in and get us home.  We hadn't received approval yet, but he insisted that if we didn't book them tonight, we would never be able to get tickets the next day.  We warned him that we might have to cancel if he booked, but he wanted to anyway.

He called the airlines and they said that the day before Thanksgiving was the only blackout day of the year he couldn't use Sky Miles.  He explained the situation and they allowed it!  He booked our tickets home and said he was praying for us.  We got an email with our boarding passes and that was it!  As long as we got ICPC approval the next morning, we were going to be on a plane home at 1:00!

Our Weekend at the RMH

We loved having the weekend at the Ronald McDonald House.  We still can't believe how blessed we were to be able to spend our entire time at the house (even after she was discharged from the hospital).  We just had to wait on the court proceedings in North Dakota to happen and then the ICPC (interstate adoption process) to happen.  It was our prayer to be home by Thanksgiving, everyone thought there was just no way that would happen though.

 

This post is just another photo dump.  Enjoy!

 

We did a lot of this.  Sleeping and watching her sleep.

A friend mailed us some super cute hats she made for Ellie.

She had to grow into this one :)

She loved looking at our faces and she was still smiling all the time.

 

We spent a lot of time in the family room downstairs near the room we were staying in.  It was quiet and we would watch TV and relax.

This is in the upstairs living room area.  She loved being worn and I loved wearing her.

This is Norma.  RMH volunteer, adoptive mama, and super sweet lady we loved.

Ellie's footprints on her NICU page.

Us coming "home" to our room.

Family time :)  Just missing our boy!

She loved having her face rubbed and being sung to.

Gobble Gobble!

It's a girl cupcake!

Falling asleep holding my pinky.

Photo bombed by our resident bear.

Late night cuddle time.  Bring on the late nights!

 

Bustin' Out of NICU

On Thursday, November 16, a blog friend came to the hospital and chauffeured us around Bismarck.  It was the most of the city we had seen since we had arrived.  She took us to a couple of different stores to find a carseat, bottles, formula, a camera, a few extra pcs of baby clothes and I might have bought her a dress for church while we were shopping :)  The nurses told us they believed that Ellie would be discharged the next day, so we had to start getting ready.

She also bought our lunch and then took us back to the hospital to spend more time with our girl.

 

Friday Morning, we packed our diaper bag before we left the Ronald McDonald House, made sure we had her car seat, car seat cover, extra hat, blanket, and for some reason, I grabbed the laptop.

 

When we got to the hospital that morning, we were met with smiling nurses saying, "Today is the day!"  Asking us what our plans for the next few days were, and giving us hugs.  They were all really amazing.

 

As they were hooking her up for the last round of antibiotics, I got a call from our agency.  To make a long story short, there had been a hiccup in some of our paperwork (which really wasn't a surprise, everything happened so quickly) and we had to print a few documents, sign them, scan them, and fax them.  We also needed to add an addendum to our homestudy.  Right then.  Everything had to be at the attorney's office by 4:30.  That day.  Because it was Friday.  And there was a court date set for Monday (TPR) and if we didn't have that part done, they wouldn't move forward with TPR...which meant we would be in North Dakota until long after Thanksgiving.

 

I headed out to a waiting area armed with my laptop, cell phone, and the extreme kindness of the hospital social worker and Ben cuddled with this cutie...

 

Looking back, it was a miracle, but we completed all needed paperwork, with the help of the hospital social worker, our homestudy agency in Kentucky, our placement agency in Iowa, the facilitating agency in North Dakota, and our North Dakota attorney. That's a lot of people working on a Friday on one little girl's case.

 

Shortly after that, guess what Ellie got buckled into for the first time?

 

She looked so tiny in that carseat!  We had to get a prescription filled for Ellie's thrush and call the taxi company to give us a ride to the Ronald McDonald House.  The feelings I had as we were driving away from the hospital were intense.  Excitement. Joy. Nervousness.  Trying my best to just stay in this moment.  Regardless of what happens next.  We've made it to this point in an adoption before.  But no finalization.  I was trying to put all those thoughts out of my mind and fully experience the beautiful moment we were in. 

Our daughter, who was predicted to be in the hospital 2-3 weeks at the least, was now discharged into our care at 10 days old.

 

We weren't "home", but we were in our home away from home now!

 

Later in the evening, we were eating dinner in the dining room and the volunteer in the office came and told us we had a visitor.  I looked at Ben and he looked at me and we went to the living room area.  We were greeted by the smiling face of a sweet woman named Rachel who owns and operates a bakery downtown and three dozen cupcakes!  Rachel is friends with our friend who gave us coats on the way to Bismarck.  When our friend in Fargo called Rachel and asked her to deliver some sweet treats to us, she said she would be more than glad to.  They even had little "It's a Girl" toppers and oh my goodness were they delicious!!!

 

 

It was a great Friday evening and we were so enjoying being out of the hospital and looking forward to a relaxing weekend of sleeping and just spending time at the RMH as a family!  This is really when we started missing Ethan too.  But thank goodness for phones and internet that kept us in touch.

Another Photo Post from NICU

These pictures are primarily from the 14th and 15th, I think,  I wish I would have blogged while we were there...I feel like I am already forgetting!

Scrubbing in to enter the NICU one morning.

Getting a dose of her antibiotics.

So beautiful.

They let us use the nursing mother's room again for some quiet time and kangaroo time.

Smiling again :)

Growing Girl!

More snuggle time in a quiet room.

Moved to a "big girl" bed and to the less intensive watch side!  One step closer to the door!  We are almost outta here!