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| In the NICU on the day she was born. |
Daisey has a wonderful adoption story that we talk often and freely about. We're finding out that her's is different than most. Her Birth Mom knew she was going to place her for adoption and hadn't had a chance to pick out a family before going into preterm labor and delivering early. She handed the decision of picking a family over to her caseworker at Catholic Charities. Because of her (Birth Mom) life choices, Daisey had some risks involved and was in the NICU until she grew and they were resolved. The caseworker at Catholic Charities contacted our casework at LDSFS looking for an adoptive couple the day Daisey was born. We happened to be that couple! When we got the phone call, Daisey had been born that morning and Joyce was on her way home from work. After calling Doug and telling him the good news, we rushed to contact our new case worker at Catholic Charities to set up a time to go to the hospital and meet Daisey. We were able to meet her the next day, talk with her doctors, and start the process of paperwork that changing agency's entailed. To say that it was love at first sight is an understatement. She was meant to be with us, and we knew it from the start. She was beautiful, tiny, filled our hearts with so much love and joy just by being her. The first time we held her, it was magic.
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| Meeting Daisey for the first time. We were so excited to hold her! |
She weighed in at a little over 4 lbs, and only 17 inches long, and didn't know how to suck and swallow. Daisey spent 7 days in the NICU, growing, eating, and sleeping, all the while accompanied by both of us. We spent every possible minute with her. Doug was lucky enough to be off school for the month, and Joyce had quit her job the moment she found out about Daisey. When Daisey finally was able to come home we were over joyed. She had grown a little, was still becoming a good bottle drinker, but had leveled out and was growing more and more every day.
Around the six-month mark we were getting excited to finalize Daisey's adoption. At the time of her birth, Daisey's paternal heritage was in question. So a John Doe termination was sent out. We never expected anyone to answer, but he did. It took three months to get him to agree to a paternity test, and we were scared. Daisey was our little girl, a gift from her Birth Mom and our Heavenly Father and we couldn't fathom our life without her. When the paternity test came back, it came back negative. This man was not her Birth Father, and we were grateful! We were finally able to finalize her adoption, much to her Birth Mom's happiness and ours. We were able to meet Daisey's Birth Mom for the first time shortly after the paternity test came back. It was a meeting we will never forget. Daisey is loved by both us and her Birth Mom so much. I know she was grateful for us, just like we will forever be grateful for her. Since having Daisey placed in our home, we send her Birth Mom pictures and a letter about how Daisey's doing every 6 months. Her Birth Mom requested just that amount of contact.
We are eternally grateful for Daisey's Birth Mom, for Daisey, and for the chance that we have to be parents. We will never forget getting that phone call, telling us that if we were ready, we had a baby girl that needed us.
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| Daisey, two months old. |
