7:00 pm: We walked into the baby house.
705 pm: I was handed my first baby
7:15 pm: First baby is taken away because he was getting even more fussy then when he was handed to me. I am also handed a different baby.
7:25 pm: The second baby is taken away because it doesn’t seem to like me and I’m handed a third baby.
7:33 pm: The third baby was getting fussy and I wondered if the workers were going to send me home because I had no idea what I was doing.
7:41 pm: I tried to persuade number three to settle down so that I didn’t get sent home.
8:10 pm: I still had baby number three in my arms and he had listened to my pleas to settle down. He also introduced me to his serious face. Where he scrunches his eye brows together and gives me a pondering look. He also had a little faux hawk going on… I officially nick name him Little Man.
8:30 pm: I stare down at Little Man and realize that we have a lot more in common than meets the eye.
Yeah, he’s black, I am white.
He is only ten days old, while I’ve been around for 27 years.
But we both have lived in a place like this. He is in one now, I lived in one about 26.5 years ago.
We both had to wait for paper work to be finalized before we could meet our family.
We have both been loved by ‘strangers’. (aka caretakers and volunteers)
Both of us have had our lives drastically changed by being given up by one and being chosen by another.
9:07 pm: The reality of all this hits me and all I can do to thank God for all the blessings He has given me. My prayers then turn to Little Man – he is only 10 tens old…. TEN DAYS. Looking down at him thinking about the potential Little Man has is almost stifling. I pray for health, safety, and love. Most of all I pray that his full potential is reached. That Little Man comes to know and love God. His family supports and loves him because he is the biggest blessing they will ever receive. I pray that he knows only love and not violence or hate. That he NEVER thinks of himself as a mistake but as a son of God who is gifted and has many talents. As I pray LIttle Man starts to play this game where is eyes close for a brief time then they open wide – like an extreme version of peek a boo without hand gestures.
11:00 pm: He was finally asleep. I asked the caretakers where his crib was. They were quite amazed that I got him to sleep. They pointed me to his crib and I put Little Man down.
11:02 pm – Another baby started to fuss, I grabbed the little one with confidence. I start rocking, bouncing and swaying.
12:00 am – 4:00 am – honestly I can’t remember what happened during that time there was a mix of crying babies and fighting sleep. Mary Lyn, Alison, and I decide to take turns napping. So that happened too.
4:00 am – Feeding time. I am lucky enough to get to feed LIttle Man. He gave me his serious far as I tried to figure out how to hold him and a bottle. I finally got it and all was good.
4:10 am: My next lesson was on how to burp a baby. Little Man puts up with me fumbling around. I was amazed at how aggressive I needed to be to get Little Man to burp. All went well and he fell back asleep.
4:30 am – 5:20 am: I fed a couple other babies and practiced my burping skills.
5:30 am: Little Man started to get fussy. I picked him up and tried to settle him down. It doesn’t work. A caretaker informs me that his diaper needed to be changed.
5:41 am – I changed my first diaper ever. Little Man wasn’t a fan of getting his diaper changed but all goes well.
5:50 – 8:00 am – again things get a little blurry … i think I took a nap, held some more babies and prayed that 8:30 am would hurry up.
8:30 am – Our ride comes to get us and I say good bye to Little Man as he sleeps.
Overall it was interesting to be on the other side of the adoption process. To be able to love babies that haven’t met their families yet. All the times I’ve thought about my own adoption I never once thought about the workers who are involved. Twenty-six and a half years ago there was a woman (or a group of women) who cared for me like I was their own child. Fed me, bathed me, rocked me to sleep, and even lost sleep to take care of me. These caretakers (both here in South Africa and all over the world) love babies with all their hearts and gladly give them away to their adoptive parents. They have probably done that a hundred times and are willing to do it a hundred more. They are the unsung heroes in this whole story. These women make sure for that every baby that comes through the door is taken care of and love to the fullest extent.
So on the behalf of all the adopted kids out there, I would like to say thank you to every person who has either worked or volunteered their time at a baby house. I can honestly say I don’t know where I would be without you.
.thank you.
