Here he is!

Here he is! Our beautiful little blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby boy! We realize that most of our friends had no idea this was coming. After almost 6 years of trying, we got a call on Monday, March 2 from an adoption agency in Dayton, Ohio. We were told that a birthmother had chosen us and that she was going to have her baby (prematurely) within two weeks. Needless to say we were shocked! As the week went on there were several ups and downs, and we felt that it was best to keep the details to ourselves until we knew more. To make a long story short, the birthmother, Courtney, had him on March 4. His original due date was April 27, the day after my birthday. After waiting the mandatory (and terrifying!) 72 hours required by the state of Ohio, Courtney signed away her rights on Saturday afternoon and we were invited to come meet our son on Sunday the 8th! We are now in Dayton and at least one of us will be here until he is released from the hospital. He could be here until his original due date, but that is very unlikely at this point. He is doing very well. The emotions when we saw him today were amazing. Some people keep saying that I don't seem very excited. Nothing is further from the truth, but the fact is that we have been conditioned to fail for so long that this seems surreal. We spent several hours with him today in the NICU at Miami Valley Hospital. They gave him a bottle for the first time today right before we got there. Before we saw the baby, we met with our social worker, Courtney, and her boyfriend Jeff. They were really nice to talk to and both said they were very happy that we were going to raise the baby. We spent out afternoon holding and feeding the baby. We decided to name him Joel Aiden Jeffrey Foster, as Courtney had named him Aiden Jeffrey and really wanted us to keep that in some way. We initially thought about Joel Aiden or Aiden Robert, but Jeff was so helpful in getting this all to happen that we decided to keep all the names. We love it! This morning he took all of his bottle for the nurse, but the first one we gave him around 3:00 he didn't do very well with and we ended up feeding him through his feeding tube. He is currently 4 pounds 10 ounces, which is pretty good considering how premature he was. We actually gave him another bottle right before we left around 6:30, and he took all but 5ccs. He is quite the burper! The stuff on his head is the IV where they are giving him antibiotics and the nose tube is his feeding tube. They are very pleased with his progress with his bottle, since they weren't even planning to try it for a couple of weeks. The IV tube should come off his head on Wednesday. We are exhausted and definitely ready for bed, but we are happy beyond words! I plan to use this blog to keep everyone posted rather than trying to remember who I tell what. I'll be back soon! Thank you to eveyone for their support and keep Joel and his momma and daddy in your prayers!