Life Changing Moments

I like the tv show Dr. Phil. He doesn't claim to "heal" people in 60 minutes and we don't often get to see what happens to his guests after the show ends and they go home. Do most get better and take his advice and help to heart or not-I don't know. But I do know that he often has some pearls of wisdom that I remember long after the show is over. One such pearl was hearing him tell people to name the top 5 Life Changing Moments of their lives.

A Life Changing moment is where you are not the same person you were the moment before.

Molly's birth will now be among my top 5 Life Changing Moments.

Wednesday afternoon(still waiting for the Apnea test):

Because the nurses wanted Molly in the nursery several hours before her test and because some nurses didn’t believe it was ok for us to stay in the nursery with her all the time, we used Wednesday afternoon to go to a local Kinkos and get online to pay some bills, check email and post quickly to the blog. While there we got the call that M was being released and so we headed right back to the hospital to say goodbye.

Saying goodbye, to the person who was instrumental in bringing joy back into your world was a very hard thing. Steve and I had spent several hours of certainly one of the hardest days M and her boyfriend will ever face. We bonded with this young couple. We grew very fond of both of them. It was hard to walk in to Ms hospital room and watch as she did the right thing for this baby. I’ve often said in these last days that the right thing is not always the easy thing. I have lost a child to death and I can assure you that there is no other pain like it.

However, placing your child into the arms of a loving couple must also be very painful. I am proud of her. Proud that she made this decision, knowing it would be hard and against the advice of several important people in her life, because in her heart she knew it was the right thing for both she and her child and this baby. And we are honored that she thought enough of us to give us this priceless gift.

The young man who stood by M throughout this ordeal was not the baby’s father. I believe it takes a real man to do what he did. He certainly didn’t have to have anything to do with this situation. To my knowledge he only ever offered support to M. Perhaps he is not perfect, but then who of us is. I can only say that Steve and I are so glad he was there for M and that he is there for her now.

And we have pictures now to show Molly as she grows up, that we ALL loved her SO much-that her life story is one of nothing but love. Love of a birthmom and her family and boyfriend to make the sacrifice that would in the end be what was best for Molly, and the love of two people who thought their opportunity to be called Mommy and Daddy had died 4 years ago. I cannot express enough how much having Molly as our daughter means to Steve and I. She will always know of her birth mom and birth family. Eventually she will meet them. And her life will only be made richer by having more people to love her.