Happy Second Birthday Sean

My itty bitty Sean in a bright blue blanket

Alika and Sean on the big slide at Kangaroo Zoo today

The very first time I held Sean he was about 12 hours old. I went into Jenny’s hospital room to do a nurse check. Jenny was sitting on the bed with Sean lying on the blanket between her legs. I asked if I could hold him. I don’t know why I remember holding him because I have held 100’s of babies on the postpartum unit. I asked his name and how her delivery was. I remember looking at him and saying all the usual things, “he’s really cute…” I distinctly recall feeling nothing special. I don’t even recall thinking he was particularly cute. I just remember looking at Jenny and thinking, this woman is not bonding with this baby.

I remember when I did bond with Sean. It was the second time we had him. He was about two weeks old. A couple of days after the domestic violence ER event Jenny called and asked if I would keep Sean for awhile so she and Ryan could talk about “what happened.” I went to their apartment and picked Sean up; he was so tense his little body was stiff. I brought him home and gave him a bath. After the bath I laid on the bed with him, got under the covers and put his naked little body against my chest, he melted into me and I fell in love. When AJ was born he was in the NICU for four days. I was staying at the hospital in a room for moms with hospitalized babies. On his third morning the NICU nurse came in and handed me AJ. I hadn’t been able to hold him yet. I unwrapped him, put him against my chest and he melted into me. The feeling with Sean was exactly the same. I think that night was the first time I asked Don, “Can we keep him?” His answer stayed the same for 22 months, “it’s not up to me.”

I’ve been the nurse to a ton of adopted babies and I've seen the excitement of the adoptive parents but always wondered if they could love an adopted baby as much as a biological baby. I now know for a fact the answer is yes.

Happy Birthday you little loved biscuit. We are glad you are in our family. We sure were'nt expecting you but we're glad you came.

I think this birthday nap picture is cute. If Woody really did have feelings he would be feeling the love. This is not a new Woody, it's 15+ years old, it was AJ's when he was little. Sean loves him even though his "sting is boken and Daddy can't fix it." (Note: the faded blue blanket)