Meeting Zain!!!

We drove up Sunday night and found a hotel to stay in. To say the least we didn’t get much sleep.

The morning of K’s c-section we drove to the hospital at 7:00 am. We ran through the parking garage, and the hospital towards the maternity wing and when we asked what room she was in, we were told she wasn’t there. Oh, the panic! We found that we were at the wrong hospital. There were several by the same name.

We rushed to the other hospital about 15 minutes away and texted K letting her know we wouldn’t be able to see her before they took her back into pre-op. We were pretty upset, but it was all in God’s plan.

When we finally made it to the right hospital we sat in the waiting room with K’s father and daughter. She was asleep on his lap when we came in. Her father, G, was so sweet to us. When we sat down the first thing he said was, “you know, you’re gaining a whole family, right?” We agreed that that was exactly what we wanted. He asked us what we did , what our family was like, and how we had gotten to this point of the process while we waited to hear from K.

Shortly after K’s mom M, came back and told us that he had been born at 7:45 on September 24^th, weighing 7lbs 14 ounces, and 19 inches long. Both he and K had done beautifully! She told us we could go back and see him and I remember being so nervous.  We walked down the hall to a small post-op room that was more like a closet. In the room was K, looking worn out but beautiful, her dad holding her daughter, her mom, three nurses, and Derek and I. We were crammed into the room and we kept bumping into each other.

It’s so much of a blur, but as I walked into the room, M turned around towards me holding Zain. She handed him to me saying, “here’s your son,” and I just cried and cried.  Although I was overjoyed to finally meet this sweet boy, I was even more overwhelmed by the symbolism of his grandmother handing him to me.  I can’t imagine how that must have felt for her.

He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Perfect in every way!  I passed him to Derek who cried as well and then we all took turns loving on him. It was just one of the beautiful moments during our hospital stay with K and her family. We were there while they weighed and checked him over and we took probably 4,000 pictures. We hugged K and held E as she stared at her new brother.

As we were all leaving the room K asked if we had decided on a name for him yet. We told her that we’d love to name him Zain Alan, which is Derek’s family name. She asked how we were going to spell it and after we told her she said she loved it! Zain Alan it was!

I passed Zain to K while she was being checked over and the nurses gave me an id bracelet. I felt so honored that K would share that with me. We were then asked to leave the room while they prepared Zain and K to be moved to an actual room. We waited in the waiting room with G, M, and E and made phone calls to our parents. We were all so excited!

As we sat together in the waiting room, G asked what we decided to name him. We again said Zain Alan and he also asked how we spelled his middle name. Now I’m thinking to myself what is so important about how we spell his middle name?! But after telling him, he thought for a moment and said, “hmm, well that’s how I spell my middle name, and my son’s and his son’s.” It was another incredible moment! What a beautiful way for God to bring our families together through the naming of our son!

We all spent the day together in K’s room taking pictures and holding him.  We got to see his first bath, feeding, and diaper change, something most adoptive couples don’t get the chance to see.  We felt blessed just to know him, even though we weren’t sure of how this journey would end.

That evening we were given a room to stay in by a sweet nurse who hid us away and after such a long day we were happy to have a place to recharge.  We crashed after sending photos to our closest friends and family and prayed for whatever was to come the next day.