Kay's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 7/25/01 -------------------- 4/20/01 3/6/01 2/25/01 2/6/01 1/22/01 11/30/00 10/27/00 9/29/00 8/30/00 8/14/00 8/3/00 7/25/00 7/17/00 7/7/00 6/21/00 6/12/00 6/3/00 5/22/00 4/11/00 3/20/00 -------------------- Kay's Introduction

Follow the inspirational story of this mother of four as she nurses her adopted baby.

November 30, 1999

A phone call on Sunday, March 5, 2000 was the end of seven years of waiting and the start of a new beginning in our lives. The call was telling us that our birth mother’s water broke and she was in the hospital and we should come to Nebraska.

Let me start at the beginning. I am Kay. We live in rural Oregon. I am a 40-year-old mother of three wonderful children, Melissa, 17, Jordan, 15 and Allison, 12. I have been married to my best friend Russell for 20 years. For the last seven years, I have known and prayed for the other child I knew was still to join our family.

Last November I started talking with a young woman who was looking for a family for her unborn baby. Christmas week she asked us to take her baby. I then began eight weeks of preparation to breastfeed our adopted child. I rented a hospital-grade pump and started pumping every four hours. I started taking Fenugreek (an herb). I got milk drops after ten days of pumping. I was pumping and freezing two ounces a day after eight weeks.

March 6, 2000 Miss Haley Elizabeth was born to a wonderful young high school couple who chose to give her life and give her to us. We arrived in Nebraska 24 hours after that Sunday evening phone call and phoned the hospital. We were told, "You have a baby girl!" We could not get there fast enough. We still had three hours of driving to go. We arrived when she was 5 hours old. That night we met "C" and "M" and their families for the first time. We met our daughter. What a joyful, emotional, and confusing time. After a couple of hours we had to leave them to go to the hotel for the night. It was so difficult to leave our daughter.

The next morning we arrived at the hospital. C was alone with the baby, and Russell left to run some errands so I could visit with C alone. After being assured by C that we were going forward with the adoption, I asked if I could nurse her. C knew of my plans and preparation and was supportive. She said yes! I put the baby to my breast and she immediately latched on perfectly. She knew exactly what to do. What joy and bonding I felt at that instant. C later told the social worker how much it meant to her to see me nurse Haley and bond with her so quickly.

The rest of the day we spent at the hospital. That afternoon, C went home. That was an emotional time for all of us. C and M loved her so much. It was very difficult for them. They knew they were making the best choice for Haley. I nursed her and held her most of the day. That evening, we had to leave her in the hospital again as we went back to the hotel. The next morning, we returned early to spend the day with our daughter. That evening, the birth parents returned to the hospital to sign the paper releasing Haley to us. We then walked out of the hospital with a new daughter.

That night we met C and M and C’s family at their church where we had a wonderful ceremony dedicating ourselves to loving Haley and raising her to the Lord. We had asked C and M to be Haley’s Godparents. Afterwards we put Haley in her car seat. Russell and I walked to the car as we left Haley with C and M so they could say their good-byes. After several minutes they brought her to us in the car and we said goodbye. That is the last time we saw them. We returned to the hotel to hold and watch the miracle daughter God had brought to us. As we lay in bed and I nursed her to sleep such a great sense of peace flooded me. I had a new daughter.