A Change In the Routine

March 7, 2009

My little king is cashed out in my spot on the bed, his new daddy curled around him.

Our first night was good. We are in the process of feeling out Solomon’s needs and his schedule. I'm so curious what his feeding routine was in the orphanage; the children are not undernourished, but there are so many. I am only more amazed at the herculean efforts of the women there who care for all those children day and night. Surely they HAVE to feed the babies often, but I wonder how often when they get to be 3 months of age. The women are so outnumbered. In Solomon's room there were 7 babies under 6 months (one 20 days), and the rest of the room of 40 "infants" are under the age of 2. There are 4 of 5 women who work in that room. Some of the older children occasionally come in to feed or play with the kids, but SERIOUSLY! Yesterday Patrick and I were juggling bottles, mixing formula, and we were two on one! I have a new respect for the women who have nurtured Solomon for his last 3 months of life.

No maternity leave for us. We didn’t even have time to consider it. Life will proceed on with a baby in tow. And like everything in Haiti, we’ll adjust to what we have. We have another group arriving today... a group of teenagers from Massachusetts. They are quite unaware that we have a baby, so should be an interesting surprise.

I'm so happy. And yet I still have this nagging fear that soon someone will come and pull the rug out from us. "just kidding." I don't know why. It just all seemed too easy, given life in Haiti. Wednesday my entire work and post-work errand day ended up in accomplishing NOTHING because it was just one of those days. And I spent HOURS trying to accomplish A LOT. After those kinds of days, I come home mad and grumpy. Yet a process that should be mountainous to accomplish--becoming foster parents--sort of magically fell into place, and in a blink of an eye, he is here... sleeping in our room... relying on our care... dependent on us.

Like someone told me about Haiti, its a place where the possible is impossible and the IMPOSSIBLE is possible. I couldn't agree more. :)

And today I sit, looking out the window, waiting for my brand new family to wake up so that we can have our first breakfast together and forge ahead into this bright new day. Happy me.