The doctor and nurses at the hospital were all amazing! I love that they immediately treated us like Cassie's parents. In the last years I've read a lot about adoption and particularly cross-racial adoption. While most people applaud any adoption, others are sadly less accepting. Honestly, the fact that Cassie doesn't match us physically has not even been an issue. I found this acceptance particularly touching since 90% of the staff and other families are visible minorities. To be fair, WE'RE the visible minority here, but no one seemed to care and that made my heart so full of joy and love for this wonderful community. We've even had nurses and doctors comment that Cassie was as easy going and calm as her parents and that we were clearly destined to be a family. This whole journey has been amazingly touching and beautiful.
Thursday afternoon, our caseworkers/social worker/lawyer/all-round-good-guy, R, came to the hospital to finalize the adoption paperwork. We were very happy to see R as he had been a wonderful support the last we were in Florida when our last match failed. It was the best feeling hugging R, knowing he had been through this journey with us. He had helped us get through our loss 6 months ago and was so happy to finally see our little family come together. We met in a quiet room to go over the papers that basically said, we will love this little girl forever... sure, it was all in legal terms, but essentially, that's what it said. :-) Finally, we signed our names on one of the most important documents ever.
The nurse gave us our discharge papers and we were off. We got to our hotel and settled in. The next few days were your typical days full of chaos, sleep derivation and awe that accompany every newborn's first days (weeks? months?) home. We were just like every other parent: exhausted and happy.
Signing the adoption papers also meant we were able to share pictures with friends and family! You can check out our gorgeous little pumpkin here.