Here's my journal entry from Sloane's birthday last year:
Sloane Ryan was in a little bit of a rush, it seems! She was due May 25th but we had a feeling that she might be a little ahead of schedule - and she was! We got a call at 5:15 on Saturday morning May 15th (5/15!) that her birth mom's water had broken and she was at the hospital. We had packed our bags and planned the fire drill, thinking that we could make it to Roosevelt in 3 hours. Even though we made great time (2 hours 45 minutes! no
speeding, promise. We did the balls-out speeding on the highway and then screeched to the actual 35MPH speed limit in the little cities along the way) Sloane made better time. She was born at 7:38 so we missed the actual birth by about 15-20 minutes. We got to hear some of her first cries over the phone which was really awesome.
We did arrive at the hospit
al in time to give her her first bottle. It was such an amazing experience to have Bella place Sloane in my arms and call me her mommy. It's impossible to describe that feeling. All I know is that it brings tears to my eyes every time I think of it. I don't have a picture of it, but I know I'll never need one because it's a permanent fixture in my mind's eye.
Sloane was 6 lbs 15 oz, 20 inches long, and perfect in every way. She has a little ring of dark hair with blondish peach fuzz on top, long slender fingers and feet, and a pouty lower lip. She's very alert yet peaceful when she's awake, which isn't often!
From the first moment we met Bella and her mom back in
February, we felt a connection with them. It just felt like this was meant to be and it's been that way all along - in the "almost too good to be true" way! Happily, that feeling was reinforced over the course of the weekend. We felt like we were with family (in the good way!) and we were so impressed with everyone's support and love and how easy everything was. We shared all kinds of stories and laughed and passed Sloane around so everyone had a chance to fawn over her.
It was pretty amazing! We are really excited to have everyone as part of our extended family. You could really feel the love they have for this baby and we felt embraced as part of their family too. We have a lot to live up to!
The hospital gave us our own room - SO much nicer than our last experience! - fed us every meal and really went out of their way to make us feel like part of the experience. Tagg had a cold so he wasn't able to make it up to the hospital which was a bummer - especially because we missed him so much - but we were able to focus and appreciate the quality time we got to have with Sloane and her family. She ate really well which was nice and had such epic poops that even the nurses seemed a little shocked.
Sloane's baby-family got her the most darling going-home outfit. Even though it was a little big (we made the headband fit by using scotch tape!), she looked adorable in it. Yellow and bees seems to be a theme for us! The whole family was so thoughtful with their gifts for her - little grey Converse sneakers from Bella, a hand-quilted blanket from grandma, blankets that match her butterfly room, tiny Indian bracelets from Jacob's mom, a cute little teddy bear from Jacob (which Tagg thought was Sloane when we brought her home! "Sloane Bear"), and oodles of darling clothes. It was really amazing and we know that every time we wrap her in one of those blankets, it will be like a sweet hug from them. It was really an amazing experience and even though it was certainly hard for everyone, you can see all the love and joy present in everyone's faces.
It's almost unbelievable to think that we have been this lucky twice! There are really no words to describe how blessed we are. Bella and Jacob are amazing, intelligent, peaceful, lovely, and mature young people and you can see how much they love each other and this little girl. Their courage has given us the gift of family and there is really no way to say thank you for that. We just have to make them proud and give them the opportunity to fulfill all of their dreams knowing that Sloane is loved - and loves them.
