Read Jenny’s backstoryhere。
“I got the call as I sat in carpool line on April 15th. The birth mom said, ‘I choose Jenny, Aidan, and Ella Mae to raise my baby.’ Shock. Tears. Joy.
The kids hopped in the car before the reality had even set in. Ella Mae opened the door, and I screamed at her, ‘She chose us! The birth mom chose US! We are getting a baby!!!’ She immediately started to happy cry. I love that she does that. Aidan was in shock and squealing with happiness. Before we even got home, Ella Mae was staring out the window and said, ‘We should name him Josiah.’
“这个名字来自哪里？”我的回答是。这是随机的。她说：“我不知道……我认为我的学校里有一个叫约西亚的孩子。”
The first thing I do with baby names is think of what sort of crazy nicknames kids could come up with at school to terrorize my child. I don’t know why I do that…
Josiah
Joe
Siah
Si
Jojo
乔乔（Jojo）……回忆像洪水一样回来了，然后上帝清楚地表明了为什么这是他的名字。
This is a picture of my sweet friend Deb (who I went to Africa with) holding Jojo. Jojo had Down syndrome, and he was being cared for by our friends at Ekisa, the orphanage for children with special needs. Unfortunately, for us here on earth, Jesus took Jojo home to be with Himlast year。
我记得希望为他一个家庭。但是，有时候事情无法确定我们应该如何看待，我们必须相信上帝的计划比我们的计划更好！因此，为了纪念Jojo，还有很多像他这样的人，他们从来没有机会在这个地球上的一个家庭中，我们选择了命名我们的婴儿Josiah Harrison Clark…并称他为Jojo！
Harrison was my grandfather’s middle name. I never had the opportunity to meet him because Jesus took him home when my mom was young. BUT, he and my grandmother CHOSE my mom. They adopted her. So, we chose to honor them in this way. Amazing how things come full circle!
June 19th — I hadn’t heard from the birth mom in over a month, and needless to say, I was slightly stressed with all of the uncertainties. Finally, the call came! The OB had decided the baby wasn’t growing well and labor needed to be induced. So, around noon, we got the official word it was go time, and we hopped on a plane at 4:30 p.m. that same afternoon!
The birth mom (I will call her ‘T’) was admitted to the hospital at 6 p.m., and we arrived in Houston a couple of hours later. The drive to Sugar Land proved to be quite adventurous since it was dark and we had never experienced the ‘frontage road’ system. In case you have never experienced it, they have highways that run right alongside of their highways. Lots of U turns. Very confusing. Not to mention, my cell phone battery was dead, so GPS to the hotel was not an option. But, we finally found it and settled in for the night. Of course, I didn’t sleep a wink.
I had called the hospital the day before, simply to let the staff on the labor and delivery floor know the situation and that we were coming. I have to be honest, I sort of expected it would all turn out like a Lifetime movie — they would give us a room next door to T, the baby would be born, and the baby would come to our room to stay. That was not the case. I was informed (and rightly so) I had zero rights aside from what T wanted. She was delivering the baby, and the mom and baby were their priority, as far as the nurses were concerned.
因此，在星期四早上，我把妈妈和孩子们在酒店休息和游泳，而我又明亮，早早去医院，一堆神经和兴奋。我到达了劳动和送货地板，签约，然后回去向护士打招呼，让他们知道我在那儿，如果T醒来时想见我，我就在那里。
I went back to the small waiting room and furiously crocheted away on Jojo’s not yet finished blanket while I waited. Not too long after, T’s OB doctor came out to the waiting room to talk to me. I assumed she had bad news of some sort, or she was coming to tell me T wasn’t ready to see me or I couldn’t be there. Much to my surprise, she was simply coming to introduce herself to me, and give me an update on how the baby was doing. I was floored by her kindness. We talked for a little while, and then she said T was awake and ready to see me when I was ready.
I took a few deep breaths and made my way down the hall, where I was greeted by Nicole. She introduced herself to me and said with a smile, ‘I will be your labor and delivery nurse.’ She will likely never know how much those words meant to me in that moment. All of a sudden, I was overwhelmed with gratitude, a sense of belonging, and a sense of empty handedness. How could I walk in to that room, and meet face to face with the woman who was about to spend hours laboring to bring my baby in to this world, empty handed? I nervously hugged Nicole, told her I loved her for being so awesome, and said I would run to the store and be right back.
You know how dads act when their wives are about to go through immense pain and hard work to bring their children into this world, and they can do NOTHING to help? I know how that feels now. I went to the store and bought flowers for T, Nicole, and the doctor! If they would have had packs of blue bubble gum cigars, I would have bought those too and handed them out to strangers.
I arrived back at the hospital, flowers in hand, ready to meet T. Or, at least, as ready as I would ever be. I walked in to the room, set down the flowers, and went straight to my job of making sure she was as comfortable as possible. We were immediately at ease with each other.
她感到非常不适（显然），所以我们谈论了痛苦。我得到了她更多的冰片，要求一些止痛药，调整了她的枕头，我们的恋爱关系不断奔跑。我很快就变得很清楚，我是那天唯一一个会在她身边的人。生病时将头发抬起。为了确保她尽可能舒适。做一个家庭应该在分娩时应该为您做的事情。所以，我们成为家庭。
上帝保佑我在很多方面the day. Amy, the social worker, did an AMAZING job of being there for me, as well as being there for T. She is a social work genius. My kids were patient. My mom was a champ. The mom of a friend (neither of which I had ever met) came and brought me a muffin and sat in the waiting room and chatted with me for a while. I got sweet text messages throughout the day from friends and family, encouraging me and praying for all of us. God literally showed off ALL DAY.
T labored through the day, slowly but surely. I finally left in the afternoon, to go back to the hotel and get the kids and my mom so they could be there for the big moment!
他们非常耐心当我试图分裂时间between the waiting room, making sure they were happy, and the room with T, to make sure all was well. Around 7 p.m., it was finally GO TIME. T made it clear she wanted me to stay in the room with her while she delivered Jojo, and I was honored. I was able to pray with her right before the staff flooded into the room for the delivery. We took deep breaths, pushed, counted to 10, and did it again and again until sweet Josiah made his way into the world!
The moment he was born, I literally fell into T. We hugged and both cried. The feeling of gratitude to her, gratefulness to God for a safe delivery, and awe that I was standing right where God wanted me, was overwhelming.
June 20th — 7:22 p.m., 5 lbs. 4 oz., 18.25 inches
This is T and I moments after Josiah was born. I blurred her face just for her privacy, but you may still be able to tell we sort of look alike. God is surely in the details!
Josiah was taken off to the nursery about 30 minutes later to be evaluated and checked from head to toe. We all had a chance to go back to the nursery for a quick first peek, and then we headed back to the hotel so the kids and Emmy could get some rest. I promised T I would get her whatever she wanted for dinner, so I headed back up to the hospital (with a very insistent Ella Mae), and had a chance to give Jojo his very first bottle.
I laid my pillow on my head that night, knowing God’s plan for me had played out before my eyes all day long. But, of course, the adventure of TRUSTING GOD with ALL the details had only just begun.
I never thought I would be a mom with a child in the NICU. Having delivered two healthy, 8-pound babies, and having no plans to adopt a newborn, the thought had never crossed my mind.
在Jojo安全健康的交货之后，我真的认为我们可能不需要住在NICU。我知道他会因为收养的情况而在托儿所里花费大量时间，但希望他在T之后不久就会被释放。唐氏综合症），但是当他们迅速排除任何重大问题时，我认为我们很高兴！
The nurses discovered, during the first night after Jojo was born, he was what is called a ‘poor feeder.’ This simply means he needed a little time to get the hang of breathing, sucking, and swallowing all at the same time. Sounded like no big deal to me.
如果我不得不用一个词来描述NICU的住宿，那将是“不确定性”。我是一名计划者，我对不确定性做得不好！当我和孩子们在一起，在另一个状态下，远离家乡时，我尤其对不确定性做得不好。从第一天到我们释放的那一天，我几乎不确定任何事情。
How long would he need to stay? A doctor would estimate two more days, and an hour later, a nurse would guess a week. Babies in the NICU change so often, and each and every time I rang the bell, washed my hands, and turned the corner, I never knew what I would see. Would he be better? Worse? The same? Would the birth mom be in there holding him? Would his crib be closed (meaning he wasn’t keeping his temp up on his own), or would it be open? Is that my baby’s monitor beeping or someone else’s? Have they moved him to a different spot? That is a great way to freak a new mommy out, by the way!
We were staying in a hotel (which is expensive), driving a rental car (which is expensive), and eating out for every meal (which adds up fast). First and foremost, I wanted Jojo to be healthy. But second, I wanted to be able to have a PLAN.
So, we spent the first few days at the hospital in the mornings, then back to the hotel to give the kids a break, then back to the hospital in the afternoon. I spent A LOT of time feeling like I needed to be in three places at once. I couldn’t just turn my back on T after everything she had been through (she had NO ONE else there for her), but I wanted to focus all my time on my new baby, and also not ignore Aidan and Ella Mae. It wasn’t an easy balance.
The law requires the birth mother (or parents) have 48 hours before they can sign over their parental rights. So, Saturday evening, we all headed up to the hospital to meet the social worker and be there in case we were needed. It was a tough night. T had a family member who was supposed to be there for her while she signed the papers, but they were a no show. I felt so terrible for her. Of course, I wanted her to sign the papers with no issue, but as a mom, I couldn’t even begin to fathom what she was feeling. Mothers who give their children up for adoption are the strongest people in the world, as far as I am concerned. To carry and deliver a child, and then make the choice to do what is best for that child, and walk away from the hospital empty handed… I can literally not imagine. She will always be my hero.
The social worker needed two people to witness the signing of the papers, and they had to be people who were in no way affiliated with the hospital, for legal reasons. She asked my mom if she would witness, and of course, she said yes. The kids and I waited in the waiting room, and I think I held my breath the entire time. My mom realized in the moment, since she was also adopted as an infant, her birth parents likely had to go through a similar process to give her the gift of a family that could raise her well. It was a very emotional night for all of us. I doubt I will ever again experience a time in my life when I felt such joy and such sadness all in the same moment.
Once the papers were signed and T was released, things got a little easier for me. It also became clear Jojo was not going to be released as soon as we had hoped, and we were definitely going to be in Texas for a while. So, decisions had to be made.
Emmy decided it was best for her to go ahead and travel back on Monday to take care of things at home. My amazing friend, Tesney, was planning to drive to Houston to see Jojo on Monday as well. So, it felt like the right time to transition from the hotel to stay with friends. The only problem was, the hotel was 10 minutes from the hospital and my ever changing baby, and our friend’s house was about 30 minutes away. To say this caused me a little anxiety would be a HUGE understatement. Huge. Tesney and the friends we were going to stay with have an AMAZING connection (that’s another story), but they had never met in person. I had never met the Eichers in person either, but we took the leap of faith that all would be fine. On Monday morning, we loaded up the car and headed from Sugar Land to Houston.
We packed up all of our belongings in our rental car and went to visit Jojo. Then, I plugged the address into my GPS, and headed for Houston. I had spoken to Lisa on the phone once the day before. My mom was pushing it to get to the airport on time, so she literally dumped us and all our stuff off at their doorstep and took off. I now had no rental car, no mom to help me, and no idea how staying with complete strangers (with my big kids and one in the NICU, 30 minutes away) was going to go.
但是,我们的孩子合得来。一旦Tesneynd her kids arrived, the real adventure began. We had six kids between us at the house (1/3 of which have Down syndrome), one husband (bless him), and a baby at the NICU. The next week was filled with fun, but also drama and stress for me, as I tried to balance time at the hospital and time with my friends and big kids. That week was awesome, but unfortunately Tesney and her boys had to leave to head back home. We all hoped Jojo would get to come home while Tesney was still there, but the stars just did not align to make that happen. The time with all of us together was WAY too short, but it was a sweet time I will never forget.
特斯尼离开后，我们又等了一周才能回家！等待很难。我们在7月4日举行了一次大型庆祝活动，也就是我们作为三口之家的最后一天！7月5日，Jojo都将发布！当然，花了半天的时间才能完成所有文书工作，而鸭子都花在漂亮的小排中。整个工作人员都来到医院。和他一起走出那个地方真的是超现实的。当我们回到家时，我对乔伊的“德克萨斯州丈夫”的标志，礼物，气球，甚至是鲜花感到惊讶。
When you live with people, especially people you have never met before in real life, it forms an amazing bond between you. Yes, Lisa was a hot mess on the first day we showed up and moved in with them for an indefinite amount of time. But, we quickly moved past that and truly became the best of friends. Aidan and I had a stomach virus while we were there, and she took care of us. Our kids became BFF’s. Aidan was able to interact with Archie and Kirill, and that was a HUGE thing for him. He is very analytical, and that time answered a lot of questions I think he had swirling around in his head about having a brother with Down Syndrome. Ella Mae lost a tooth and got her ears pierced. Jojo came home from the hospital to their house… wow. We spent our first night as a family of four there. He had his first bath in their sink. We did normal life together.
We consider them family, and always will. We love the Eichers so much we can hardly stand it, and Jojo’s story just would not have been the same without them.”
这个故事提交给beplay网络一直不畅by Jenny M. Clark。It originally appeared on herblog。You can follow her journey onInstagram。你有类似的经历吗？我们想听听您的重要旅程。提交自己的故事here.务必subscribeto our free email newsletter for our best stories, andYouTubefor our best videos.
Read Jenny’s backstory:
‘我的前任再婚，有3个孩子。信不信由你，我们都一起去了迪士尼世界。上帝和Zoloft让我继续前进。
Read more stories like this:
‘这很有趣，我看到您成为婴儿的母亲，但不是新生儿。他会有大，圆形的蓝眼睛。
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