On February 10th we received word, after many calls back and forth with our foster care worker, that we had been selected as the foster family for a little boy who was ready to be discharged from the hospital, but had some extra challenges. We were told that he was born without oxygen and that they initially did not know if he would survive.
The hospital wanted either Tony or myself to go up to the PICU that evening to learn to take care of Steven and give him his medication in preparation of his discharge the next day. I ended up going to the hospital about 9 p.m. that evening and staying until after 11:00 p.m. When I met Steven, I fell in love immediately. This little guy was a miracle baby! He was doing remarkable!!! There was no other way to describe it.
The only medication that he was on was for seizures and they wanted to make sure I understood how to give it to him. He was taking a bottle like a champ! If I hadn’t been told about his difficulties, I would have had no idea!
The next day when I arrived back at the hospital, I met with the doctor and he explained to me that because of Steven’s difficulties, there was no way of knowing what type of developmental delays he might encounter as he grows up. They were recommending starting Rainbows (early intervention services) as soon as possible and following up with a developmental pediatrician, all of which were court orders that were required anyways, due to the foster care case.
It took just less than two years, but we were finally granted approval to adopt Steven. And when we went to Court to finalize our adoption, Steven WALKED (with assistance) into the courtroom. Steven truly is a miracle, in that he is walking — well, technically running mostly — and talking a million miles an hour — beating all the odds! God surely has something special planned for our little guy!!!!!!