The Homecoming
Continued from previous post

As we soaked in the news that we had a baby waiting for us on the other side of the Atlantic (kind of an international adoption in reverse), we alternately felt euphoric and panicked.

“We’ve got to get home and pick up our baby. NOW!” I shouted.

“Wait a minute,” cautioned my husband. “Today is Friday. His birth parents just signed the relinquishment papers, which means that the documentation has to go to court on Monday. There’s no way we’ll be able to bring him home until Monday. And just how far are we from Heathrow airport?”

I pondered that. We were in Wales, at least a full day’s drive from Heathrow. But we could do it. I wanted that baby. NOW!

Reason, in the voice of my ever-practical husband, prevailed. We took our time traveling back to London, buying a tiny “coming home” outfit and a red stuffed Welsh dragon to welcome our son.

We discussed names. After all, we needed a name – right away. We learned that his birth parents had named him Benjamin Robert, after his birth father and his adoptive father. It seemed quite a mouthful, but was a good, strong name. We decided to keep it, in honor of both his fathers. Besides, they were giving us their baby. Keeping the name they had chosen for him was the least we could do to thank them for this gift of life.

A sympathetic flight attendant found us standby seats on a nonstop flight to Seattle, and Monday evening, we arrived in Seattle, took a quick shower at my brother’s house, and headed to the receiving home where our son had spent the first few days of his life.

There, we met 6-pound Benjamin, carefully dressed him in his Welsh “coming home” outfit, and drove off into the sunset. We owned one baby item: an infant carseat that we had tossed in the trunk of our car when we left for England, just in case.

We provisioned ourselves with bottles, formula and diapers at the grocery store and then drove to our in-laws’ home, where Ben slept in our niece’s dresser drawer his first night with us.

In the next post…Adoption #2