Meet Sophie (Matt’s Perspective)
I know that many of you got a chance to read Jessica’s blog about our new baby girl, but I couldn’t not write about her too. So today, meet Sophie Hayes Bush…again. Sophie is just over a week old and she is already beautiful and adorable. I know you cannot tell much about a person when all they can do is eat and sleep, but I do know that I love her a lot and I already cannot imagine our family without her. Also, please don’t forget that we have been writing blogs about each of our other children in Haiti as well that you can get to by clicking on their name below: (we have not written one about all 19, but we are coming close!)
Boys: Apolon, Vageley, Herbison, Woodlerxe, Mvinsley, Maekin, Son Son
Girls: Misthafa, Gueline, Malayika, Fedeline, Hiwerli, Gladine, BiGuedy, Yolmenda
I remember coming back to the states on September 24 because we were supposed to be in America about a month prior to Sophie coming and being so excited that we were about to have our first baby. For some reason, we even knew it was going to be a girl (I even bought Jess a gift prior to the baby coming that was geared toward the baby being a girl, I’m not sure what I would have done if it had not been) and we were so excited. We spent the first couple of weeks resting and getting the nursery ready, and then the due date came…And then the due date went…And then 2 weeks after the due date came and went and still no baby. At this point, I truly began to wonder if Sophie was going to come or what was happening, it seemed very anti-climatic for some reason. I felt like we were just sitting around waiting and it was never going to happen…And then last Monday (Nov. 2) I was doing some work on our website when I got the call. The birth mom was going into the hospital and it seemed very likely that the baby was coming soon! We finally got the call that a c-section had been scheduled for 9:30 that night.
I cannot begin to describe the feelings that came about on our way to the hospital that night. I was excited, a little scared that something would happen to the baby or to the adoption plan, and very nervous about having my first baby. We got to the hospital about 2 hours prior to the scheduled c-section, and we waited in the nursery waiting room just watching tv and hoping to see our baby at any point. The hospital was great and even had a room waiting for us to use to get to know our baby as soon as she came, but for those couple of hours, we were just sitting and waiting to meet the newest member of the Bush family.
A little after 10:00 we saw the nurse wheeling in Sophie, and it was very surreal. We were sitting in the waiting room, looking through the glass as Sophie was weighed, measured, and whatever else you do to a baby when it is first born. Sophie was wrapped in a blanket and had a pink and blue hat on, so Jess finally tapped on the window and asked if the baby was a boy or a girl…It was a girl and we finally officially welcomed Sophie Hayes into the Bush family. She was 8lbs 11oz (by the way, she was almost 9lbs at the doctor’s office today) and 20.25 inches long with a 14 inch head circumference (you know you are officially a Bush when you have a head like that), all of that to say that Sophie was a big girl. On top of that, she was beautiful. She had quite a bit of hair, learned to eat pretty quickly, and didn’t even cry that much that first night. At around 1:00am we decided to go check into a hotel room so that we could be ready for the next day.
The next day we got to the hospital and we just hung out with Sophie. We had a few visitors come (including both of our parents) and we just spent time getting to know Sophie and learning how to feed her and change her diapers. In fact, I actually changed my first diaper that very day! I had always promised myself that the first diaper I would ever change would be my own baby’s, and that was finally fulfilled. I was very nervous, Sophie was so little I was kind of scared to touch her, but the feeding/diaper changes/clothes changes have gradually come easier and easier over the past few days. We left that night and drove home to get 1 more night of good rest before Sophie was supposed to come home with us the next day (Wednesday).
We pulled into the hospital the next day excited and scared, and right when we got inside, they told us that there was a little problem with the oxygen levels in her blood. Apparently she was measuring different levels in her hands than in her feet and the hospital did not have the equipment they needed to check on her. We were told that Sophie had to be moved to Baptist downtown and go into the NICU to check her heart. This was very unexpected, and the NICU is a very scary place. We scrubbed in and got ready to go and see her when the doctor told us that the EKG came back and Sophie’s heart was fine! They kept her one more night just for precaution, and the next day, Thursday, Sophie came home! I have to admit the ride home was a little nerve racking, carrying her up the steps to our second floor apartment was a little scary, and seeing this beautiful baby sitting in her new home was both scary and incredible at the same time. She was home and she was ours!
It is funny how things can be awesome and terrifying; nerve-racking and calming; easy and extremely difficult all at the same time. Honestly, I cannot wait to get to know Sophie. I cannot wait to see her personality, her likes and dislikes, her struggles and successes, and how she handles herself in different situations. I cannot wait to see how Christ comes into her life and changes her into the person that she was created to be. And I cannot wait to be a part of all of it. Jess and I are so blessed to have Sophie in our lives and I can already tell that she is changing us for the better. As I was reading my Bible and praying and thanking GOD for Jess and Sophie last night, something struck me:
I don’t love Sophie “like” she is mine, I love Sophie BECAUSE she is mine.
How awesome is it that GOD loves us like that. He doesn’t love us “like” we are His, He loves us “because” we are His, and nothing ever can or ever will change that!