PART 3
Wednesday morning finally came.
Callum’s birth mom was ready to give birth, and I was able to stay beside her throughout the delivery. After everything we had been through, being in that room felt incredibly emotional.
Then I heard it.
A baby crying.
Callum had arrived.
His first cry meant more to me than I could explain. It was the sound I had desperately wanted to hear when Miclaine was born, but never got the chance to hear.
The moment I heard him, I felt something change inside me.
He was my son.
I hadn’t carried him during pregnancy. I hadn’t felt him kicking inside me or watched my belly grow with him. But none of that changed what I felt when I saw him.
He was my boy.
I was able to cut his umbilical cord. Brayden came in to meet him, and we made sure his birth mom had time to hold him and have those first precious moments with him.
We spent the next two days at the hospital.
Callum and his birth mom were staying in a room right next to ours. I would go over to feed him, change him, and spend time with him. Then he would come into our room so Brayden and I could bond with him.
It was an unusual situation, but it was also incredibly special.
We were becoming parents while his birth mom was preparing to say goodbye.
Then something happened that I will never forget.
The first time Brayden held Callum, we looked outside the hospital window and saw a huge rainbow.
After everything that had happened with Miclaine, we couldn’t help but feel that this was another little reminder of her.
It felt as though she was somehow still part of our story and was shining down on her new little brother.
5
When it was finally time to leave the hospital, I was incredibly excited.
We were going home with our baby boy.
But I was also nervous because I understood that adoption could bring complicated emotions.
I had heard people describe adoption as being both a wedding and a funeral—a celebration for the adoptive family, but also a profound loss for the birth mother.
I wondered what leaving the hospital would feel like.
But our experience was different.
When the time came, there was an incredible sense of peace.
There were tears, but they were happy tears.
Callum’s adoption was open, so his birth mom knew she wasn’t saying goodbye forever. She would be able to see him again.
And she already knew how deeply we loved him.
We were finally taking our son home.
We were ready to begin our new life with Callum.
