Maximus Gregory Grass
Friday, April 27, 2018: The reality in front of us was becoming a little too real. As of May 18, our the extension of the contract with our adoption agency would expire as well as our current home study. This particular Friday, I had placed a call to our home study agency to pay our fees to update our home study for an additional year. However, they did not want me to pay over the phone due to incidental charges that would be required, the preference was that we put a check in the mail to update our home study. The day got away from me and I never got the check written. Apparently this was meant to be. Late that Friday afternoon my phone began to ring, it was our adoption agency. They were calling to tell us that a birthmother had selected us and she was due May 5! We immediately began texting with her, hoping to get to know her and allowing her to get to know us. From the beginning this birthmother seemed different than any of the others that we had communicated with in the past. She was confident in her decision to place this baby for adoption. This birthmom had originally thought she had the adoption all set through a friend of a friend who would adopt the baby, however at the last minute these plans apparently fell through (and we are SO grateful for this.) This birthmom found our agency and made the call. When talking with the agency her requests were for a couple who had been waiting a long time and were God loving people. She was given ten profiles to review and asked to pick her top two. According to the birthmom, we were the first profile she read and she knew we were the family for her baby. But, to be fair, she still glanced at all of the profiles.
The week seemed to be progressing perfectly, but we were still tentative as we opened ourselves up to the idea that this could really be our time, this might really be our baby. The following Tuesday the birthmom met with the Social Worker and began the process of paperwork. On Wednesday she had a prenatal appointment and even called Annie so that she could hear the baby's heartbeat during the ultrasound! Everything was looking great and starting to fall into place. The birthmom had her due date as May 5 and the doctor was estimating it to be May 9, either way the baby was healthy and growing so the plan was to schedule and induction so that we could be present for the birth. However, Maximus apparently did not want to wait to get the party started.
May 4, 2018: At 3:00 am Annie received a text message, the birthmom was in labor, contractions were 5 minutes apart and she was headed to the hospital. In a flurry of events, Steve jumped on the computer and bought tickets for the 7:00 am flight to Salt Lake City. Somehow we threw suitcases of clothing together and were at the airport in time to make the flight. We arrived at the hospital in Utah by 10:30 am. As we walked into the labor and delivery area, the staff was waiting. they knew we were flying in and coming to meet our baby! One of the greatest and strangest moments was walking into the room and meeting our birthmom for the first time while she is in the midst of contractions! We were all so relieved that this baby had decided to hold off until we got to the hospital to make his debut!
May 4, 2018, 1:36 pm: Maximus Gregory was born! I am still reliving every moment in my mind, at the same time it all happened so fast. One of the most amazing parts was when Steve got to cut the umbilical cord and Annie got to be the first one to hold Max! Maximus weighed in at 7 lbs, 4 oz and was 22" long! (He is going to tower over his Momma!)
The hospital in Utah was amazing. They gave our new family of three a room next door to our birthmom. The 48 hours we spent in the hospital was wonderful. This time allowed us to get to know Max's birthmom and allowed her to see how loved Max was going to be. Once we were discharged from the hospital we again were fortunate that Steve's Godparents live just outside of Salt Lake City. It was so great to be able to take our new baby to a home and not have to spend our first days together in a hotel room. The funny thing is, we saw Steve's Godfather, Uncle Mike, last summer and were all joking about how great it would be if our baby was born in Utah and we could stay with them!
When we first learned this birthmom was in Utah, friends mentioned to us that it was one of the easiest states to work with for adoption. This was spot on! Even though we are given permission to leave the hospital with Max in our care, there is still paperwork that has to be completed by both Utah and Minnesota giving us clearance to cross state lines without it being considered kidnapping. The necessary paperwork was all together by late Monday morning and sent off to Utah for the beginning approval. By Wednesday morning we received the call that the paperwork has been forwarded on and was cleared by Minnesota, we were free to go home! Wednesday afternoon we had an appointment with the family court to go in front of a judge to be given custody of Maximus. The judge granted us custody, but did comment that what was missing from the paperwork is that Max will be raised a Twins fan! We assured him that he would be rooting for the hometown team!
Thursday morning we boarded a plane and headed home! Maximus was amazing on the flight, he fell asleep right before take off and woke up to eat just as we were landing. Maximus is adjusting to life in Minnesota and cannot wait to meet all of his family and friends!
Thank you for always keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. Please continue to pray for us and for our birthmom!
Peace,
Steve, Annie and Maximus
