The adventure Day 3!!

Eliana was born at 10:04 on Sunday June 26th, weighing 3lb 6oz and was 16 1/4 inches long. She is now in the NICU at Walnut Creek. As I heard the news it was time to start finding out the details.!!!

As I sit here at the Oakland Airport and reflect on the day it has been a whirlwind of an experience. I (Jim) arrive last night at the Hilton Concord, CA at 12am to get a little sleep before going to the hospital on Tuesday. It was an information gathering day. I talked to the birth mom (BM), her mom (GM for grandmother), the kids of the BM, the husband of the BM (HBM) the social worker of the hospital, the nurses, the doctor, the information desk, the insurance coverage people and others that I probably forgot. Adoptions are situations that be definition are not perfect, hence the fact that you won't meet the parents on the blog as it would be an invasion of privacy in a very important moment in their and our lives.

All of the family are wonderful people and we had a great time getting to know each other, discussing details of adoption, forms to fill out etc. I can't wait to go back and see them this weekend. God has really put this together in an amazing way and I hope to be able to articulate that over time.

Eliana is an energetic little 3lb 7oz baby. She moves and won't sit still. She will fit right in with Patrick. Because she is preterm there are a lot of hurdles to jump over but she is very healthy according to the doctors and should fare well. She is Jaundice right now but that happens to many full term babies so they have her under the blue light to help the situation. I took a picture and may share it but it doesn't look like much since her eyes are bandaged to protect them from the light. The light is not dangerous but annoying to little eyes. She has a loud cry, some big feat and hands and a head of black hair for now. They feed her 2ml of milk each 3 hours and the nurses take care of her in an amazing way. There is nothing more amazing to me right now than the NICU. A bunch of dedicated and very nice nurses in doctors looking after the ones that need their help the most.

We will see BM and the family this weekend and I think they will be involved in the process until Eliana is allowed to leave the hospital. They are very generous and I am sure Patrick will enjoy playing with their kids. It is odd how I can love a little girl so much already and I haven't even been able to hold her yet.

The estimate now is that Eliana will be in the hospital at least until July 30th and possible to the original due date which is August 29th. So if you don't find us in Southern California you can find us at Kaiser Walnut Creek.

The community of support is so important, through prayers, encouragement, help with other tasks etc. Vivian and I are thankful for you all. Whether on Facebook or on the blog take a moment and comment and share the experience with you.

Let the adventure continue

Jim

Beach Time! (#2)

Thanks to Julie, Jeff, Paige and John for a ton of pictures!!! I just decided that some of them needed to be put to music. The song in Latin means "After the birds"
Go Full screen and turn up the volume!

Hope you enjoy the views from Edisto Beach

EdistoBeach 2 from Jim Turner on Vimeo.

Beach Time!!!

Not just any ordinary beach time, this was the 2011 edition of the extended family at Edisto Beach, SC. A lot of fun, food, fellowship, sun, ocean, sand and more was had by all. Here is the first video recap of the vacation. Enjoy

Warning. It is 10 minutes long so turn up the music and sit back and enjoy

Jim

EdistoBeach 1 from Jim Turner on Vimeo.