Meeting Our Son Trice
I'm so excited to share the story of how we met "teeny tiny Trice" and how God led us to him. But how do you even put this into words?! Here goes...
After reviving the text late at night, we made arrangements for someone to stay with Lakelyn, which was pretty hard since no one knew we had even applied for another adoption. And upon hearing what we were up to, everyone had the same response..."please be careful” (knowing what the last few months had been for us). We left for Jacksonville, FL at 4 a.m. the following morning, having packed the BARE minimum since we had no clue how long we would end up being there. Rich slept almost half of the ten hour road trip as I sat in the driver's seat with the gas peddle to the floor, smile plastered across my face, eyes with tears streaming. The entire drive, the questions kept racing through my mind...what does he look like, what does he weigh, how will Lakelyn handle the transition, will they get along, what do the next few days look like and most of all, I kept thinking of how Lakelyn would now have a brother. To say I was emotional was an understatement and my heart was racing as fast as I was driving. I felt like we wouldn’t get there fast enough!
Like everytime we’ve applied, we don’t have a specify the gender. Rich was so excited it was a boy which I had no idea what to do with one but anxious to learn. On the drive, Rich and I talked about his name and decided he would have the same name as the adoption of the baby that fell through right before him. The name was a family name that means a lot to both of us.
As we pulled into the hospital with our attorney on the phone, we realized Rich had put the wrong address into his Maps...we were at a hospital an hour out of the way! Now you can imagine after a ten hour trip, I may or may not have lost my mind and my cool. That hour reroute was the LONGEST hour of the entire drive. It was the hour that fear creeped in. I felt the devil whispering his lies..."they're going to choose another family", "this makes you look disorganized", "you look unfit to be his parents". I felt defeated...like my son was a million miles away.
We FINALLY got to the hospital. Our attorney said he couldn't wait and left, letting us know he would be back in about an hour after he got food. I immediately broke down. Rich told me we needed to eat and get it together, but I literally hadn’t spoken to him in the hour over to the correct hospital. We ate in the food court (you couldn't have paid me to leave after all of that) and knowing my sweet boy was just a few floors up and there was nothing I could do felt like torture. I remember sitting with big heavy tears falling from my cheeks praying to God and asking ‘Why, why are we waiting? We are so close to him. Is this a scam? Lord my heart can’t take it. My family can’t take it.’ We sat down with our food and this sweet older gentleman dressed as a clown (he goes from room to room as a way to cheer up patients and their families) came over and grabbed my arm. "Hello. You look like you and your little one need this.” He gave me a little mouse with overalls on. Trice's first toy. I smiled and said, “Thank you.” He had the gentlest smile and walked away after saying, “I’ll be praying for him.” To this day, that little mouse can be found in Trice's room.
About an hour later, our attorney returned and met us in the lobby. We signed the papers and headed for the NICU. The feeling I had as we made our way to that floor is one I can't describe. We scrubbed in (with our hearts beating a mile a minute) as the nurses talked to our attorney. , And there he was, this tiny 4 lb 3 oz baby boy wrapped snugly in a baseball blanket. The nurse explained to us that he was nine days old and hadn’t been held much. They made sure to warn us not to be alarmed if he didn't like it.
He took my breath away. His tiny features, his hair...he was perfect in every way. She asked what his name was and Rich looked at me and said, “I would really like for him to have my name.” Keep in mind this is NOT what we talked about. I was a MESS. How could I argue. In that moment he became Richard Lyle Froning III ‘Trice’.
Rich left the next morning at 5 a.m. and I was back to the hospital at 5:20 a.m. The nurses were amazing. They have so many babies there–I couldn’t believe it. I sat there with my son as the kindest nurse walked over and told me everything about my son that I had missed in the last nine days. Then she asked if I wanted to do skin-to-skin with him (he hadn’t had that yet), my eyes filled with tears and I just shook my head yes as she stood up to go get a curtain. I didn’t know what she was doing and since I was already in a gown being in the NICU, (let’s face it I’ll never see those nurses again, no one else was there) I just stripped it down under my gown before she got back. As soon as I laid trice on me and wrapped him up him a blanket he opened his eyes. He opened his eyes and looked at me for the first time. I literally couldn’t breath, my heart stopped and the tears were uncontrollable. I prayed over him, thanked the Lord for him, and told him how much I loved him...that he would never have to wait on me again. I was his mommy. As he just looked at me...I knew he knew. And in that moment, my heart was healed. That 4lb 3oz baby laying on my chest had my heart rejoicing. When the nurse came back, Trice was basically soaking wet. At first, she was laughing because I had already stripped my shirt off and then she saw the puddle of tears. I assured her they were very, VERY happy tears. That day, I held him on my chest from 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Everyday was the same in Jacksonville. Wake up, go to McDonald’s to get a sweet tea, sit at the hospital, and then go back to the hotel. And every single person in each place was a blessing to me in someway. By the third day, the guy at McDonald's knew my name and that I wanted extra ice in my sweet tea. I don’t know much about Jacksonville, but where we were was pretty scary and there wasn't a lot around. Being alone, I didn’t feel like being adventurous. So, not getting into my hotel room until late every night, I always just ordered room service. The woman who brought it to me every night knew my order (I literally ordered the same thing every night). She was so funny; I knew she was busy but I just loved talking to her. It was my fifth or sixth night there and I had had a really hard day. I was missing Lakelyn. This woman brought up my dinner and asked if I was okay (she could tell I had been crying). Every night after that, she brought me a free glass of wine–haha. She was so amazing.
It was so difficult being alone during such an emotional time after Rich left until my sister got there (the last four days). Trice was moved from UF shans to another hospital baptist south. When he was transferred, I walked in hoping for just as nurses that were just as nice...and goodness, I was not disappointed. They went above and beyond. The lady at the front desk was a God send and doesn’t even know. I was so scattered when I got there from him being transferred (it’s a long story) and I didn’t know how to get in the NICU. She pointed out the window and said, "the door." (In my defense, the other hospital had two pagers and a sink.) My face turned blood red but all I could do was laugh. She stood up and gave me a huge hug–it was obviously written all over my face that I needed it. It was the first hug I had received since being in Florida and it was my first face-to-face REAL “Congratulations mama.” Cue the tears again.
Our new room was just curtains. There was no TV, radios...nothing. Just me and Trice. The other monitors went off all day...and as tired as I was and as much as I missed Lakelyn, I tried so hard to soak in this special time and bond with Trice. It was so special, yet each moment was so unknown and up in the air. It was by far the hardest and most amazing 15 days of my life. I wouldn't trade those 15 days with my son, those nurses for anything. I am thankful for each person God placed in my path that trip. My son has taught me more than he will ever know, So has my daughter. Gods blessings are every where and in every situation it is just waiting on his timing that I have to become better at, haha!
