How we came to be...a family

Isaiah is our seven year old, adopted son. He came to live with us at the age of 2 years, 9 mos. My husband and I were well aware of his medical needs and also his need for a family that could handle all of the doctors appointments, hospitalizations, etc. We felt strongly that Isaiah was a fighter and could survive in this world with the right care.

Isaiah was born with Gastroschisis; his intestines were on the outside at birth. Although he had surgery shortly after birth, his problems were far from over. His body eventually formed scar tissue all over his intestines-between, on top, underneath. His intestines were stuck to his liver, his colon and the inside of his body. To make matters worse, his mom did not have the skills to care for him adequately. He was unable to leave the hospital until he was five months old and only lived with his mother for a short time.

Isaiah was back in the hospital from about the age of 10 months until the age of 17 months-he was admitted because he was so malnourished that the outlines of his muscles could be seen. His head looked enormous and he could not sit up. Then he entered the foster care system.



Although the families he stayed with cared for him greatly, something always happened to interrupt his stay with them. I met Isaiah shortly before his third foster family moved away. He was two years old and cute as a bug. He was frequently hospitalized, about monthly, with a central line infection. A central line is an IV that is inserted into a large vein that goes to the heart.

My husband and I had been considering having another child or adopting a child. Here was a child that needed a family-quickly! His life was literally hanging in the balance with the abilities of his next family. He was so weak from the constant infections, any future infection could have been fatal. He had not learned to eat like other infants, so he did not eat and had no desire to do so. He had also learned some very unhealthy coping skills from living most of his life in the hospital. Although the nurses loved him very much and cared for him as their very own, it was not a substitute for a family.

I discussed becoming foster parents with my husband, who was also adopted. He thought we should go for it. We met a lot of resistance in our desire to foster/adopt Isaiah from the foster care system. We attended many court hearings and even had our own attorney. We persisted in our belief that we could care for this child and give him the family he needed. We took our MAPP (foster parent training) classes and received our temporary license the day before he was scheduled for discharge from another hospitalization.

So much to tell-I have to get our pictues from this time period to share.

Part II coming up soon with pics.