Until Sage (Until Him 2)

“Mr. and Mrs. Mayson I presume,” she greets us.

“Yes, hi,” Kim says quietly, as she stops in front of us.

“It’s nice to meet you both.” She shakes our hands. “I’m Bethany, the social worker here at the hospital. If you’ll follow me, I’ll get you two checked into the hospital and your room, and then we’ll introduce you to your son.”

“Um… how’s Ima?” Kim asks about the birth mom as we hand over IDs and sign in. At Kim’s question, Bethany turns to face us. “She’s okay, but she’s chosen not to have any contact with the baby since delivery.”

“What?” Kim whispers, squeezing my hand.

Ima and the agency told us about the birth plan weeks ago. The plan was that Ima would spend as much time as she could with the baby until she had to leave the hospital, so this news is a punch to the gut.

“These situations are always difficult, and sometimes the birth parents find it easier to deal with things if they don’t have one-on-one bonding with the child after the birth,” she explains quietly. My heart squeezes, not only for my son, who has been alone since the moment he was born, but for the mother of my child, who is somewhere in the hospital, fighting through what I can only imagine is excruciating pain. “She may change her mind, but then again, she may not.”

“Okay,” Kim says, and I know she’s just as worried about this new change of plan as I am.

Holding on to Kim after we get checked in, we head down a long hall, past an empty nursery, and into a simple room with a bathroom attached, a hospital bed, a chair, and a TV on the wall. “Wait here and I will be right back,” Bethany says, leaving the room.

“I’m worried,” Kim whispers, looking up at me as soon as she’s gone.

I turn her in my arms, resting my hands around her waist. “It will be okay.”

“I know. I… Ima just seemed so sure about wanting to spend time with him. What do you think it means that she changed her mind?”

“I don’t know but I do know that it will be okay, baby. One step at a time,” I tell her, and then the door is opened and Bethany walks in pushing a cart in front of her. Seeing the small bundle of blankets in the middle of the clear plastic bassinet, my heart beats hard against my ribcage.

“Mr. and Mrs. Mayson, I’d like to introduce you to your son.”

Swallowing down the lump that has lodged itself in my throat, I stand with my wife in my arms as she picks up our son and brings him to her chest. “He’s perfect,” she whispers, and I hear the tears in her voice. Curling her closer, I study our boy, Nash, and grin when he pouts out his lips.

“He’s probably hungry. The nurse was on her way to get you some supplies, so she should be here soon. You guys can move with him around Labor and Delivery as long as you have on your bands I gave you, but he can’t leave the hospital until you guys get checked out. And before that, all the paperwork with the birth mother needs to be completed. As I said before, Ima may at some point want to visit with him, but as of right now, he will be staying in here with you two. So plan for the nurses and doctors to be in and out throughout the night and the next few days to check on him.”

“Thank you,” Kim tells her quietly.

“I pray that everything works out for you guys. You make a beautiful family. Congratulations.” She smiles at us as the nurse comes into the room. “This is Minnie. She will be your nurse for the night,” she introduces us to the nurse, who looks like a bulldog but is so soft-spoken I have to lean in to hear her as she tells us hello. “You guys are in good hands. If you need anything at all, my number is on the board,” Bethany says, motioning to a whiteboard in the room in front of the bed.

“Thank you.”

“Anytime.” She smiles before she leaves.

Once she’s gone, Minnie goes over the feeding and nighttime schedule with us. Then it’s all a blur of diaper changes, bottles, and countless doctors and nurses.

We spend the next two days in the hospital with Nash, only seeing Ima once before she is released to go home. During that short visit, she chose not to hold Nash. I could tell she was settled in her decision to give him up for adoption, but she was still hurting and trying to cope with that pain the only way she knew how.

The day after Ima was released, so were we, and I rented us a house close to the hospital, where we waited for our lawyer to call and give us the all-clear to go home. Four days later, we got that call and we headed home with our son.