Bennett's Story

(Josh's first time holding Bennett!)

We are thrilled to present our beautiful baby boy...Bennett Cort Eberhard. Bennett was born Friday September 9, 2011 at 9:42 am. He was 6 lbs. 10 o.z 18 inches long and has light brown hair and an adorable little cleft in his chin! We named him Bennett (which is my little brother Colton's middle name and is also my great grandmother's maiden name) and his middle name is after his birthmom Cortney. So, here's a quick summary of how it all happened:

 

 

We had been contacted by Cortney in May and after a few weeks of emailing and then a bold move on my part in facebook friend requesting her, we finally talked on the phone in June. The first time we talked on the phone she asked us what she needed to do because she had been telling people for weeks that we were going to be the parents of her baby! I was so shocked that she was already so certain of her decision and also I was very excited. I cried happy tears after I got off the phone and told Josh that I think this was going to be the one! We kept in contact throughout the following months. In July, she went in and got an ultrasound done to find out the sex of the baby for us. We would have been thrilled for either a boy or girl but when she said it was a boy, my heart swelled because we had already prepared for a boy with the first placement we had planned on and I knew that everything was just falling into place.

 

 

We heard from our birthmom at about 6:30 Friday morning, September 9th,that she had been admitted after her water breaking so we hit the road as fast as we could, but Bennett was in a hurry and was born just about 3 hours later. We still had 9 more hours to drive when we heard that he was born! To say it was a long car ride, was an understatement, but we made great time and made the 14 hour trip in only 12 hours. We were so excited! When we finally got to the hospital around 7:30 pm the nurses showed us to our own room (which we totally weren't expecting) and then they went and got the baby. When they brought him in I thought he was the tiniest little miracle I had ever seen. Josh and I both had happy tears in our eyes as we held him for the first time. It was a special moment that I will always remember. We fed him for the first time and then I called my mom and dad to tell them the wonderful news. Then we got settled in and just enjoyed staring at him. He surprised us the first night and slept for a five hour chunk of time straight. Josh and I both woke up every hour to make he was still breathing, of course! First time parents :) Anyway, the next day on Saturday, we got to meet our birthmom for the first time. I honestly felt like we had always known her. It felt very relaxed talking to her, she is just an amazing person! Josh and I are still in awe at how supportive she was of us becoming Bennett's parents and how comfortable she made us feel. I will forever be grateful for her, for the love she showed us, for the faith and trust she has placed in us and for the miraculous gift she has given us.

 

 

We love you Cort!! Tear up just thinking about her... So, anyway, Cort was discharged from the hospital on Sunday and we stayed in the hospital until Monday afternoon.The hospital staff was beyond amazing, they brought us trays of food, let us shower there, washed Bennett's clothes and folded them when he had used all of them and much, much more! We love the Oroville Hospital staff, they are angels!!! Cort signed the paperwork Monday morning and then our birthfather signed Monday afternoon. We felt like we were in a dream or something with how smooth everything went. After we left the hospital, we spent one night at the Gold Country Casino in Oroville on Tuesday night and then we drove to Pasadena, to stay with Josh's younger sister Ashley for the night. We ended up having some complications with paperwork that the state of CA needed from us but we had miracles happen with that as well and were able to have that all work out as well. We are so grateful for our wonderful attorney Ed Johnson! He was so on top of things and did a great job keeping track of everything and making sure that we were taken care of. Any-who, we stayed with Ashley for two nights and then drove to Blythe, CA on Thursday night so that once we got the approval from AZ to come home, we would only be two hours away. We hadn't been planning to stay in CA for a week so we ended up having to ship some of the donated breastmilk from home to Ashley's house so that we could still keep feeding him that and not having to switch to formula. Despite having to stay a few extra days, we feel that everything went amazingly smooth and we loved getting the opportunity to spend so much time in the hospital with Bennett and to get to visit his Aunt Ashley before coming home. We got the word from AZ around 11 am Friday morning and then drove home right away. I had never been so happy to see the AZ border! :) Anyway, we are home now and enjoying settling in and introducing Bennett to our home. He is so adorable, I could just snuggle him all day.

 

We are so in love with him and are so humbled and grateful for this huge blessing in our lives. All of the years of trying, prayers, fasting, tears, preparation and hoping have finally come together in this tiny little miracle we feel so grateful to call our son. Seeing Josh as a dad is the most amazing thing, melts my heart! We love adoption, Bennett and our birthmom! Ah, so happy! We are enjoying our open adoption with Cortney and keep in touch through emails, phone calls and texts. We hope to be able to go visit her again soon!