It is Thanksgiving morning, and so it seems a fitting time to write this letter that I have drafted in my mind many times. I would like to thank you and your staff for the extraordinary experience we had a Winter Haven Women's Hospital recently.
My husband and I adopted a little boy. We spend four long days at the hospital waiting for the baby to be born, for consents to be signed, and for our son to be discharged. Four long days in which to observe and witness the incredible kindness of your staff
This is our first adoption, so we didn't know what to expect. We heard horror stories about adoptive parents being treated like "baby stealers". Naturally, this is the last thing we would ever want. We had also heard horror stories about birth moms being treated with disdain because of their decision to place their children for adoption. Thankfully, we encountered none of this at your hospital. In fact, it was quite the opposite. My husband and I almost felt like celebrities as everyone seemed to know our situation and seemed so excited for us. Equally wonderful, we witnessed the staff treating our son's birth mom with such respect and kindness.
While there is no way we can thank everyone personally and we risk leaving out many kind people, we wanted to give a special shout out to Madison Prescott and Mary Crum. Madison was our birth mom's daytime nurse for the two days that she was being induced and was in labor. We cannot sing her praises enough. I can't imagine the experience without her. She was such a godsend to us as we journeyed through so many emotions while we awaited the birth of our son (Would his mom change her mind about adoption? Would mom and baby be healthy? How could we rejoice in our great fortune while watching his mom suffer the agony of placing a child for adoption that she has carried and loved for nine months?). Madison was the epitome of compassion for us. She provided a listening ear and was fantastic about giving us updates. She was also so very sweet and loving with our son's birth mom who was experiencing her own strong emotions on top of severe pain. What a blessing to have Madison to comfort and care for all of us!
Mary was also wonderful. She was the evening nurse in the nursery/NICU, and she too couldn't have been sweeter with us. She made sure we received all the new parent information that we missed given our adoption situation. She took time out of her busy schedule to walk us through what we needed to know and even made sure we had an extra set of footprints (since his birth mom received the original ones). So thoughtful.
We are so grateful for all of you making our son's birth such a time of happy memories.