The Best Present I Ever Got

The best present I ever got was on my birthday, November 30, 1985. It was the only gift I received that year; and it was only by Divine intervention that I got it.

That year my birthday was on Saturday. Thanksgiving was on the 28^th, and my younger brother was getting married on the 29^th. In all of the hustle and bustle and excitement of Thanksgiving and the wedding, my entire family forgot my birthday. None of them gave me a present, not even my husband. (Although, he did take me out to eat that evening.)

My brother and the rest of my family, and his fiance and her family lived in Alabama. So, of course, that is where the wedding was. We lived about 700 miles away; so, we spent Thanksgiving Day driving to Alabama. We were coming up on our 15^th anniversary and on the drive over my husband said, “I’ve been thinking that I’d like for us to look into the possibility of adopting.” I said, “That’s funny. I’ve been thinking the same thing.” I had just purchased an accounting practice in September, so we agreed to wait until after I got through my first tax season and we’d look into it in June.

After the wedding we drove part way home and spent the night in a motel; then we finished the trip the next morning – my birthday. When we walked in the door the phone was ringing. It was my OB-GYN.

He said, “Alice, I’m so glad to finally reach you! On Thanksgiving Day, I was the doctor on call for the hospital and I delivered a beautiful, healthy baby boy that needs a home. He’s 3 months premature but I promise you he is perfectly healthy; there is nothing wrong with him. He’s yours if you want him.” Of course, we wanted him!

He said that the mother came into the ER with complications and she told them when she came in that she was giving the baby up for adoption, and they told him that before he examined her. She had developed eclampsia and he had to do an emergency c-section. He explained that, by law, if the he knows at the time of delivery that the baby is being put up for adoption, before leaving the delivery room, he has to fill out a form indicating who has legal custody. If it’s a prearranged adoption the he has to specify who the adopting parents are. Otherwise, he has to check a box indicating that the child is a ward of the state and Social Services has custody.

He said, “Alice, I always have a list of patients that want to adopt. Right now, I can name everyone that’s on that list. But at the time of that delivery I couldn’t remember a single one. So, I prayed, “Lord, who do I know that wants this child?” and your name was the only one that came to my mind. So, I prayed again and said, “Lord, I can’t remember a single name on my list, but I know Alice Abernathy is not one of them. We have never had that conversation. Please, help me remember who I know that wants this child.” And, again, I was the only one that came to his mind. He said, “I kept wracking my brain trying to remember anyone on my list, but I never did.” He said finally, as he was nearing the end of the procedure he prayed again and said, “Lord, if I put Alice and her husband on that paper and they don’t want this baby it will be out of my hands; Social Services will automatically get custody. I know I have patients that want to adopt. Please tell me, who do I know that definitely wants this baby?” And, again, my name was the only name that came to his mind. He couldn’t remember my husband’s name, so he just put Mr. & Mrs. Abernathy.

As far as the State was concerned, our adoption proceeding began the day we casually discussed it on our way to Alabama.

They kept him in the neonatal nursery because he was so small (he weighed 3 lbs 3 oz). They put him in a regular baby bed; he didn’t even need to be on oxygen. At first, they told us we could take him home when he weighed 5 lbs. By the end of the third week he had lost down to 2 lbs 7 oz and gained back up to 3 lbs 9 oz. At that point the Dr. said that he was so dog-gone healthy it was ridiculous to keep him there any longer; so, they sent him home!

For whatever reason, sometimes God’s reward is the fruit of another womb.