9 Days

On March 11th , 2007 a little baby was found in the Jiangxi province in China. The baby was left with a note -- a torn and crumbled piece of red paper with a tiny date scrawled across the bottom . The date listed was -- March 2nd, 2007 -- nine days earlier and the birthdate of the little baby.

No other information was included.

That little baby is my Libby Doodle Doo.

Nine days. Libby Doodle Doo's birth mother delivered her on March 2nd and kept her for 9 days.

Nine days is a long time. Look at the postings I've done in the last 9 days (ok, I know I missed 2) and what's happened to my family in those days. Think about your own life and all the things that you've done in the last nine days. Now think about those nine days when Libby Doodle Doo was with her birth mother.

In those nine days her birth mother fed Libby Doodle Doo (probably breast fed her). She held her. She saw her sleep. She may have even rocked her to sleep. She may have seen -- just as I have every morning when I awaken her -- how Libby Doodle Doo breaks out in the biggest smile the moment she sees her mommy in the morning.

She saw her suck her thumb (it's obvious from how mis- shapen the Doodle's thumb is that she probably been sucking it even when she was still in the womb) . Did the sucking thumb bring her joy and make her smile (like it did for me) or did she try to break her daughter of that habit. She may have caressed the full, thick head of hair that Miss Libby had at birth (based on the photo in her finding ad).

Over the last nine days I've been imagining what those nine days were like. I been thinking about what was going through her birth mother's head during those nine days. I ask myself -- did Libby Doodle Doo's mother struggle with the decision she finally made on March 11th? Did she exhaust all possible options for keeping this precious little girl -- and finally gave up on the 11th.

Was she by herself for these nine days or were these days filled with heated arguments with her boyfriend, her husband, her in-laws, her parents? Was the decision to give up Libby Doodle Doo hers -- or did she acquiesce to someone else's decision?

I may never know the answers to any of these questions. But the fact remains -- Libby Doodle Doo's birth mother kept Libby Doodle Doo for the first nine days that she was on this planet.

Nine Days!!!