[Gladys55]

I was recently working in the OB department of a small rural hospital when I came across a situation I was unfamiliar with. I am a new graduate nurse and my time in OB has been limited. There was a young mom giving her baby up for adoption. The adoptive parents came and were present for the baby's birth. They bathed the baby and did all the newborn cares, feedings, etc. that new parents do. Baby's biological mom wanted to continually hold the baby and referred to her as "my baby". A crisis management counselor came in and discussed the situation with all parties involved. Mom assured everyone she wanted to give up the baby for sure and wasn't changing her mind, but she kept wanting to keep the baby to herself and didn't want the adoptive parents to let it out of her sight. I left before I found out what ended up happening--whether or not she did change her mind. How do you handle a situation like that. What do you do for the mom giving her child up and what do you do for the adoptive parents who are worried the mom is going to change her mind after they've bonded with the baby?