[Annmairi]

Originally Posted by lilifelover

Yeah, some days are better than others...we just had mother's day and an adoption day...so I imagine things will get a little better in the next few months...and I don't have to worry about another "special day" for awhile. Anyway, it'll be okay. I know God isn't going to let me go through this alone.

Sorry, I didn't get to reply sooner. We're on vacation...actually visiting my daughter. I just wanted to say that you are definitely not alone. I won't pretend to have all the answers, but I am happy to lend an ear.

[proudmum]

Hi, my name is Marissa and i am the amum to a beautiful 13 mnth little girl,,,, i feel like the luckiest person in the world to have her in our lives...

[Anara]

I am a bmom and placed my 'Little Man' for adoption with a wonderful couple in 2002. Due to the post adoption emotional tornado and some other non-adoption related situations I kind of shut down and fell out of contact with the a-parents. I now also feel really bad about that.
In the last 3 1/2 yrs, I have married the wonderful man who was in my life the last 3 months of my pregnancy, taken his 2 children into my home as my own and we've also had a son together. Where my life once looked desperate and impossible, I am now happy.
I have wanted so bad to get back in touch with the a-family, I was just so scared that they would now reject me (we had a good relationship that 1st 3 months). Then the other day I DID IT. I made contact through the agency, and found out they were 'very excited' I wanted letters and pics and 'would welcome anything I wanted to send'.
So, for now I am waiting for that package to arrive and praying that my very heartfelt letter to them is well recieved.
Anyways, that is who I am, and my connection to open adoption. ~Anara

[mourning]

i placed my daughter julianna 3 months ago and have 8yo special needs daughter who lives with me.did the open adoption and receive letters and pictures and been great so far just worried about the future and how if any will things change.

[SchmennaLeigh]

Welcome, Mourning.

[mmshell503]

i am a b-mom that gave my daughter up for adoption at birth dec 18, 88. she will soon be 18 and i am eager to find her. our adoption was an open adoption, but at the time the "open" part just meant no red tape when she turned 18, or we could communicate thru the agency. the agency went out of business a few yrs later and i haven't had any news or anything since she was 7 mos old. i am anxious to find her and haven't the first clue on how to go about it. anyone with help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[SchmennaLeigh]

Welcome, mmshell.

[rappiestavern]

I had a open adoption with my son back in 1985. I chose his birth parents out of quite a few people. I was young & stupid, and drugs and alcohol ruled my life. I tried to raise my son for 1 yr, but then realized it was no kind of life for him. He was suffering due to my addictions. So I contacted the same adoption agency that put thru my adoption, and decided on open adoption. I wrote my son a letter explaining that I loved him and wanted him to have a chance in life. I am currently searching for him now.

August 5th, 1984 he was born, in Schenectady, N.Y.
The adoption was handled in Albany, N.Y. His adopted mom was a teacher, and his adopted father was working in the post office.

Anyway, thats my story, and I hope and pray one day I will find my son.

[RIMomma]

I am a birthmom now in my 6th year to a daughter..I have 3 other children besides her all older..

[msdesi]

Wow! It's so cool to see that many birthmoms have visits with a schedule and talking on the phone and all kinds of things... . I never imagined such a thing would even be possible. I remember the adopting couple said when we met that they wouldn't mind thinking about a visit for when she was older if she wanted to, but that's as far as that went.

Ok, some of this I said in my intro post but I'll write again.

I found this board by google recently when I was thinking about my birth daughter and feeling need for support.

I'm a birthmom, who placed my daughter in 1993. I looked into adoption while pregnant but didn't place her at birth. I kept her 1 month but ultimately felt pressured due to financial and also by ex boyfriend.

The adopting couple kept in touch a year, then stopped. It was though letters/pictures only when it was happening. I feel so happy to read adoptive couples allowing more now and feel disappointed when I read stories about a birthmom taking advantage of the privilege by overstepping the boundries everyone agreed to. So many of us out there would have loved to have such chances.

[Jbeastie]

Hello I am a birth mom to a 9 year old and we have an open adotion I get visits when it is possible we live about 5 hours away. I do get letters and phonecalls not as much as I would like but they have a busy life style. I chose this decision which was the best for my daughter at the time. I adore my daughter very much and just wish I could spend more time with her.

[SMLH]

I am a birthmom to a 2 year old daughter. We have a very open adoption, I live about 20 miutes away and see her and her family about once every other month. Phone calls a couple times a month.

[Shellikin]

My name's Shelly, birthmom to Jackson. He was born the 8th of this month (September), so this is all very new to me. We've agreed on an open adoption (as open as it can be, since the adoptive parents live across the country.... they're the ones that felt right, though).

[rrrobie]

I'm a birthmother participating in a fully open adoption for over six years now. I am blessed to have a very close relationship with the adoptive family and we see each other several times a year depending on what part of the world I am living in.

I am a VERY faith-based person and I truly feel God has his hands all over the adoption process.

I have recently started to pursue a masters in social work to become (drum roll please)...an adoption counselor! I feel that there are so many issues surrounding adoption I faced seven years ago that have still not been addressed.

Being a birthmother is a continual journey. Just when I think I have it down, a new challenge arises. But never for one moment have I regretted my decision.

I am always happy to share my story with anyone interested, so please feel free to e-mail me with any questions or concerns. I'm no expert, so I have to work to keep my opinions in check, but if nothing else, I can pray for special intentions.

[lilifelover]

I'm the first mother of a beautiful 3 year old little girl. We have an open adoption and we see each other as often as possible...which rounds out to about once a month...sometimes more, sometimes less depending on how we work our schedules out. They're very involved in pursuing an open adoption and have adopted a total of 3 times (which also makes them very busy).

When we aren't spending time together we're sharing phone calls, letters, pictures or emails to keep in touch and work on future plans (which generally fall through a couple of times before we finally get together).

We're all trying to solidify a strong friendship with one another in order to best serve the little girl that is the center of both our worlds.