[KristineM]

My story starts when I was 14 years old and had to undergo a hysterectomy due to a medical conditon... So I knew from an early age that I would never be able to have children... I knew I had to find a man that would accept me for me and the fact that I would never bear his child. I found just that man. We researched international vs. domestic adoption and chose an open domestic adoption. The reason we chose that is because my Grandfather was adopted, and of course it was a closed adoption. He never searched for his birthfamily, but I always knew that I did not want my child to have to wonder just who his or her birthparents were/are. I wanted him or her to know why they were adopted and that they are loved by many people who just want the best for them.

SO what is your story?

[ourdreamcametru]

My husband and I married in March of '88 and began ttc from the get go. A year and a half later we decided to start looking into adoption when I became pregnant with our oldest son, two years later we were blessed with a second son. After the birth of our second son I had to have surgery which would leave me unable to have any more children. From time to time we would talk about wanting to adopt a little girl from the Philippines but knew we would not be able to save the huge amount of money needed to do so. Still, I prayed nightly for the possibility of finding our baby and for the mother who would give birth or had already given birth to her.
In Feburary of 2004 life was good with our two beautiful boy. We had the home of our dreams and I was the stay at home mom I had always wanted to be, our boys who were 14 and 10 were involved in sports and church activities and kept us busy. Then..... one day my friend who is a nurse woke me up very early one morning knocking on the door. She said there was another nurse at the hospital who knew of a teenage girl who was looking to place her baby for adoption when it was born in just three months. We agreed to meet with the pbmother the next night and fell in love with her the moment we saw her walking across the parking lot. Come to find out, the father of the baby she was carrying was adopted from the Philippines when he was born. We all agreeded to meet at our attorney's office the next afternoon. The next three months we formed a wonderful relationship with "E" and attended doctor's visits, shopped and spent as much time as we could together. My husband and I were there when our daughter was born and continue to talk to "E" although not as often as we would like. We meet once a year for Castle's birthday and celebrate wit "E" and her family, and send pictures and updates very often.
For those of you still waiting don't give up hope, God has a plan and it is the perfect plan! After 16 years of marriage and two boys, who ever thought we would find our Asian Princess within a few miles of our house! I can say that after giving birth and experiencing the adoption journey there is no difference in how you feel about that baby if it is meant to be you will love that child with all your heart and soul no matter what or how it came to you.

[danhanan]

Well, we never intended to adopt. We raised our first two children and shortly after our oldest daughter was married, a friend of mine returned from living out of state for several years. She was staying with her sister who had 4 children, the oldest was 3 1/2 yrs old. The baby was 7 weeks old and very sick. My friend begged me to take the baby for a few weeks. I refused several times a day. Then one day I was at the park with the children I care for and the sister was there with all of her babies. She placed the baby in my arms and there was an instant connection. She came to live with us temporarily the very next day. Her bmom took her home twice in the first year but then signed relinquishment papers (and so did bdad) and the same hearing turned into an adoption/fianlization one!!!! Oh, and she was born the same day our oldest DD was married.

[jaenelle]

I have PCOS, and from the very beginning of our relationship, DH has known that. I didn't want him to get involved with me if he really wasn't okay with adopting, because I was never and still am not willing to go through fertility treatments or even go off my birth control pills because I feel so miserable when I do. When we got married, my biological clock started ticking big-time but DH wasn't ready at all. So I did as much research into adoption as I could so we'd be able to start the process as soon as DH finally got ready. It took more than a year for him to be ready but finally he is. We are still waiting on the last thing we need to be able to submit our homestudy paperwork. I'm hoping to get that thing today and get the papers in the mail tomorrow. We loved the idea of international adoption but couldn't find a country/agency that fit us and that we fit. So we finally found a domestic agency only a couple hours away that we did fit with and so that's the way we're going.

[Natania's Mommy]

I have PCOS as well but didn't find out until after the birth of our daughter. When we tried to concieve a second child and couldn't I recieved the diagnosis.

We always wanted at least 3 children so adoption it was. Our DD was diagnosed with Autism and since we had gone through training with regards to speach and signing and all that we thought what the hey let's look specificaly for an Autistic child.

Which brings us to our son, He's almost 3 and has autism as well. When he came to us 6 months ago he could not eat anything that wasn't pureed, we worked with him and within a few short months he was sitting in his booster seat munching almonds for a snack. He eats EVERYTHING now. One of his favorites is ceaser salad.

Anyway we're starting to talk about a second adoption which would raise our rugrat count to 3 Our son was 2 1/2 when he came home, this time I'm getting the itch for a baby.

[melliemoo]

I'm an infertile woman. DH and I spent the last 3 years trying to get pregnant, and did all the high-tech treatments, including 3 IVF cycles. I finally got pregnant on my third and final IVF, and then miscarried at 9 weeks. That was just enough for us, we were so exhausted emotionally and physically, and the financial toll was adding up. We felt like it would be flushing money down the toilet if we kept trying. The frustrating part is that we have "unexplained" infertility. My doctor gave me the donor egg speech (I'm 38) but we were so worn down by treatment, we knew it was time to quit.

DH and I had briefly toyed with the idea of childfree living, but being parents for the precious 9 weeks I was pregnant cemented that we really wanted to be parents, and we didn't care how we got there. I had always intended to have one and adopt one, so our adoption plans got pushed up a little sooner.

We are very grateful to have been matched with a baby boy due in less than 3 months, and we will be meeting our potential birth mother in a few weeks!

Melissa =)

[blessedbybug]

I married in 1999 and we started TTC from day one. We wanted 3 kids in 5 years... done deal right? Well, when nothing happened after some treatment (we didn't do alot) we still wanted a family and chose adoption. Our DD came to us through an open, domestic placement 5 years and 6 weeks after we started trying to build our family. Right now, we are waiting for another babe to joing our family, hoping soon!

[snaps]

After some time trying to get pregnant I found out that I had hyperprolactinemia (uncommon endocrine problem) that kept me from ovulating. Actually not a big deal to treat - you take 1/2 of a pill twice a week. Ovulation started after a few months and I got pregnant and then had miscarriage at 12 weeks. Subsequently had 2 more miscarriages. Saw fertility specialist during this time and they really could not determine a source for our problems except that placental tissue from two of the pregnancies (D&C) showed genetic abnormality (egg and sperm did not join properly). Actually this is the most common cause of miscarriage. With DH and I getting up there in age. IVF was a possibility, but due to the problems we had previously we would have had to have a special type of IVF to look for genetic problems (ie. $20,000 a try). Since I was 35 and husband was 39 (and both rapidly approaching birthdays) we decided to adopt. We are now the proud parents of a 5 1/2 month old daughter through domestic adoption.

Snaps

[joskids]

Married with 4 children. Divorced. Liked dating and meeting new folks, struggling as a single mom was not easy though. Didn't think about marriage again although in my deepest part probably did long for that kind of security. Met DH (10 years younger than I and no children from previous marriage). I agreed to one more child. Didn't happen so without a second thought contacted an agency and adopted our beautiful boy (now 8). Moved out of state. Contacted an agency to foster. Placed with foster-to-adopt 6 wk. old infant boy. B4 he was final, got a call from a county agency about a 2 yr. old girl that needed a family (caseworker remembered me from a previous conversation about adoption of older children). We took her too. Adoption been so good to us we decided to try again and if it happened, we would feel very blessed. Now have 3 month old girl and the LIGHT of our lives. I think we almost feel guilty for having such a blessed life and such beautiful children. I certainly never intended to be parenting a second time. Life is sweet and my new motto is "NEVER SAY NEVER". Open the door, open it wide, someone is standing outside.

Josie

[Bearcat4444]

Maybe our story is not as common as I had thought it would be.

My wife and I married in '97 (age 38&43) and after much discussion agreed not to have any children. My wife already had two grown boys from a previous marriage. One of those boys hooked up with this girl and they had two children together, in addition to the two she already had by two other fathers. The old familiar story, chemical dependency, parents going downhill, concerned grandparents trying to get DSS involved, etc. After 8 months of effort on our part, DSS removed 3 of the children from their home and placed them with us. We have had them for 2 years now and are foster parents. Bio parents have been in and out of jail, same old sob story. Judge recently signed the TPR order so soon we will begin the adoption process. Throughout all of this process we have tried hard to take the high road with the parents and extended bio family because we felt it was in the children's best interest. It has been an incredibly hard road, and I certainly could share stories with anyone who has had to try to get help for their grandchildren and fought with all the agencies who "supposedly" are there to help the parents provide for the kids.

Good news. When the children arrived they were in a sorry state, no medical care, all showing strong developmental delays. I am extrememly pleased to announce that all three children are now testing "normal" with a small caveat of continued speech class for one. Last week the two oldest got their certificates for completing 1 & 2 years respectively in Headstart and their teachers are constantly commenting on how smart they are and how well developed they are. I am so proud of these kids.

I did not ask for this in my life, but I have never once doubted for one second that this was not only the right thing to do but the thing that God wanted us to do. I am often feeling old and always feeling tired and I know that we will have some difficulties because of our age but are looking forward to watch these children grow into good human beings. They are so precious and now I cannot imagine my life without them.

Funny what a little love, attention, food, and the occasional bath will do for a child.

[kelceesmom]

My husband and I married in 94'. We decided after about 7 or 8 years of marriage it was time to start trying to complete our family. After about 3 years of infertility treatment we still weren't pregnant. Found out that I was not able to concieve because one tube was completely blocked and I didn't want to do surgery and the other is not formed correctly. We had discussed adopting after we had our own. Mainly because my husband is a twin and they were adopted by the same lovely family and able to stay together. He knew he wanted to give to someone what he had received as a toddler. Our beautiful baby was placed in our arms when she was 6 hours old. She just turned one. Life is full of surprises! This was what was meant for our lives. We couldn't be happier.

[poohbear1208]

I am a nine month breast cancer survivor, which led us to this journey. We had talked about adoption before we even got married, but after finding out the cost we were in sticker shock. We went on to have two beautiful girls and were trying for the third when I was diagnosed. I now have to take hormone therapy for the next five years, after which we can try to conceive. We decided not to wait because the chemo may have put me into permanent menopause, and there really is no reason to wait. Our main goal is to have a large family and it really does not matter how we get there. On a sidenote, please remember to do your monthly breast exams. I was only 27 at dianosis and early detection is the reason for my excellent prognosis. Take care of your bodies- you need to be around to raise these precious babies! Mandi

[NurseNikki]

My DH and I were married in 2000. I wanted to be a very young mom (22 at the time), but DH wasn't ready. We agreed to wait at minimum one year so we had time to learn about each other. When we started trying, nothing happened, though we were assured countless times by family and doctors to "just relax and it will happen". Four years later, we got the official diagnosis. Not only was I diagnosed with PCOS, but my husband has some fertility issues as well, so it was a no go all the way around. We did try one round of IVF with donor sperm, I was pregnant for three weeks, according to the dr. That was enough for us. We knew we had to try just once, but if it didn't work, that was God's way of confirming that our family was meant to be built in other ways.


In October 2005 we started our agency orientation, our homestudy was completed March 17, 2006, and now we are waiting for the phone call saying we have been matched!

[4baby02]

I have PCOS and my husband has Crohn's and is on medication to control his inflammations.

We had some troubles with my dd 6 years ago, but thought we had that problem worked out when we started trying again 4 years ago. Finally seeing a RE 1 year ago he mentioned...it may be the medication your husband is taking. After meeting with a geneticist and my dh's gastroenterologist, the recommendation was to have dh come off of his meds for 3 months to get a good sampling and freeze the little fellows for IVF.

We decided our love can be shared with a child through adoption and risking his health as well as mine on the infertility meds is just not worth it. There are children waiting/needing a home through adoption and we are anxiously awaiting the perfect match!

[mom2justynsarah]

Infertility was the first reason. However, my mother's death was the catalyst that led me to my beautiful daughter Sarah.

I am not a religious person. I guess you can say I am more spiritual than anything else. But I can tell you this. I have no doubt in my heart and soul that EVERYTHING that happens to us in life is for a reason.

I have been blessed with two miraculous, wonderful children. They wouldn't have been placed in my life any other way. My infertility first brought me my miracle son Justin. He was conceived on my 3rd IVF attempt.

We had always tossed around the idea of adoption But that idea was shelved for awhile once my son was born. I concentrated on my only child for 4 glorious years.

When my beloved mother died (almost 4 years ago) a part of me died along side her. I was literally brought down to my knees. I have never felt that much pain and loss in my life up until that point. If it wasn't for my son, I don't think I would have ever gotten out of bed.

Unbeknownst to me, g-d had other plans for me. There was a mother in California who was in a crisis situation. She was pregnant & homeless. She knew she couldn't give her baby the life she so desperately wanted to.

So, one day a friend of mine bumped into her friend. This friend had a beautiful baby girl. She told my friend that her daughter was adopted. She gave her the woman's name who she used to facillitate the adoption.

We called this woman up. From the time we sent our birthmother letter in, to the time we brought our daughter home was 2 months.

My daughter is now 17 months old. She was brought into my life for a reason. She is my miracle baby. But she was meant to be my daughter. My mother's death left with me with so much sorrow. But my daughter has give me back so much joy. She is a blessing. She took all my sorrow away.

My two children mean the world to me. I am so lucky to be bestowed the miracle of motherhood..All this pain brought me so much more happiness. Things definetly happen for a reason. For this, I am grateful.