Hi!
So, curious about adopting? I certainly was when I was pg with my daughter, who is my 2nd child. I just knew I couldn't ever do HG again, and so we looked into other options before she was even born. I was 6 months pregnant on a short road trip with my Mom to pick up a sister from college, and I was reading to her all about open adoption.
It took us several years to decide which program was the right one for us to pursue to find the child meant for us, but in the end we were foster parents in the state of Utah. We received placement of a 1/4 Japanese little boy who was 3 1/2 months old on June 5th, 2001. Our emotions ran the whole gambit as his birthmom declared she was going to relinquish rights at the beginning, and then changed her mind - deciding to work towards reunification. In the end, another pregnancy complicated her efforts, and she was not successful in reunification efforts with her son. She voluntarily relinquished parental rights and we were able to adopt Adam on May 29th, 2002 - exactly two years ago today. Despite the emotional roller coaster of that adoption, Adam's birthmom and our family have a great relatioship now. We have an open adoption, and try to keep the three birth siblings in contact. One was adopted in Utah, and one is with her.
We have seriously considered adopting from China, but with our receant move here to Northern Idaho, have found an adoption agency that places newborn infants born here in Idaho with waiting families. It would be another open adoption, we hope, and about $8,000 less than adopting from China - both good things, lol. We have to wait for 6 months before we can apply to establish a residency, which is alright by us. We'll be busy this summer preparing for our foreign exchange student from Japan! While we are waiting until September to begin our homestudy update, we will be preparing our birthmom letter.
I know that until you go through it, it's hard to see what the whole adoption experience is like, so I'll be posting about mine, here as we progress through it.
We also have many friends who have adopted foreign, so know quite a bit about those options as well.
Researching to adopt is very similar to preparing for another HG pg. You learn about all of your viable options, and then slowly wade through them to figure out which one is actually right for you. Those who are truly determined to adopt do eventually adopt, but it's not as quick as getting pregnant supposedly is. I can tell you that it's certainly not the same as giving birth, but still a wonderful way to grow our family with children. I can guarantee one thing for sure! You throw up a whole lot less this way, no one gave me an IV, and all of the labor pains were in my heart.
Hugs to all of you considering adoption. Feel free to ask me anything.
Andy