Our Adoption Story

Adoption Attempt #1 (Fallthrough)

Just a week after our 6 month licensing evaluation, our case worker called to inform us that we had been identified by a birthmom.  She was due in early January and she wanted to meet us in two weeks. 

We met with her and learned the baby was a boy and she felt confident about her adoption plan.

After that meeting, we spoke via phone a few times and met with her again.  The week before Christmas she went to the doctor.  The doctor determined that the original due date was wrong and pushed it back 6 weeks.  The baby was now going to be born on February 7 as a scheduled c-section. 

On February 7, we were at the hospital (2 hours away) and the father of one of the other children of the birthmom (he's not the father of this baby) took control of the situation and asked us to wait in the waiting room. Hours later we heard that the baby was born. Finally we got to see him in the nursery and then got to see the BM and the baby in her room. We were talking and enjoying our time when the BM's daughter's father walked in. He asked us to leave and we waited in the waiting room some more. Her case worker came up later and told us to go on back to the home of the people we were staying with and to call tomorrow.

The next day we called and BM said she'd love for us to come down to the hospital. She said she would call when she was ready. A few hours later our case worker called and said that BM decided to parent. We were devestated and made the long drive home.

Anna's Adoption Story

After our adoption fallthrough, Jeremy took the rest of the week off and then we tried to return to life as normal. We were very emotional and the thought of going through that again was scary. However, we decided to put our profile back out right away.

We also started a novena to St. Anne after a few weeks. We prayed with the intention of a quick wait and a smooth, successful adoption. The novena ended on Febraury 28. We didn't know it at the time, but a baby girl was born that day and her birthmom had made an adoption plan and had just contacted Catholic Charities.

On March 10, our caseworker called. My first thought was, "We're not up for renewal yet..." She quickly said, "Are you sitting down?" Code for: You've been picked again. I screamed and in my head said a quick prayer, "Please let the baby already be born and surrenders signed." Our caseworker quickly said, "You've been identified again. The baby was born 10 days ago and surrenders were signed this morning. It's a girl. You can come pick her up this afternoon... (Insert medical history here, which I didn't listen to because I HAD to call Jeremy!)." I got off the phone, called Jeremy (he was at the doctor's, he had been home sick). After him not answering like 15 times, he finally picked up and couldn't understand me!

We talked with our caseworker a few more times. We also spoke with the Interim foster family who was taking care of Anna. They told us all about her and what a wonderful baby she was. The father called at one point when she was crying for a bottle, just so I could hear her cry. They are the sweetest people and they were so happy for us.

That afternoon we went to CC and picked up our daughter. The BM had insisted that we name her and although we had a name picked out, we knew we had to change it. When we thought about names, we made the connection between our Novena to St. Anne and this baby girl's birthday. We named her Anna, after St. Anne and Clare after St. Clare (we took a pilgrimage to Italy exactly a year before and had prayed for a child!) We know St. Anne and St. Clare prayed for us and we felt that Anna should most definitely be named after them!

Her adoption was finalized on September 19 (the day before my birthday) and it was such a special day. It felt good to have what we knew in our hearts reflected on paper.

Since then we have felt incredibly blessed. She is the best and most wonderful daughter. She has been a very happy baby and a very beautiful girl. We thank God each and every day for the blessing of our Anna. We are thankful for our infertility and our adoption fallthrough each day when we look at our daughter.

Anthony's Adoption Story

We completed our Homestudy for Adoption #2 at the end of February. After being approved, our profile went back into circulation at the beginning of March. We had prepared ourselves for a longer wait and were just enjoying our time as a family of three.

On March 22, our case worker called. I thought nothing of it when I saw the number on the phone. I figured it was time for our 6 month licensing monitoring. I had just called Luke's parents to send him home sick since he was running a temperature. I was feeding the kids lunch and trying to pick up the toys.

Well, it was not time for our monitoring. Our case worker said we had once again been identified by a birthmom. She was due in just two weeks and she wanted to meet us ASAP. She said that it was a boy and it looked as though it was a very sure thing.

I quickly hung up the phone and called Jeremy. I could hardly tell him the good news, I was too busy crying and laughing and still trying to feed the kids.

We met with the birthmom, J, and her mom, D, the following Tuesday. We hit it off, agreed on a name, and decided to meet again later that week. We met with them a few more times in the next few weeks. They shared with us why they chose our profile and why they thought we'd make good parents to their baby. We shared with them Anna's adoption story and they LOVED getting to know Anna.

J was induced on April 4. We stayed with her at the hospital the whole time. She wanted us there with her, and we helped keep her entertained during labor. She progressed slowly and after 28 hours, she was exhausted. The following day, April 5, they decided to do a c-section. The baby was starting to show signs of distress and J just couldn't do it anymore.

Anthony Xavier was born at 11:21am. He was 8 lbs, 12 oz, 22 inches long, and absolutely perfect. J asked that we be able to have our own bracelets that matched his. So we got to spend time with him in the nursery after he was born. J had requested that she get to be the first one to hold him, so we waited for her to finish in recovery. Once she was moved to her room, she got to hold him. She then quickly passed him off to us for us to hold.

We spent the next four days hanging out at the hospital. We took shifts, so that one of us could be with Anna and one at the hospital with Anthony. The hospital was wonderful and gave us our own room. Since we had bracelets, Anthony was able to be in our room with just us as well. We got to keep him overnight in our room each night. I spent one night with him (I had spent the night before with J while she labored, Jeremy had gone home to sleep) and Jeremy spent the next two with him so that I could get some sleep. We spent a lot of time in J's room as well. Jeremy and I were primarily the ones who fed him and changed him. It was neat to have that time with him and his birthmom.

On Easter Sunday, J and Anthony were dishcharged. She carried the carseat on her lap while they wheeled her out and said her goodbyes. We quickly reminded her that they were not goodbyes, only "see-you-laters". We were going to see them again very soon. It was tearful, sad, and happy all at the same time. But we loaded both kids up in the car and drove home. It was absolutely wonderful to walk into our home, on Easter, as a family of four for the first time. Two days later on April 10, J signed her surrenders and exactly 13 months after Anna's "Gotcha Day", we celebrated Anthony's.

We have a completely open relationship with J. We have agreed to meet once a month for a visit, although it was a little more frequently at first.

Anthony's name was agreed on by all of us. J had picked out the name Xavier as one she'd like him to have. We had Anthony picked out as our top choice for a boy's name. Together we agreed that he would be Anthony Xavier. We love the name and so does J. It's neat that we came up with it together. 

Anthony's Adoption was Finalized on October 22, 2012.  We are so thankful for our forever son!

 

Agnes' and Mya's Adoption Story

 We completed our Homestudy for Adoptions #3+ on Anna's birthday, so February 28, 2013.

This time around we switched programs and were now waiting in the AWC (Adopting Waiting Children).  This program is for children who are in the foster care system and whose parental rights are terminated or are moving toward termination.

Around the end of the summer, we decided to open up our license to include foster children whose legal status was not necessarily being moved towards adoption.  We hoped to adopt through foster care, but were willing to work towards reunification with families as well.

On October 9, we got a call from a case worker at our agency (ours was out of the office that day).  There were two girls whose parental rights had been terminated and they were looking for an adoptive home for them.  At ages 1 and 3, they fit our criteria perfectly.

We went to meet them on October 14 and they came home on October 15.  Life has been crazy with 4 little ones, but we couldn't be happier.  Agnes (3) and Mya (1) have fit right in and have had fewer challenges than we expected.  Agnes' and Mya's Adoptions were finalized in June!!