“I told him I was a long-lost family member. He told me to give him a call so he could help me. I thought he knew what I was going to talk to him about. He did not. He said he grew up in Glendora, she moved away when she was around 40 years old, and he had 2 sisters. I knew it was him.”
‘So uh, yeah, it turns out you’re my sister.’ He never knew his mom was pregnant with me.’: Adopted woman finally finds biological family, realizes she’s walked the same halls with them at church
‘Please, I’ll give anything.’ Hands shaking, I glanced down at the test. Tears silently rolled. When we prepared for bed, my phone started ringing. My stomach dropped. She’d never called before.’
“I felt like everyone was passing me by and I was stagnant. I had no control over my body. Then I got a message that changed my life forever. I literally screamed. I was hopeful, excited, optimistic. Slowly, red flags started popping up.”
‘That wasn’t our baby, and he got to stay with his mama.’ Couple’s failed adoption leads to beautiful open relationship with new birth mom. ‘I never felt a love so strong.’
“She was only four months along, I felt my nerves spike. She and I held hands and laid eyes on that sweet boy together for the first time. We both cried and cried. ‘This is the moment our lives change forever,’ she said. He loves and adores her, but that doesn’t make us any less of his parents.”
‘Stop saying adoption rocks. It doesn’t. And there’s a side to it no one wants to talk about.’
“The part where I cried when I couldn’t have children and the doctor told me to ‘man up’ because ‘the world population is too big anyway so just get a dog.’ The part where, despite my best efforts to love my child, she still says, ‘I want my other momma.'”
‘Can you take a 6-month-old baby?’ I knew in my heart he was mine. I remember them being less than kind, staring at my arm. ‘What happened to you?’
“‘If my arm didn’t stop me from being a great mom to my biological child, why would it stop me from being a great foster mom?’ I was advised to give up because of my disability. I was heartbroken and had no rights.”
‘At 4 a.m. we got THE call. ‘YOU’RE HAVING A BABY! Mom’s water broke! How fast can you get here?’ With tears streaming down her face, she handed him to me and said, ‘Meet your son.’
“We were 7 hours away! We woke up the friends we were staying with, told them what was happening, brushed our teeth, and hit the road! We started calling family from the car. ‘Wake up, we’re having a baby!’”
‘It was April Fool’s Day, and I woke up crying. There was nothing funny about today, for me. My husband had a vasectomy. I was 34 years old.’
“My husband’s father looked up from his paper. ‘Your cousin is losing his rights to his child and is looking for someone in the family to adopt her.’ And just like that, he went back to reading his paper. We both looked at each other. He didn’t even have to ask me. ‘Yes, us.'”
‘I called my dad. I was afraid to tell him. ‘WHAT DID I JUST SIGN MYSELF UP FOR?’ I made a mistake saying I could foster by myself. What was I thinking?’
“I was at the gym when I got the call. He was a biracial 14-month-old boy. ‘He can’t walk or talk. Are you interested in taking him in?’ I could have easily said no. About 45 minutes later, the investigator dropped him off at my house. Neither of us knew we had just met our forever family.”
‘We hugged her. Then, we received a text. When we pushed the door open, all I heard was, ‘We have a situation.’ My heart sank. I knew what those words meant.’
“We secretly prepared for the baby. We received the call we had been waiting for. Baby was born. It was time to head to the hospital. If I’m being honest, I was sick to stomach thinking about what the next few hours might look like.”
‘I’m so happy, but honestly a little confused. I really thought we were going to have twins… Exactly one month later, we were contacted by our second attorney. I just knew someone was missing.’
“I knew I couldn’t sit around and wait any longer. The feeling was urgent. Our baby needed us now and no one was going to fight harder for that baby to join our family than me.”
