View Full Version : How about an update thread?
Leatherette
09-10-2003, 12:44 AM
Thought it would be nice to have a thread to pop in a bit of info about where adoptive parents-to-be are in the process, and adoptive parents could share post-adoptive info. Maybe it's two threads.
Anyway, we had our 1st homestudy visit on Monday, and will have one more next Thursday. It was fun. We have a very cool social worker.
Hope all's well with everyone.
L.
EFmom
09-10-2003, 03:50 PM
Congratulations on getting your first HS visit over with and having be fun to boot! Actually, we had a great sw for ours and it wasn't bad at all.
My six year old has started first grade, which she loves. In all, she's doing great. A few weeks before school started though we had a little adoption drama. She announced one day (after being disciplined for misbehavior) that she was going to return to China the following day because she missed her birth mother and because she "doesn't belong here."
We worked that one out, but from time to time she trots it out when she isn't getting every little thing she wants. I think I've become pretty good and discerning what is genuine angst about adoption and what is the typical childhood threat to run away every time she doesn't get her way. She's a smart and wonderful kid, but sometimes a little too smart!
We really need to get cracking on readopting our kids. I've been dragging my feet and I know I shouldn't. The youngest must be readopted because both of us didn't go to China and we'll do the older one as well because if we're going through the process, why not?
I have to admit though, I've had nightmares about something screwing up and the judge not letting us readopt. In our state it's like adopting from scratch, and although I've never heard of anyone having problems I guess it's still theoretically possible that the judge could decide we are unfit for some reason. This judge is a real pain--we'll have to have a whole new set of documents done and a whole new homestudy with one of the two SWs he'll work with. Not looking forward to that ordeal again!
Laurel
09-10-2003, 08:12 PM
Well, I guess my update is that I'm in the process of trying to write my last letter to ds's birthmother. A few months ago, she requested that we end contact as she felt she needed to "move on" (her words, not mine). She got married in April and feels like that continuing to get letters and pics is making it harder to get through the grief, rather than easier. I can understand where she is coming from, and we have chosen to respect her desires of course, but it has still been a sad thing for me. We have discussed this quite a bit with her through our letters, and she is firm that this is what she wants. I have been putting off having to write this letter, because I know it is the last one. We have always had a really good relationship with her. She wrote us a beautiful letter for ds's first birthday telling us that we had helped to make her experience so positive and that she didn't have any regrets--she knows ds is loved and well cared for. That letter eased my feelings about ending contact, but it is still bittersweet. I hope that perhaps in a few years she will change her mind, and hopefully the pain won't be so fresh, but who knows?
Amazlilith
09-11-2003, 10:20 AM
Once that comes back from appeals...our social worker will file for our adoption date!!!!!
:banana :banana
T. Elena
09-11-2003, 10:57 AM
Well, we are wrapping up our homestudy for a domestic infant adoption (almost certainly an African-American or mixed race child), unspecified gender. Just got in the mail the one outstanding document -- my birth certificate from NYC -- and once we get that mailed in all the HS paperwork will be done. Then it's just a matter of wrapping up the birthparent letter & photo album, which are both underway.
Apparently, at our agency, they don't have any "traditional" families (2 parent, with one "at home") in the wait for an unspecified gender domestic baby right now, so since we are "traditional" our wait period could be very short indeed. But we are putting the brakes on because we're not ready yet . . . DS, age 3.75, just started preschool and he's not comfortable with it yet (but that's another story unto itself). Also, we're traveling in October. And there there's the tiny matter of me having given away all our baby stuff from the first child . . . got to get a few basics still!
But if all goes as it appears now that it probably will, we should have a child anytime after early November.
As for breastfeeding, I'm going to give the Newman-Goldfarb protocols a try I think (http://www.asklenore.info/breastfeeding/induced_lactation/accelerated_protocol.html). Have an appointment with my doctor next week to get Rxs for Diane 35 and domperidone. Yikes, with my bad track record with synthetic hormones, I can't believe I'm doing this. But, hey, if it's a flop I can always quit and just stoke the Lact-Aid with formula. (I'm going to also get a note from my doctor to use the organic formula -- http://www.naturesone.com/ -- even though it's not FDA-approved for infant use.)
steph
09-13-2003, 05:10 PM
t. elena - regarding the formula.... i spoke w/the nutritionist at nature's one about it a couple of years ago. and she told me that the reason it isn't fda approved for infants isn't because it doesn't meet the nutritional requirements (it does - you can look up all their stats and compare them w/any "regular" infant formula's stats which you can also get online), but because the cost for fda approval is too high for a small company like theirs. the big formula companies are usually subsidies of pharmaceutical companies (or nestles) which can afford the fda's expenses. i used nature's one w/ dd for the first two years - just now switched to plain soy milk (vitamin enriched) in the lact-aid (much cheaper!)... good luck with the protocol! i didn't have it in me to do the drugs - just did fenugreek and blessed thistle!
T. Elena
09-14-2003, 05:47 AM
Steph,
Yeah -- I am aware that the Nature's One formulas have roughly equivalent nutritional profiles to the "regular" brands. Figured they'd not sought FDA approval for cost reasons and/or because I guess they add some essential fatty acids that may not be on the FDA "approved" list for infant formulas. Not that I regard the FDA as the ultimate source of wisdom on infant nutrition, but that's another topic altogether. . . .
I really don't know how I'm going to do with the hormones. Believe me, there are several levels of irony to me taking them. I once swore I'd never take another birth control pill . . . but the accelerated protocol calls for just one month or so, and it can't be worse than the 7 weeks of "morning" sickness I went through in pregnancy. So we shall see, I guess.
I'm about to order my Lact-Aids. I heard at least one mom advocate having at least four of them around -- what's your advice? Maybe you can PM me.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
HotMama
09-14-2003, 11:44 AM
Originally posted by Laurel
Well, I guess my update is that I'm in the process of trying to write my last letter to ds's birthmother. A few months ago, she requested that we end contact as she felt she needed to "move on" (her words, not mine). She got married in April and feels like that continuing to get letters and pics is making it harder to get through the grief, rather than easier.
I hope that perhaps in a few years she will change her mind, and hopefully the pain won't be so fresh, but who knows?
My heart goes out to you and your family. I worry about losing dd's birthmom. I hope she changes her mind later on. Is she open to keeping in touch enough for your ds to meet her later on?
Quirky
09-14-2003, 01:25 PM
I hope you don't mind that I'm butting in on this thread, since I'm not an adoptive parent (but I hope to be someday, which is why I lurk!)
Just wanted to let you know that a) the Nature's One formulas do meet the FDA requirements, they're not just "close." I did a lot of research when we had to supplement ds as a newborn. Also, Horizon has come out with an FDA approved organic formula. Horizon press release (http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=HCOW&script=410&layout=-6&item_id=408842)
On domperidone - I recently heard that the FDA is not allowing it to be sold through compounding pharmacies any more, which IMO is totally ludicrous given the rampant off-label use of drugs like Cytotec....but I digress. Anyway, if you can't get a script for it, you can order it from pharmacies overseas, and get it cheaper anyway. If you need ordering information LMK and I can post it or PM it.
EFMom, what's readoption? Having to go through the whole legal process all over again? Is that because your partner isn't legally an adoptive parent or something? If you don't mind me asking.
Laurel
09-14-2003, 01:38 PM
Originally posted by T. Elena
I'm about to order my Lact-Aids. I heard at least one mom advocate having at least four of them around -- what's your advice?
I had six lact-aids, and I'd say that's the minimum. Cleaning and preparing lact-aids is a lot of work (not hard, just time-consuming), and the less often you have to do it, the less stressful your nursing experience will be. I kept a bowl of soapy water on the counter at all times so I could just dump the used lact-aids in as soon as we were done nursing. At first, I would clean lact-aids twice a day, then as ds got older and ate a little less frequently, I only had to do it once a day. I admit that I would use the same bag for several nursings but just change the tubing. Otherwise I would have been cleaning them all day long. The fastest I could clean six lact-aids was about 20 minutes.
Laurel
09-14-2003, 01:50 PM
Originally posted by HotMama
Is she open to keeping in touch enough for your ds to meet her later on?
In her last letter, she had softened her stance a little bit. It was subtle, but I could detect a difference in her feelings, and she left the door slightly more open for future contact. We will continue to write her a yearly letter and send it to the agency, not to be given to her, but to be placed in her file so that if she changes her mind, she will always know where we are. I was very up front in telling her that I will not hinder ds from searching for her if he chooses to. So, at least she should be aware of that possibility. One of the things I liked best about an open adoption was the idea that he would never have to "search" and that even though we might not have frequent contact, he could always contact her if he had questions about his adoption. She talked of coming out for one last visit before ending contact (she lives in another state), and we were really looking forward to that, but I had a feeling it would not happen. Sure enough, she cancelled on us. So I guess my answer to your question is that I don't know if she would be open to seeing him later on or not. I guess we'll just have to see how the next few years go. He does have lots of pictures of his birth family, as well as letters (several written directly to him).
EFmom
09-14-2003, 03:00 PM
Laurel, my heart goes out to your family re the birthmother. How sad and difficult.
Jane, the readoption is for our younger daughter's citizenship. According to the INS, or whatever they are called these days, if only one parent travels to see the child prior to the overseas adoption, the child is not considered to be a citizen until the child is readopted in their home state.
Different states handle readoption differently. In some states it's just a matter of filing a few forms and paying a nominal fee. In our state, there is great leeway in what the family court or surrogate court judge can require, and lucky us, in our county we've got a stinker. This judge makes it as difficult as possible--probably a member of the Attorneys' Full Employment Society.
Quirky
09-15-2003, 12:14 AM
:eek Holy moly, what a giant and stupid PITA. Thanks for the explanation; I hope yours goes smoothly!
HotMama
09-15-2003, 10:12 AM
I had this update all written up, but got interrupted, and away in went to cyberland...
We adopted Sarah at birth and I was there, dh just outside and we were all together within one minute. I nursed right off with the mini-SNS the hospital had, since Sarah was a week earlier than her scheduled c-section and we didn't have our supplies ready 9we did remember to grab a bag of frozen breastmilk on the way out of the house). We still nurse using the Lact-Aids (we have six, but seven was better when she was younger). We all co-slept on the tiny hospital bed, until we did our placement stuff the next day and we could go home. The hospital even gave us our own room (free), right next to Sarah's birthmom.
At this point we are starting to think about a sibling, although this week I am feeling like getting back into the adult world of work again...if we have another, it will be that much longer before I'll go back to teaching. I wish our culture didn't separate families so much...if I want to relate to other adults on a regular basis, I pretty much have to do it without my daughter, ah, but that is a bit off-topic, eh? Most of the time I am sure I want Sarah to have a sibling to grow up with, but at the beginning of the school year, when dh goes back to his classroom and I'm home alone more than any other time of year, I start thinking one is lovely.
We see her half-sister somewhat regularly, but haven't seen her birthmom since before summer. We are lucky that she is here in town, but she fights forest fires and is hard to catch up with between being out of town and having no phone. I'm inspired to track her down (she cooks lunch at a local tavern), after reading your post about losing touch. I hope that your ds's birthmom just needs a break, and can come back later.:rolleyes:
Tigeresse
09-16-2003, 12:32 AM
Hi there,
Thanks for sharing all your stories.
We are in the waiting stage for our daughter from China. Our dossier was logged in to the CCAA (China center for adoption affairs) in July. At that time, the wait for a referral was 12 months, although I've seen them coming in in as little as 9 months. We'll see!
We'll have to redo our fingerprints for INS (BCIS I think now) as they expire after a period of time. We may have to reapply for INS approval too if we don't travel before our current approval expires.
We will have to readopt too, I won't be travelling to China either as we have young ones I can't bear to leave for 2 weeks, but I think we're supposed to readopt even if we were both travelling, do you know more about that EFmom?
I'll keep you all posted....
EFmom
09-16-2003, 07:20 AM
Tigeresse, readoption is not required if both of you travel, unless you live in one of three or four states that require it.
Many people do readopt anyway. I've seen lots of reasons for this, but none that make any solid case, at least not to me. The motivation is primarily to get a US birth certificate. In many states you can get something called a certificate of foreign birth for a small fee which functions just like a US birth certificate except that it doesn't prove citizenship, but we have other documents that do for our older child. There is also some idea that readoption will help in the case of contested inheritance, but I've spoken to three attorneys about that issue don't see that at all. If there is an issue it almost always revolves around the fact that the child is adopted in the first place and readoption is irrelevant.
We wouldn't have chosen to go through the expense and the hassle if we didn't have to. See http://www.kscourts.org/kscases/supct/1997/19970711/77694.htm for a horror story of what might go wrong. (These people adopted from the same orphange as my older daughter was from.) While everything worked out for this family after the legal appeal, what a nightmare. And I'll bet they had pretty substantial attorney bills, to boot. There are too many judges out there who are clueless about IA for me to jump into this if I didn't have to.
Here is to your speedy referral! I sure hope you don't have to do the BCIS approval, uggh!
Nemmer
09-18-2003, 04:14 PM
Hi there. Our update is that we're filling out paperwork to submit to the agency to start the process to adopt #2. Our first DS, who we received at 2 days old is now 16 months old. I'm excited to be "on the waiting list" again, as long as it doesn't take 3 years again! :LOL
We just got a letter the other day from DS's birthmom and she sent a beautifully framed picture we took at placement of DS being handed from her to me, with both moms holding him. We love being able to keep her updated and send pictures, and hearing how she is doing. We attended her high school graduation, and although she told us she was glad we came, I just heard from a social worker I ran into who knows her that she literally cried when she told this social worker that we came. That's how much she appreciated it! She's so sweet, and we love having the relationship with her that we have.
:hug Laurel, every time I hear about your DS's birthmom, it makes me sad for you. May the Lord comfort you.
Tigeresse
09-21-2003, 09:30 PM
Hey EFmom,
That's a sobering account of what can go wrong when dealing with uninformed "authorities". I hope that because international adoption has become more common place, that we won't encounter anything like the family in the story did. I also like to keep a positive outlook, knowing that things will fall into place as they should. I don't know if our state requires readoption, but Since I don't plan to travel, I know we will have to go through it. Who knows, maybe we'll decide to just take the whole family to China and avoid the whole situation.
Thanks for your info. and well wishes. You are a wonderful resource on this board regarding adoption from China.
Leatherette
11-07-2003, 11:16 PM
Hey, all,
I delivered our photo albums to our agency yesterday. So our social worker mailed them off to the participating agencies yesterday afternoon. Next step: wait for the phone to ring.....
I realize it could be a while, but it is nice to be at the next step in the process.
L.
Nemmer
11-08-2003, 10:44 AM
Congratulations on being at that step Leatherette! :D
We turned in all our paperwork, and are waiting for the agency to collect our referrals and approve our file. Then we will be in that "waiting for the phone call" stage too. :love
Amazlilith
11-08-2003, 11:18 AM
Congrats Leatherette...
We are in the same boat, kind of...As some of you know we finalized Bella's adoption and now we finished our interview to update our homestudy. She is busy so it will take a month or two, but after that we will also just be waiting for the phone to ring.
HotMama
11-09-2003, 11:09 AM
WooHoo! I remember waiting for that phone call with dd. My thoughts are with you.
Our current plan is to go into the pool (waiting for the phone call stage with our agency) next fall, after our big, messy remodel this summer. I want a dishwasher before we have two kiddos:)
T. Elena
11-09-2003, 06:44 PM
We are in the wait, too, as of the beginning of November. So far we're not feeling anxious; if a call comes soon, that'll be a blessing, of course. If not, maybe we'll actually get things a bit more organized around here before we have two kids and descend into the (happy) chaos of newborn care again.
ramblinrose
12-03-2003, 04:07 PM
We have a bio 6 year old son and an 11 month old daughter we adopted from Guatemala...she is still breastfeeding (she came home at 6 months) and is getting ready for a first birthday real soon!!!
Leatherette
12-09-2003, 10:44 PM
Hey all,
Nice to hear that other people are in the wait stage as well (and one with two sweeties at home!) - good luck to everyone.
We have heard about two possible placements that have fallen through. I was not prepared for the fountain of emotion that I ended up feeling both times. The general way that our agency works, you don't hear about a child until birthparents have shown an interest in your family. In these two cases, we heard about the child/mother before we had been presented to the mother.
I am not upset, but after hearing a little bit about each child there was excitement, then skepticism, then wonder, then daydreaming about life with this potential new family member, and always, the reminding myself that both situations were long shots. Then relief, even when the placement didn't happen, that there was an answer either way.
Now that there are no potential placements on our plate, maybe I'll be a little more emotionally stable to make it through the holidays. Not that I'd turn down a Christmas baby!
Patiently yours,
Leatherette
Amazlilith
12-09-2003, 11:08 PM
Our "family waiting" flyer is up. I am having up and down emotions. Part of me would be OK if we had a call after the holidays, with all the stuff that needs to be done. But the other half is feeling like "why haven't they called yet! Of course, then my anxiety builds around why we aren't being called. :( On the otherhand, my DP doesn't think about it unless I bring it up. I guess it's good, we balance each other out! :D
You are all in our thoughts...Hopefully, the new year will bring us beautiful bundles of joy!:love
Dakota's Mom
12-11-2003, 08:15 PM
One year and two days ago a wonderful woman in Guatemala signed the papers that made me a mom. Next Tuesday will be the one year anniversary of the day our beautiful son was placed in ur arms. We arrived back in the US on December 18. We are enjoing every minute of our little guy. He has went from a tiny little one who could not sit up, roll over, or eat anything buy formula to a happy healthy toddler who runs and jumps and climbs on everything.
We sometimes talk about a second child, but at my age one is all I can handle. At least right now. I also have 5 bio children and 7 grandchildren.
Kathi
EFmom
12-11-2003, 09:05 PM
Dakota's Mom,
Happy Adoption Day!!! :D
wemberly
12-11-2003, 10:33 PM
Happy Adoption Day DM! It's always my favorite day of our calendar year. enjoy!
Leatherette
01-04-2004, 11:05 PM
Happy belated adoption day, Dakota's Mom!
Tomorrow morning we are getting a phone call about a possible match with a little girl! I am on pins and needles. It's not a sure thing, but exciting. Don't know how I will sleep tonight. In a few days we could be making plane reservations, or saying, "Doh!", and waiting again.
L.
wemberly
01-05-2004, 10:16 AM
Ooh Leatherette, how exciting! I've got my fingers crossed for you.
Dakota's Mom
01-05-2004, 08:13 PM
Leatherette
I'll be thinking about you, sending positive energy your way tomorrow. Hope it goes well for you. I too know what it feels like to lose a referral or to have one fall through. When we were turned down by China we felt like our child died. We mourned for a long time. I still have days when I think about the little Chinese girl that should have been my daughter. Then we received a referral from Guatemala. She was beautiful. We went down and spent a week getting to know her. When I had to give her back to the foster mother I cried all day. Little did I know that I was not just giving her back for a few weeks. I was never going to see her again. A month after our visit her birth mother, actually birth grandmother reclaimed her. As happy as I was that she was going to stay with her birth family, my heart was broken. This was only three months after China. I didn't think I could go on. But just a month later we accepted the referral of a wonderful little boy from Guatemala. For us the third time was a charm. That beautiful little guy with long curly hair is asleep in the next room. I hope this is the one for you. Whether this is or not, just know that your little one is out there somewhere. Adoption is a wonderful, horrible, happy, heartwrenching experience. But the rewards are unbelievable.
Kathi
Leatherette
01-06-2004, 12:39 AM
Dakota's mom,
Thanks for sharing your story. We had no news, good or bad, today, which is often harder than even getting bad news. Ug. So I get to see if tomorrow brings some info. Today was a pretty emotional day for me - unreturned phone calls and e-mails, phones not working, etc. But I am doing much better than I was at around 3pm, thanks to my social worker's encouragement and going to a book club meeting tonight. And eating chocolate cake.
:rolleyes:
L.
Leatherette
01-09-2004, 11:42 PM
Hey,
Good news: We're matched with a little girl (2 mos.). We are flying to meet her on Wednesday. More later.
L.
EFmom
01-10-2004, 07:17 AM
Yahoo!!!! That's very exciting! I hope all goes smoothly for you.:balloons
Dakota's Mom
01-10-2004, 09:45 AM
Congratualtions Leatherette,
Please keep us informed as to the process. I don't know anything about domestic adoptions. We got our son's referral in July, went to meet him in October and brought him home in December. It was so hard to leave him in Guatemala in October. But we knew it would only be for a short time. How long will it be before you can bring your daughter home?
Have a safe trip and enjoy your little one.
Kathi
Leatherette
01-10-2004, 10:34 PM
She will be with us this coming Thursday, and we'll be home next Sunday.
L.
weetzie
01-11-2004, 12:15 AM
Leatherette--Congratulations!
That sounds so so exciting.
(i just lurk here--hoping to adopt someday--pardon my intrusion :) )
Dakota's Mom
01-11-2004, 09:45 AM
Congratulations. This is definitely an exciting time for you. And only 2 months. Our son was 5 1/2 onths when we brought him home. International adoption usually takkes a while.
Safe travels for your whole family.
Kathi
Tigeresse
01-11-2004, 10:46 PM
Another congratulations to you, and I hope all goes well. What an exciting, wonderful time for you and your family!
Amazlilith
01-18-2004, 04:16 PM
How exciting!!!! Congratulations!!! Let us know more when you can!
Piglet68
01-18-2004, 09:10 PM
Can't wait to hear from you, L!
Leatherette
01-22-2004, 11:43 PM
Hey,
Thanks for all of your messages. We have had our daughter with us for a week as of today, and have been home since Sunday. We are really enjoying her, and are thankful that we have had such a positive experience with adoption thus far.
L.
wemberly
01-23-2004, 07:06 AM
WOO HOO!!!!
Congratulations Leatherette. i can't wait to hear more of the details about your new arrival. !'m so very happy for you .
T. Elena
01-23-2004, 11:16 AM
Congratulations, Leatherette! You have reminded me that I'm overdue to post an update. Our daughter was born 12/9 and we took her home (well, to a hotel) from the hospital the following day. We were out of town just over two weeks, returning a few days before xmas.
We were extremely blessed to be able to spend time with the birthmother, who was awesome -- beautiful, generous, courageous, and funny, though also stressed and emotional, but not surprisingly. Encountered a few minor glitches with logistics, but overall it has been an incredibly positive experience.
Baby and big brother are both healthy and well and everyone is adjusting (the sibling stuff has presented some challenges, but overall has been much easier than we expected). I have been trying to do adoptive breastfeeding, and that has had its ups and downs so far. We seem to be settling into a breast/bottle combined approach that is working okay for all concerned, although I know some purists would advise against this arrangement. After beating myself up over it for a time I just decided that I need to be open to the experience, take it a day at a time (actually, a feeding at a time) and just not stress.
Laurel
01-23-2004, 12:22 PM
Congratulations to all the new moms and babies! It brings back so many wonderful memories!
T. Elena, I think your adoptive bf'ing arrangment is just fine. I think some of these purists have NO concept of just how stressful adoptive nursing can be--in my case, I was dealing with problems that would have challenged any normal nursing mom to the n-th degree, then added all the stress of using a supplementer on top of it all. I found I had to define my own success. Adoptive nursing is not exactly the same as regular nursing and should not be expected to be the same. You are doing great!
I haven't posted an update in a very long time either. A few months ago I wrote here about ds's birthmom choosing to end contact. It appears that she is going to stick to that, though for awhile she wavered in her decision and actually wrote to us once. But, we are now having contact w/ both birthgrandmothers, which wasn't happening at all! We got a letter from his birthdad's mom out of the blue in November. We have never met or had any contact w/ this family, though we had written a letter over a year ago offering to exchange letters and pictures. We are now going to exchange occasional updates w/ her. A few weeks after that, we got a letter from his birthmom's mother asking if we could write to her since her daughter didn't want contact. We are going to do that pending approval by ds's birthmom. I am so excited that we can still have this contact, even if it's more indirect! I am feeling so much more comfortable about the future!
Amazlilith
01-23-2004, 12:48 PM
How wonderful for all three of you! I wish you both all the best. And T. Elena I agree with Laurel completely, ABF is not the same and I think that you are suceeding magnificiently!
I hope that I too will be able to post soon about a new arrival...we are still patiently waiting.
Amazlilith
01-28-2004, 11:18 AM
I would like to announce the newest addition to our family...
Miranda Ruth
Born: September 4, 2003
4 lb 1oz, 17” long
Placed in our arms: January 27, 2004
10 lb 3 oz, 20” long
She is so beautiful and so tiny! And her sister, Isabella, can not get enough of her!
We feel forever blessed by God!!
Love,
Sophia, Laura and Isabella
HotMama
01-28-2004, 12:08 PM
Woohoo! Congratulations and enjoy your babymoon...that's like a honeymoon, but with the new baby. :heartbeat
Welcome Miranda!:w
wemberly
01-28-2004, 12:20 PM
Congratulations Sophia, Laura, Isabella, and Miranda! From now on I will think of you as the 'house of beautiful names.'
Please share more details about this happy family-making experience when you are able. I'm so thrilled for you all!
Amazlilith
02-04-2004, 05:06 PM
I wanted to let you know that today we had to give up our baby girl. They have given her back to her old foster family. They have told us that there is a chance that we may get her back, but I am leery to hold on to that hope.
wemberly
02-04-2004, 05:10 PM
I'm so sorry to hear of this disruption. Know that lots of people are thinking of you.
OnTheFence
02-04-2004, 06:05 PM
Originally posted by Laurel
Well, I guess my update is that I'm in the process of trying to write my last letter to ds's birthmother. A few months ago, she requested that we end contact as she felt she needed to "move on" (her words, not mine). She got married in April and feels like that continuing to get letters and pics is making it harder to get through the grief, rather than easier. I can understand where she is coming from, and we have chosen to respect her desires of course, but it has still been a sad thing for me. We have discussed this quite a bit with her through our letters, and she is firm that this is what she wants. I have been putting off having to write this letter, because I know it is the last one. We have always had a really good relationship with her. She wrote us a beautiful letter for ds's first birthday telling us that we had helped to make her experience so positive and that she didn't have any regrets--she knows ds is loved and well cared for. That letter eased my feelings about ending contact, but it is still bittersweet. I hope that perhaps in a few years she will change her mind, and hopefully the pain won't be so fresh, but who knows?
{{{LaurelLLL
This has happened with our sons birthmother as well. In fact more than once in the last 3.5 years. She yoyos back and forth. It is very hard. Unfortunately this last time is it for us. She admitted before cutting out contact that she lied during the adoption process about some very key issues. And refuses to resolve one of them. I am sending positive vibes your way!
Kim
EFmom
02-04-2004, 06:26 PM
Amazlilith, I'm so sorry for you and your family. This must be a difficult time. I hope the little one finds some permanent situation soon.
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