Mike, Lydia & Addison's Story

Mike & I had been married for 4 years. We both wanted desperately to be parents. We spent the last two of those four years trying various infertility treatments and surgeries with no success. My body was tired of all the various treatments, and we both felt emotionally drained about trying to have a child of our own. It was Labor Day weekend of 2004 when we decided we were meant to adopt and it is at that time our adoption journey began. We researched various agencies and contacted people who had gone through American Adoptions. We decided it would be the agency for us. We started the process and became activated on December 21, 2004. It was quite a relief to finally become activated and start the new year off trying to be patient for "THE" call.

It was July 19, 2005. I started off the day feeling down because we hadn't heard anything. That afternoon, I received a call from Alli with American Adoptions. She was calling to let us know we had been chosen by a couple. My heart skipped a beat. Millions of questions started running through my mind. It was a married couple who had two other children and felt they could not provide for another child the way they felt the child should be provided for. They found out the baby was going to be a girl and was due August 29, 2005. The birth parents also wanted us to be present at the birth! They wanted to set up a conference call to talk to us. We talked and felt an immediate connection. We then made arrangements to go and visit their family three weeks before she was due. I will NEVER forget going to their home and meeting the birthmom. It was the most unbelievable feeling. She made us feel welcomed and immediately gave us the baby's sonogram pictures as she felt we needed the pictures for our baby book. Chills ran up and down our spine. There SHE was! The most beautiful sight! We had an amazing time meeting them and their family. They are all very special people!

We continued to talk on the phone, and it then got down to the week before the baby was due. The birthmom continued to have contractions during the week. We were so afraid we would not be there for the birth as they lived seven hours away. The birthmom explained the situation to her doctors and it was then decided that she would be induced the afternoon of Friday, August 26. Mike & I made arrangements to go up the day before to get settled into our Residence Inn and go out for pizza with the birth parents and their children. We had a nice time and headed back to our hotel. It stormed that night and around 3:00 a.m. we received a call from the birth father that the birth mom was having contractions and would like us to come and take them to the hospital. We couldn't believe our ears!! We went and picked them up and got to the hospital around 4:00 a.m.

Ms. Addison Grace was born at 9:28 a.m. that morning. The birth father and Mike both cut the cord. The whole experience was just surreal! I stayed back in amazement with tears running down my face. There SHE was! The most beautiful baby in the world! We all held her and shared in the happiness that she was healthy and finally HERE! We then spent a week with the birth parents and their family waiting on the paperwork between the two states. On Friday, September 2, 2005, we received the offical word that we could bring her home. That day was also our five year anniversary.

That is somewhat a brief summary of our adoption journey. We should point out that the day we brought Addison home (to our hotel) from the hospital, Mike & I just sat and cried staring at our beautiful Addison and at what an unbelievable selfless decision our birth parents made. We will never be able to express our gratidue by such a life changing decision. A friend once pointed out that Addison will have the most amazing heart full of love knowing the love each of her birth parents had for her.

We still keep in contact with the birth parents and will always tell Addison about them and how special they are! She is a little girl who is loved by so many! We never dreamed our adoption journey would be so wonderful! We believe things really do happen for a reason!

Sincerely,
Mike, Lydia & Addison