Renee, Matt and Samantha's Adoption Story

We want to thank American Adoptions for all of your hard work and professionalism. I would tell anyone who is planning to adopt to do their homework, research, interview and soul search and then call American Adoptions. Adoption, as you all know, is a journey, and it's hard to go into the unknown, but it is a trip worth taking. I truly believe every failed pregnancy was God closing a door and gently guiding us to Samantha. We would go through all of our loss again because it brought us to our little girl.

When you begin planning your adoption as a couple, you have fears, and of course dreams, of all you want it to be. For us, if we could have been handed a piece of paper and pen and asked to write down all of our wishes for our adoption plan, we could not have imagined or written it better than what our reality is.

Matt & I started our adoption journey by choosing American adoptions about a week after Labor Day. Being the Type-A personality that I am when it comes to paperwork, ours was done in about two weeks – my husband still makes fun of me for this! After the home study, background checks and our APQ was completed, we were activated the first week of November. On December 12, I received a call at work from Sarah Anderson telling us we had a match. We were excited, scared and of course full of questions all of which Sarah, the birth mom specialist, patiently answered.

We then scheduled a conference call with our birth mom for January 4th. We were so excited and nervous and honestly the first phone call felt like a blind date with a chaperone on the phone, but it went fine and Kim, our birth mom, invited us to Samantha's ultrasound on January 12th! Matt & I felt so blessed. We had never seen a healthy ultrasound and to have the ability to see our little girl growing and doing well was a moment I will treasure forever. Kim is an amazing person that is full of love and we are forever thankful for her. Kim invited Matt & I to every ultrasound after that and we would always have lunch or breakfast with Kim on the day of the ultrasound. It gave us time to bond and feel comfortable together.

For those open to this type of relationship in adoption, I say go into it with open arms. It's a wonderful opportunity to really get to know your birth mom and the knowledge you gain now will be a comfort to your child in the future. We also corresponded with our birth mom via e-mail and I have saved every e-mail and created a memory book for Samantha. This is personal and we would never share it with anyone else but someday Samantha will be able to see how much we ALL love her.

Finally our big day arrived and Kim was scheduled for a caesarian section. I was honored that she chose me to be in the room for Samantha's arrival. What a moment in time! Kim gave Matt and I such a gift she allowed us to experience things like the ultrasounds and delivery that we never thought we would experience. I believe by letting our guard down and being open we were blessed with so much more.

A very close friend of mine gave me some advice that I would love to pass along to anyone going into adoption: Enjoy the moment, don't worry about the future. It will take care of itself and there is nothing you can do to change it. If you spend all your time fearing what may or may not happen, you will look back on your journey with regret rather than joy. Be in the moment, be happy when it's time to be happy and cherish it, don't fear it.

Again we are forever grateful for the gift Kim gave us and we are so happy we chose American Adoptions to guide us on our journey.

All the Best,
Renee & Matt