Personal Adoption Story

It is easy to become discouraged if you wait longer than the average wait time. That is where we found ourselves in September of 2006. We were in the Traditional I Program and had been waiting for 18 months. At this time I promised myself that if our dream ever did come true that we would share our story to give hope to other couples that are not matched quickly! 

Finally on December 12th, after 21 months of waiting, we got the call that took our breath away. A birth mom had chosen us and she was due in March. The whole situation was so perfect for us that it seemed too good to be true. After waiting so long we were both a little scared to really believe this would be our baby. Afterall, don’t most couples have to go through a failed match or two before they have a match that is successful?

American Adoptions kept us updated over the next couple of months about doctor appointments and calls from the birth mom. One day the phone rang and it was American Adoptions calling to say that our birth mom had just learned the baby’s gender and she wanted to tell me herself. I had about two seconds to prepare for speaking with her the first time and her first words to me were “Congratulations, you are having a boy!” This woman was so amazing – here she was congratulating us!

On March 5th we got the call from American Adoptions that we should travel. We were not expecting the baby to be born for at least two more weeks, so we hurried to pack. We left our house about two hours after we got the call and drove straight to the hospital. Our birth mom’s blood pressure was getting too high and she had been induced. We waited in the waiting room on the maternity floor all night. Nurses came out every so often to update us on progress and our birth mom invited us to come into her room to meet her. She was not feeling well so we didn’t stay long but we assured her that we would be close by and that she was to relax. She was always so worried about us! Later, when she was doing a little better she invited us to come in and hear the baby’s heartbeat - that was the best sound we had ever heard! She did not make much progress overnight so the doctor decided to deliver the baby by Caesarean section. She invited me into the operating room and I got to be with him the minute he arrived. He was so beautiful! We named him Carson James and he weighed in at 5 lbs, 9 oz and was very healthy. We spent the next two days with our son in the nursery and visiting his birth mom. When Carson was discharged she told us not to worry about her, to focus on our son and have fun! She told us that ever since she had chosen us (around her fifth month of pregnancy) she had thought of him as our baby. It was hard to say good-bye, but we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to spend time with her. We update her through pictures and letters and enjoy doing that. It feels like the least we can do for her after the miracle she has given us!

As I sit here writing, we are on the way back home from Carson’s finalization and we are now officially a family! We are DONE and he is OURS! He is 6 months old today. We still look at him and can hardly believe how everything worked out - he is so perfect! We never imagined the joy he would bring us, or the gratefulness we would hold in our hearts every day for his birth mom. We truly look forward to the day that we can tell him what an amazing, strong and courageous person she is and how much she went through to make this adoption happen. We now know why we waited for so long - we were waiting for THIS ONE! It is amazing how much he looks like us and our families and we just know it was meant to be. God definitely hand picked this one for us himself! We prayed every day that the birth mom that chose us would feel a very strong connection to our profile and that she wouldn’t change her mind once we were matched. It blew us away when our birth mom described to us that she had received 52 profiles from American Adoptions and we were the only ones that caught her attention. After being shown and not matched for almost two years that seemed so unbelievable, but it was what we had prayed for. She also kept reassuring us that she wasn’t going to change her mind - another thing we had prayed for.

We would like to thank American Adoptions - Megan Spaeth, for helping us to keep hoping and now we truly believe what you told us all along - “Good things come to those who wait.” Jennifer Van Gundy, for the wonderful relationship you built with Carson’s birth mom. We truly believe that is the reason we had such a successful match. You were so great about passing on all the details to us along the way. Megan Riley-Poindexter, for all the help with our paperwork and along with that the great conversations. You were such an encouragement to us! We miss you, but hope you are doing well. And to everyone else at American Adoptions - Thank You! Thank you for the job you do every day to help create a family like ours. It has truly been an amazing journey!