John, Susan and Daniel's Adoption Story

We researched various adoption agencies and decided to go with American Adoptions for several reasons. We completed our packet, completed our home study, got all our background checks done and submitted everything to American Adoptions.

Before we even had a chance to go active, we were contacted with a match. A birth mother did not want to pick a family and her birth mother specialist had selected us based on our profile and her circumstances. Our first conference call with her was not quite what we expected. She was very shy and would only respond with one or two word answers. We matched at the end of June and she was due at the beginning of August. She was going to have a baby girl. When her C-section was scheduled, we drove to Kansas to have dinner with her the night before. She was a very nice young girl, but it just didn't feel warm and comfortable. The next morning after the baby came, she got a visit from her family and the birth father's family and decided she was going to parent the baby herself. We were very disappointed, but mainly because we both felt she had never intended to go through with the adoption in the first place.

We chose to go back on the active list immediately. In October, we saw a Category A situation that we thought would be a good match for us. We inquired about being presented to the birth mother and about a week later, we got a call that she had chosen us and we were in a match again.

The birth mother did not want to know anything about the baby, did not want to see him at birth and did not want to have any conference calls with us because she was afraid she'd get attached to us and she didn't want any contact afterwards. We respected her wishes and Cara and Megan kept us updated on how she was doing. When she had an ultrasound and they found it was going to be a boy, even though she didn't want to know, she allowed her mother to find out and tell Cara so we could know. That's when we found out we were preparing for a baby boy. We decided to name him Daniel Peter after Susan's grandfather and John's father, both of whom are deceased.

The baby was due around December 13, but on December 4, we got a call that our birth mother was in labor and wanted to meet us at the hospital before Daniel was born. We raced to the airport, caught the last flight out to Missouri and made it to the hospital about 25 minutes before he came. We spent about 5 minutes with our birth mother before she was ready to deliver. We did not stay in the delivery room as she still did not want to know anything about him or see him. About 15 minutes later, her mother came to the room and told us he was here.

We went to the nursery and got the first glimpse of our precious little guy. He was so tiny with a full head of dark hair. He was 5 lbs, 15 oz at birth with long, skinny legs and big feet. He was so perfect. Our birth mother had arranged for us to have a room in the maternity ward so we could be with him. When the nurse brought him to us for his first feeding, we sang Happy Birthday to him and cried tears of joy. This perfect tiny bundle was ours.

He was born around 1:00 a.m. and around 10:30 p.m. that night, his birth mother came to the maternity ward and wanted to sit with us and see how thrilled we were and how we were doing with him. We had a wonderful conversation with her as she sat with us in the room and watched us with him. She watched John change his diaper and Susan feed him and both of us just gush over how much we loved him and how much we appreciated her and how thankful we were. The next morning, both our birth mother and her mother came to the room and spent some time with us before we all left the hospital. We had to drive about 3 hours to another city to go to court the next morning. We exchanged addresses with our birth mother so we could send her letters and pictures and keep in touch. It was so great that she decided to spend some time with us and see him after all. She never waivered in her decision, but we were able to reassure her that we loved him and wanted him and would cherish him for the rest of our lives.

The next morning we went to court. Our birth mother went in first and signed the paperwork and had her meeting with the judge. Then it was our turn. We met with the judge and the attorneys and answered questions and then got the paperwork giving us custody of him until our finalization.

We then drove back 3 hours to Kansas City as we were flying out from there. Seven days later we got the call that we could go home and we got on the next flight out. Daniel slept on the entire flight home and we were all happy to be there.

Almost 2 months later, we are just enjoying every moment we have with him. Daniel is the sweetest, most precious little guy we have ever seen and we love him so much. We will forever be grateful to our birth mother for her selfless decision, her love for him, and her choosing us to be his parents. He's growing like a weed and eats and burps just like a boy! Everyone loves him and every where we go, he draws a crowd of women wanting to fuss over him.

We are now doing our post-placement home study visits and should finalize in the next 4-5 months. He is so worth the wait and everything that has to happen for a successful adoption.

We will exchange pictures and letters monthly with our birth mother and every time we hold him, we tell him how special he is and what a wonderful thing she did for us.

Thanks to Cara and Megan and all the staff at American Adoptions for making this a wonderful experience for us.

John, Susan and Daniel