November is National Adoption Month. How appropriate for it to share the month with Thanksgiving!
Despite how effortless Madonna and Angelina Jolie make it appear, adoption is its own form of labor. It comes in the form of countless paperwork, a home study that questions one's ability to parent, a trip in front of an actual real-life judge, and sometimes adoption even includes a trip or two halfway around the world...
My Best Decision
I wonder how many decisions an average person makes in a lifetime? It must be shocking. Everything from the little decisions like whether to have a bagel or cereal for breakfast to the big decisions like choosing a President.
Having a child was a big decision for me. A huge decision. ENORMOUS.
That wasn't the case for the majority of my friends. Their life seemingly followed the children's song "Cindy & Johnny sitting in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g. First came love, then came marriage, then came Cindy with a baby carriage."
Stupid Cindy.
Didn't she realize how totally off track her life could have gone? I was sitting in that damn tree, too. I even got married, but no amount of k-i-s-s-i-n-g was leading to that elusive baby carriage. Where in the name of everything good was my baby carriage?
Babies literally seemed to be falling effortlessly into my friends' laps via their vi-jay-jays while I looked on helplessly. In desperation, I started taking my basal temperature daily before my feet left my bed. My hubby and I started religiously tracking our intimate moments, and soon our bedroom behavior became something I could have displayed on a line graph or colorful pie chart.
All that tracking, led to medicines, which led to stronger medicines, which led to intimate moments when my hubby's sperm was washed, and counted. Eggs were plucked from my ovaries and introduced to hubby's sperm. They got along well and several lovely embryos were created.
Oh the joy! The excitement!
The crushing heartbreak.
Who knew that within my seemingly pleasant self lived a uterus who was a serial killer. Seriously, my uterus is a total bitch.
During one of several invasive procedures, I had what I can call nothing short of an epiphany.
I was miserable because I wanted to be a mom. I saw pregnancy as the means to becoming a mom, but what I really wanted more than anything in the whole wide world was to be a mom. In that instant, I knew there were children who wanted a mom more than anything else in that whole wide world. I was busy trying to make something that was already made.
In the midst of what would be another failed attempt to pro-create, we made a life-changing decision. We made the best decision of our lives. I picked up the phone and started calling adoption agencies.
I knew my body would fail me again, and I knew what I wanted to do.
I wanted to leave the quest for pregnancy behind and begin the journey to parenthood.
Some decisions really are HUGE. I love being able to very clearly recall and reflect on the best decision of my life.
I chose adoption.
Happy Adoption Month to all of my fellow friends whose lives have been blessed by adoption.
Despite how effortless Madonna and Angelina Jolie make it appear, adoption is its own form of labor. It comes in the form of countless paperwork, a home study that questions one's ability to parent, a trip in front of an actual real-life judge, and sometimes adoption even includes a trip or two halfway around the world...
My Best Decision
I wonder how many decisions an average person makes in a lifetime? It must be shocking. Everything from the little decisions like whether to have a bagel or cereal for breakfast to the big decisions like choosing a President.
Having a child was a big decision for me. A huge decision. ENORMOUS.
That wasn't the case for the majority of my friends. Their life seemingly followed the children's song "Cindy & Johnny sitting in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g. First came love, then came marriage, then came Cindy with a baby carriage."
Stupid Cindy.
Didn't she realize how totally off track her life could have gone? I was sitting in that damn tree, too. I even got married, but no amount of k-i-s-s-i-n-g was leading to that elusive baby carriage. Where in the name of everything good was my baby carriage?
Babies literally seemed to be falling effortlessly into my friends' laps via their vi-jay-jays while I looked on helplessly. In desperation, I started taking my basal temperature daily before my feet left my bed. My hubby and I started religiously tracking our intimate moments, and soon our bedroom behavior became something I could have displayed on a line graph or colorful pie chart.
All that tracking, led to medicines, which led to stronger medicines, which led to intimate moments when my hubby's sperm was washed, and counted. Eggs were plucked from my ovaries and introduced to hubby's sperm. They got along well and several lovely embryos were created.
Oh the joy! The excitement!
The crushing heartbreak.
Who knew that within my seemingly pleasant self lived a uterus who was a serial killer. Seriously, my uterus is a total bitch.
During one of several invasive procedures, I had what I can call nothing short of an epiphany.
I was miserable because I wanted to be a mom. I saw pregnancy as the means to becoming a mom, but what I really wanted more than anything in the whole wide world was to be a mom. In that instant, I knew there were children who wanted a mom more than anything else in that whole wide world. I was busy trying to make something that was already made.
In the midst of what would be another failed attempt to pro-create, we made a life-changing decision. We made the best decision of our lives. I picked up the phone and started calling adoption agencies.
I knew my body would fail me again, and I knew what I wanted to do.
I wanted to leave the quest for pregnancy behind and begin the journey to parenthood.
Some decisions really are HUGE. I love being able to very clearly recall and reflect on the best decision of my life.
I chose adoption.
Happy Adoption Month to all of my fellow friends whose lives have been blessed by adoption.
Happy Adoption Month! I'm so glad that you and your amazing kids found each other!
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