Re-intros?

Dr.Loretta

We seem to have a fair number of newbies and lurkers here, so I thought it might be a good idea to re-introduce the veterans. I'll start.

 

I'm DrL, adoptive mom to a 3.5 year old daughter we adopted via DIA. We did 3 years of fertility treatments (IF light I like to call it--no IUI or IVF), including 3 miscarriages, before we shifted our focus to adoption. We were matched the day after DD was born, and took her home the day after that. We used a regional adoption agency. We have a semi-open adoption with DD's birth family, including occasional visits.

We change our minds daily as to whether we are going to adopt again, and what route we might take. Age and finances are a big factor in our decision.

CaptainSerious

Hi, I'm CaptainSerious.  My husband and I adopted two children from Peru.  We brought M home in 2010 and J in 2012, and have been loving and growing together ever since.  Our road has been far from smooth, and I'm always willing to share our story to help others.  For more information about us, you can see the "Rehoming" post here (https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12075980/rehoming-discussion#latest).

bumpuser794640

I think that's a great idea!

I'm Gnome.  My DH and I started TTC in October 2008, and were diagnosed with MFI in November of 2010.  DH had surgery to try and improve his numbers, but it was not successful.  We decided in November of 2011 to pursue domestic infant adoption.  We attended an info session at an agency in February of 2012 and decided to go with them.  It is a local agency that is part of a national organization.  We submitted our application in January of this year, the rest of our paperwork was submitted in March, and we attended our seminar in July.  Our home study interviews and visit were last month, and our SW will be done with our home study report any day now.  We're almost active!!

dholsapp

I'm DHolsapp. I've been slacking a lot on posting lately, but have been around for a bit of time. DH and I adopted our son last November through DIA. We have a pretty open adoption with DS's birth mom and text with her about once a month. We did pursue fertility treatments before adoption with 2 failed IUIs, 1 IVF that ended with a miscarriage, and a failed FET.  

maryoosa

Hi all,

I'm maryoosa, I've always known I wanted to pursue adoption- since I was around 6-- then, I looked at the costs of adoption and my partner and I decided to try and get pregnant (although I never really wanted the whole pregnancy and birth experience) predictably, I'm infertile,and my partner had no interest in carrying a child. We had, I think a total of 10 failed cycles- either failure to ovulate or failed IUI's. So, we turned to DIA. We registered with an agency that works in 3 states and often places from referring agencies. However, we matched independently through a friend of a friend and brought our son home at 2 days old. He's almost 7 weeks old. We have what I like to call a "blown wide open" adoption. Example: I spent the better part of my day on the couch of my son's parent while she cuddled and snuggled him. I even ran out to the store and the pizza place to pick up lunch while she was with him. Since leaving her house today, we've shared about 5 texts, most about the current football game. It's way more open than we (my partner and I ) had ever thought we'd have, and we're happy with it so far.

aligross

Hey there! I'm Ali... My husband and I started TTC in December of 2011 - We found out in April of this year that we have hit a major road block. The husband was diagnosed being sterile. We took sometime to think about everything and used our faith to follow the journey we are on now. We are currently waiting for his background check to come back so that we can begin the home study process for a Domestic Infant Adoption! We have always wanted to adopt, we just thought that it wouldn't be the easiest choice for us, but it is. We are so excited to be on this journey and are looking forward to knowing what comes next! 

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

plus12012

I'm plus12012. We adopted DD a year ago through a private agency, domestic adoption as a newborn. We decided to forego fertility treatments and move on to adoption. I am also an adoptee so this was a a preference for me.

Flamingo86

I'm Flamingo, and I lurk/post here occasionally.

We started TTC a little over a year ago, and have had 4 losses. We have not been able to get a solid explanation for our losses and are considering adoption.

I have wanted to adopt my whole life. My cousins are adopted and I always loved hearing their stories growing up. My husband and I are trying to relax and not make any emotional decisions right now but we are leaning towards adoption as opposed to TTC again. If we do adopt it will likely be domestic infant adoption with some degree of openness.

summergirl79

We adopted our son, now 2, through DIA, worked with both a local and national agency. We are in the process of doing our home study for adoption #2, working again with same agencies, hopefully will be actively waiting by start of 2014.

fledgegrl1

Hi all - Not sure I consider myself a veteran, but I've been around for a while.. umm, wow, close to a year now, I guess, but I'm not as active here as I once was. After two ectopic pregnancies (each of which ruined one of my tubes) my partner and I considered both IVF and adoption and quickly realized that although I wanted the pregnancy experience, being parents meant more to us and funds would not allow for both unless we were willing to wait a long time. We attended a couple of info sessions last fall, but decided to try independent advertising first. Our online profile went active in Dec 2012 and we were extremely fortunate to match with our son's BM just a couple months later. Our son was born 5 weeks ago and we are currently awaiting TPR, etc.  The type of relationship we will have with our son's BM remains to be seen. We were in fairly frequent contact (calls, emails, visits) during the pregnancy and immediately afterwards, but we haven't had contact for a couple weeks now.  We are open to more contact, but will follow her lead. Frankly, I miss her.

I wish all of you well in your journeys!

lizlemon2

Hi, I am a pre-adoptive parent of two sweet boys (bio brothers, current ages 5 and 2). They came to us last December. I am Mel, but am constantly told I look like Tina Fey, so that's the reason for the SN. I live in Central MA and am a CPS worker.

I have wanted to adopt for a long time.  We never TTC bio children, but had some medical reasons that indicated it may not be in the cards for me.

The road to adoption was not as long as others, but was frustrating nonetheless.  We ran into bumps of the road because I work as a SW for the state, and every process has been scrutinized and slowed down to ensure no conflicts of interest/perferrential treatment.  It can be hard to see child maltreatment every day and literally see chidren waiting adoptive families in your office as you walk into work when all you want is a child and there is just bureaucratic red tape getting in the way. 

The adjustment of zero to two was... intresting, but I think we are in a good place now.  It certainly has tested my patience, my marriage, and made my re-think my career choice.  But these boys are definitely are our sons. It was meant to be.  They have traits of both of us. They bring joy to us every day and I wouldn't change anything.

 

We are in counseling, I adjusted my schedule, and have help from the in-laws which has made a difference.

For hobbies when I have time, I like hiking, reading, cycling, the beach, and travel.

JoaPata

Hi all, I am JoaPata and my DH and I are working to adopt through the State of Florida in the Miami/Dade area.  We have suffered with IF for 5 years and decided to grow our family through adoption.  We just finished our PRIDE class and are now waiting on the social workers call to set up a meeting to move on with the homestudy.  Our recent worker said that they would match us prior to completing much with the homestudy.  They already did our background checks/other but they like to match prior to finishing.  Hobbies, I love to read, like to travel, watch movies, and do crafting.  I look forward to chatting with each of you in the future.  Great idea on re-intro :-).

orangecupcake

Does a lurking veteran count? I am momma to a wildly energetic and fiercely independent 2.5 year old. We adopted her at birth, and were in the delivery room. We have a semi-open relationship with DD's BM, visiting once a year and sending pictures/letters throughout the year. We went through a local agency that works only with our state. Prior to adopting, we TTC for approximately 1.5 years, including 3 IUIs. We were unexplained IF. That was until DD was approximately 10 months old. They found two large endometrioma cysts on my ovaries, having then had one ovary removed. We also always wanted to adopt. My dad and DH's sister were both adopted at young ages, both internationally. DH also has a half sibling out there somewhere as his dad placed a baby for adoption when he was a teen and his girlfriend had a baby. We have recently become active with our agency to adopt number two.

Chele

I am Michele (Chele) and have been on here on-and-off for a while. Our original plan was to adopt internationally so we had been saving money to do that, but this spring I was filling out the paperwork for the agency we were interested in and the whole thing didn't feel right. I read up on foster-to-adopt and we quickly changed gears and filled out an application. 

Our homestudy was just completed the other day and is being sent to the office of licensing. We also just completed our PRIDE training. We still have to have the licensing inspection done, and then it's just a matter of days or weeks. We could be licensed in early October. Ack!

Rachel Sonnier

Hi, I am Rachel. I have been around for about 2 years. I used to be much more active, but now I mostly just lurk and comment every now and then. I guess most days I try to pretend that we are not waiting, and not being so involved in the board helps. However, I love checking in to see how everyone is doing, and how their journey's are progressing. We have one bio DS after IF, and we are currently pursuing DIA. We signed with our agency in May of 2012 and have been approved and waiting for almost a year, I think. I am trying my best not to keep track! 

sgb721

Hi Everyone,

I'm not really a veteran, but I figured I'd jump on the re-intro post. We've been TTC since 2010. We have not had issues getting pregnant, we just don't have healthy pregnancies. We've had 5 losses, 3 of which were do to large cystic hygromas and fetal hydrops. We've gone through lots of genetic testing with three different hospitals, I've had lots of procedures, etc., with no luck. It was suggested we try IUI or IVF using donors but since they cannot genetically diagnose which one of us is the carrier issue- it isn't a real solution. Our last loss was a son in September 2012 at 18 weeks. We opted to move on to DIA in October with a local agency. We've been home study approved since February and we're praying for a match.

elissaann26

Hello!  I'm Elissa and I'm a foster mom.  After deciding that we wanted children but that pregnancy or adoption didn't feel right, we started the journey to become licensed foster parents in June 2011.  We were licensed in May 2012 and after a short respite placement, we welcome our first placement of brothers (5yo and 2yo) in June 2012.  They were reunified with their birth family (a very good thing) in Nov 2012.  In Feb 2013, we welcomed our second placement- a 2 month old baby boy.  His case is super complicated and we've had a few very serious medical scares, so we are hoping for everything to settle down for a while, which is very unlikely in foster care.  In my spare time, I love entertaining, interior decorating and blogging. 

L12abell

Hello , I'm L12abell and my husband and I are just exploring and learning all we can right now.  We think we've chosen an agency for DIA and set up a meeting for tomorrow to ask more questions. We actively TTCd for 3 years including 3 IUIs and one IVF and realized it wasn't meant to be and that adoption felt right. 

irismorning

Hi!

I am an adoptee and also an adoptive mother to my two wonderful boys! I am what I call a single mother by choice. I adopted on my own and am greatly considering trying again!

crene84

Hi!

DH and I are unexplained IF...we waited a while before trying to start a family so once we did, I kind of expedited everything.  We tried for 2 years, including a failed IVF cycle, and then moved onto adoption.  We were lucky to have an extremely quick independent adoption (2 months from HS to birth) and we brought home our amazing baby girl last September. When she was only 6 months old, we got the surprise of a lifetime that we were pregnant, due this December.  It's been a whirlwind, but I wouldn't change a thing.  DD is absolutely wonderful and we adore her.  We started with the expectations of a semi-open adoption, but BM has kind of disappeared, so we are leaving the ball in her court.  We actually hope to hear more from her, but we just want her to be comfortable.

Mrs.Slick

Hi, I'm Mrs.Slick. I'm mom to Little Slick, who we brought home from Russia in Dec. 2012. He's 3 now and thriving. Love him to pieces. We'll be updating our homestudy, most likely this October/November and are narrowing our country choices still. 

We battled IF and do have two embies left and we will eventually do another FET cycle, although we know and are okay with another negative outcome. 

jackieo1309

Hi!

I've been around for about a year and a half but haven't been posting as much recently. We're doing DIA and have been HS-approved since June 2012, waiting for about a year now. We had a failed match earlier this year that was really tough, and we've been contacted 9 times by EM's since then but none have led to a match. We had "unexplained IF" but were told it was likely just due to the fact that I hardly ever ovulate (so not really unexplained?). We did 4 rounds of clomid and then decided to switch tracks to adoption- we had talked about wanting to adopt at some point even before TTC, we just figured we would have a bio child first. This year has been really rough with BIL and his GF having the first grandbaby (and I ended up hosting her shower and coaching her through labor) and it's still really hard seeing my ILs with their first grandchild since we've been trying to start a family for 3 years. I've been pretty depressed the last few months and we're considering trying some more IF treatments because we really just want to be parents, no matter how that happens. We still really want to adopt and if we do end up getting pregnant will put our profile on hold and plan to adopt #2. 

Good luck to everyone waiting!!

mtendere

Not a veteran, but I can throw in my $.02. We started researching adoption after I was diagnosed with DOR. We have one biological daughter that we conceived without intervention after a year of TTC. We tried a few "timed intercourse" cycles, but it quickly became clear that the odds were stacked against us unless we were willing to use donor eggs/embryos which wasn't something we were comfortable with.

After researching and thinking and praying a lot, we decided to pursue foster parenting and have just begun the licensing process, which may take up to a year. We hope to open our home by next summer, though licensing may be done much sooner (or not). We realize that this route may never lead to adoption, but it feels right for our family. We are open to children younger than our daughter who will be four next month. As she gets older, we will likely expand our age ranges.

kfourcat

Hello! My husband and I adopted our little girl in July of this year via Domestic Infant Adoption. We hope to have an open adoption (even though we are several states away). I send pictures often over a private blog, and I keep in good touch with her first mother via text. The plan is for once a year visits for now and hopefully more often in the future. We're currently waiting for finalization; in Missouri you can finalize after 6 months. 

potatohead

Hi!  I am a bio mom of a 5 year old daughter after two m/c's.  After more m/c's and a failed fertility treatments including several IUI's and one failed IVF, we learned that we have a male factor chromosomal balanced translocation disorder, which only affects fertility.  Our bio DD is a true miracle.  We decided we we not giving up because we wanted another child, so we decided to pursue DIA in March 2011.  We went through our homestudy that summer and were in the books by fall 2011.  One year later, we were matched and had our sweet daughter in October 2012.  We have an open relationship with the BM, though it's long distance.  I wish we lived closer.  We text about once per month and have 1-2 visits per year.

CarolinaGirl2014

I've been debating about my intro because while you all have welcomed me, I still often feel like an imposter here (my own feelings and certainly due to nothing said here!). But I feel more comfortable here than any other forum I've found so I need to get over that and consider myself one of the group!

I am an expectant birth mom 23 weeks along. I am carrying an active, healthy little baby girl and have chosen adoption for a handful of reasons. I am set up with an adoption agency and was matched with EP's a few weeks ago. I looked at probably 100 parent profiles and started crying when I read theirs- I just knew they were "the one." It seems kind of silly calling them PAP's because it feels like they are already also her Mommy and Daddy, just waiting for her to make her intro. We've been falling in love and bonding so quickly. 

I'd also like to encourage those of you waiting- I can't imagine how tough it is so I won't pretend. But I do know that my family has had years of hurt between IF, two very late and painful M/C, a long time waiting, and a failed match that involved some serious bonding (they still text her). They tell me what a miracle this baby is, and I feel so very honored to be a part of that.

Ginny0211

Hi, 

I've been a bit of a lurker, but have posted here and there so I guess I should introduce myself. I'm a birthmother. I placed my birthson in an open adoption a little over a decade ago. I was in high school when the birthfather (now my husband) and I made the decision of adoption for our baby. 

I have found it very helpful and interesting to read experiences from all sides of the triad on here. And i'm so happy to see so many open to openness in adoption. When I placed my birthson years ago not that many people I encountered had ever heard of an open or semi- open adoption and I had to do a lot of explaining and answered some (unintentional) hurtful questions. Ha now people say "oh like in the movie Juno" or "I saw that on TV once" so at least people have heard of it now when they hear my story. 

I am now a SAHM. My DD is almost 2. My husband and I have discussed adopting in the future. I have also thought about foster care in the future. For now i'm trying to learn and gain some insights. 

Stacy092306

Hi! I'm Stacy-09/23/06. I have been lurking a lot since my computer does not like the new format here and crashes all the time. But, I post when I can from my phone.

Anyway, we are pursuing IA from Moldova. Our dossier arrived in Moldova last week and now we wait. It could be anywhere from a year to two years. We are hoping for a little girl between the age of 2-4 years old with minor, correctable special needs.

We have one daughter who was basically our miracle child after years of infertility and IVF. My DH suffers from severe MFI, and we just can't get any embryos even with the best doctors. My daughter was the only embryo we had out of all of our tries. After the last IVF landed me in the hospital and we had no embryos, we decided to move onto adoption. We are very excited about this journey!

kva11isho

I think I might be a little late on this one, but figured I'd introduce myself anyway.  DH and I started TTC in the summer of 2011.  We tried for a year with no luck and were referred to a urologist, where we found out about our MFI.  We were told that our only option was IVF with ICSI "if that even works."  We were frustrated by how we were treated and the lack of answers we were given.  Plus we had already discussed what we would do if treatment was our only option, and decided not to pursue treatment.  After lots of prayer and research we discovered adoption.  We started the process in October 2012, homestudy was approved for DIA in January 2013 and we're recently matched with an expectant mom due with a baby girl in January.  We're thrilled, but still a little nervous!  Praying for the best...

Mush-Tastic

My husband Chris and I adopted our son Evan earlier this year and finalized in court on 6/13/13. He will be 8 months old this coming Tuesday and we brought him home from his foster placement at 1 month old. We have a fully open adoption with both his birthmom and birthdad. We hope to adopt again in the future, but are going back and forth on whether or not we want to do DIA again or adopt an older child (possibly teen).

annalisel

Hello. My husband and I started the adoption process this after 2+ years of TTC and infertility treatments. We're home study approved for domestic infant adoption and waiting for a match. We're relieved to be off the infertility treatment roller coaster and looking forward to parenting!

smash_effect

Nice to catch up with y'all.

I'm Ashley. We have a 5 year old son we adopted through DIA.

After 3 years of waiting with our same agency to adopt, we pulled the plug and moved to foster care. We became licensed and have baby TWINS now. They'll be with us for a bit (like at least 6-12 months).

sarahtoledo

We're in the waiting phase of DIA, having one whirlwind failed match this month.  We are working with a local agency and even though we had this disappointment, I really like the agency.  We have been first choice of two EM's (one decided to parent before we matched, the other after we'd spent a few days with baby in the hospital), so I hope that means someone else will choose us soon.

Geauxmama11

I'm not really a newbie, but have not posted here in quite some time. Dh & are foster parents to 3 kids ages 16, 6 and 2. Hoping & praying that our 2 year old will be ours forever. Our 2 older kids are bio siblings & were very much so unexpected additions to our family. Still adjusting to life as a family of 5!

IdigDirt

I know I am a newbie so I debated posting another intro but figured I would so people aren't like "who is this crazy lady." I admit I feel like I don't belong here because I am not here because of fertility, but that is totally a me issue since you have all been nothing but kind to me.
I had always wanted one bio and one adopted, preferably not a newborn because those are much easier to place and I admit I have some kind of save the world complex. I have also donated my eggs 4 times and love the joy of helping others make their family so I feel like now it's my turn, also I feel like I have a lot of genetic material in the world, the world doesn't need more of that :P We had our bio and decided to be one and done but then realized that I would love nothing more than to give our LO a sibling (that is not the only reason but it is one). Seeing him play with our dogs brings my heart so much joy so figured a human companion would be nice. We decided to foster to adopt for many reasons including price, getting an older (1-4) child, helping a child who may have had a hard life. So I hope this post isn't offensive and thank you for welcoming me even though I am not a traditional poster.

emca

Better late than never, right? My husband and I TTC for a little over 5 years and suffered 10 early miscarriages(some with fertility treatments, some without). Our last cycle was at CCRM in Colorado which resulted in a BFN. We still have 3 embryos frozen, but we're just ready to move on and become parents., so we pursued DIA. We have been home study approved for 3 months and our profile has been active for 2 months. We just signed up with a consultant as we'll and will be applying to more agencies/attorneys shortly. Can't wait to see what the future holds for us.

SquishyMommy1

Hello I'm Alyssa I just found this forum after the "Baby Buzz" App was announced to be retiring and we were told to migrate here. I'm a First Mom to a boy I lost almost 13 years ago to adoption and an adoptee. Losing my son to adoption is the single biggest mistake I have ever made in my life. The person I was died the day I signed those papers and handed my child over to strangers, I will never get that girl back. I am working diligently along with many others towards the hopeful reform of the domestic infant adoption industry.

mindaa

OK, since I just posted, I should add a quick intro. DH and I are from Phoenix and TTC #1, so I mostly hang out on the TTC 35+ board but lurk here. 

We haven't yet seriously pursued adoption but I have always been drawn to it - as a kid I would watch the "Wednesday's Child" profiles on the evening news and it was hard to comprehend that those kids didn't have a family... I wanted to help them. And still do, so, whether or not we have a bio, I see us adopting eventually... even though DH isn't quite there yet.  

Also, about 10 years ago, I found out I had a half sister that my mom placed when she was a teen. So I saw how hugely positive it was for my mom to be able to get that big secret lifted and to have the closure of knowing her child. And for me and my brother, having that new, extended family has been a blessing! 

mindaa

@idigDirt... I'm curious about your screen name... your picture looks like you're caving... is that the dirt you like to hang out in?   

CaptainSerious

IdigDirt I adopted twice without every TTC.  We are around, although in the minority. Please don't limit your posting on that account.  Heaven knows I never did!