Adoption-Here We Go

Remember those Fisher Price little people? I had those and I loved to play with them. I think I had about 20 or so and they all lived in a four room house. With no bathroom. I'm not sure how that worked, but I don't remember it being a problem.

I spent a lot of time playing with them and making up stories about their world and what they did. This is where I created my first adoptive family. Granted back then I was a little confused about the subject because I had triplet girls, two of whom I declared were adopted and one who was not.

I always knew I wanted to adopt and always thought I would adopt my kids. I never expected to give birth to a child, but life's full of twists, turns and surprises, and of course, my Doodlebug.



Going through pregnancy with Doodlebug was not a fun thing. At all. About 5 minutes after I got the positive pregnancy test I got queasy and it didn't stop until he was born. From May to January I fought to get down and keep down every single bite of food I ate. I was miserable and I am never doing that again.

So we are starting to get serious about adopting. We want to wait until Doodlebug is around 18 months old or so. That way if we get a child really quickly the kids will be at least 18 months apart. Any closer and I think I might lose my sanity. Well, I might lose it anyway, or it could be gone by now for all I know. My sanity I mean.

This past fall we went to an adoption expo and learned about Adoption Consultants. They are people who work for the potential adoptive parents. From what I understand their main purpose is twofold.

One they provide education. There is a lot to learn and navigate in the adoptive process. Domestic or international? What race(s) are you willing to accept? What age(s)? Will you accept a child whose mother used drugs? Which drugs? Recreationally or a hard core user? How do you market your family to a potential birth mother?

The second main purpose is to help you match up with a mother who is giving her baby up for adoption. Did you know that adoption agencies work for the birth parents only? I didn't. It is their interests that are being protected, not the potential adoptive parents. I had no clue.

So, we called two adoptive consultants today to make appointments. We need to know if it is realistic to think that we can adopt based on the budget we have. And where do we go from here?

I am excited. And terrified. After all, with a second child I'm going to be outnumbered during the day. Yikes! And I'm wondering about this little baby. Will we have a boy or a girl? When? What will his or her personality be like? By this time next year will our family be complete?