What I have learned about adoption, family and myself since the death of my birth mother
I am adopted. For me, it’s just normal. It’s not something I’m ashamed of or anything I have ever had a problem with. I’ve always known I was adopted and had quite a few peers and friends who are also adopted so there was no stigma. It was a closed adoption and at the time the identity of the woman who gave me up for adoption was not disclosed. That woman has recently passed away which has led me to look back and consider what it has meant to me to be adopted and look at the relationship we have had.
Our friends are adopting internationally — what can we do to welcome their child?
A couple I know are currently in Ethiopia picking up their son — a beautiful four-year-old they are adopting. I have been seeing photos of him and hearing of his arrival for months and am quite excited for them! We all live in a small, rural town, so I’m sure I’ll be seeing them frequently. Are there any suggestions from parents of adopted children, particularly those who have adopted children from other countries, for what would and wouldn’t be helpful to the family?
I just don’t want to be pregnant: why I chose adoption over pregnancy
I was incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of getting pregnant. The idea of my body trying to sustain another life seemed impossible — I even went to hypnotherapy to try to help me “get over” it.That is when I realized that if I needed to be hypnotized in order to want to get pregnant, pregnancy might not be for me.
My husband and I expanded our family by placing our twins for adoption
My twins are eleven days old, and they’re so beautiful I can barely look at them. I’m wildly, deeply in love with them, feeling all the feelings I felt when my older two daughters were born. In spite of these feelings (and, paradoxically, because of them), my husband and I chose not to raise these girls ourselves, instead placing them with an adoptive family.
Adopting the son I helped to conceive: how second-parent adoption reframes parenthood
The second-parent adoption has been an ongoing reminder that I need to reframe my ideas of motherhood for myself. Through this entire journey of conception to adoption I have been tested on my ability to bring myself out of melancholy thoughts and into recognition of everything I have to be grateful for. Just because I have always identified as a mother in one way, doesn’t mean I cannot be as much of a mother in different way.
I’m worried the daughter I placed in open adoption will resent my future kids
My partner and I are 18 days away from beginning to try to conceive — as happy as I am, I’m also scared out of my mind. I’m not worried about raising a child, but I’m worried about how my first daughter will react to my pregnancy after I placed her into adoption.
Offbeat Mama Reviews: What to Expect When You’re Expecting
Apparently SOMEONE out there thought it’d be an awesome idea to turn What to Expect When You’re Expecting into a film.. and I went to see it. This is heavy on spoilers, and includes what I didn’t like, what I would change, and the part that made me cry.
How a second adoption led to our daughters being sisters in every way they can be
This is what I remember about the day I found out I would become a mother for the second time: the sunshine streaming through our windows while I fed my 22-month-old lunch. When I think back nine months to that moment, the memory is bathed in that late summer/early afternoon sunlight.