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Emma's Open Adoption Story

Fireworks In December

After waiting almost two years for our first baby, we decided to leave our website up after we adopted Anna in April of 2001 since we knew we wanted to adopt another child or baby. As soon as we had time, we planned on updating it. However, before we updated our adoption web site, we received a call from a birthmother – the Saturday after Thanksgiving 2001. She had done a search on adoption and found us!

We explained that we had one child but wanted to adopt another baby. After several phone calls, we decided to travel to meet the birth mother and birth father. The baby was due very soon so we went five days after our first call. We had a nice visit with them and we all agreed to an adoption plan. We than went home to wait. Scott and I now had the job of selecting a boy name. We struggled with this and just couldn’t find the perfect name for a baby boy so special.

We were not even home a week and we got the call – it’s a girl! Now wasn’t it supposed to be a baby boy? Based on two ultrasounds, we had been told it was a boy! As soon as I told Scott it was a girl, he looked at me and said “so is her name Emma Grace?” To which, I answered “yes”. Now that was an easy decision. We packed up that night and left early the next morning to go see our new baby and her birth parents.

Unfortunately, the hospital was not very welcoming to adoptive parents and we didn’t get to the see the baby for two days and this was only with the help of the adoption social worker. Emma, our little baby girl, was very small and was in the hospital for six days and we only got to see her once. This was very disappointing for us as we had been able to visit our first daughter any time, day or night. Finally on December 12th, we got to pick up our precious little baby! As we were now in another state, we had to wait until the Interstate compact (adoption paperwork) was approved before we could leave. We were hoping to be home for our first Christmas as a family, not a couple. On December 19th, we talked to our adoption agency around 4:30 and she told us that she still hadn’t received the approval from the state so tomorrow would be the earliest. At 5:00 she called us back, we were approved. Someone had stayed late and finished up our paperwork. We would be home for Christmas!

We initially had a lot of contact with both of Emma’s birthparents via email and phone calls. We also sent letters and pictures. Unfortunately, we have lost contact with her birthmother but we hope someday she will contact us. We still have contact with her birthfather. We recently visited him on a trip to Chicago. The girls loved seeing him again and we all had a nice visit.

Adoption has been such a blessing to us. I can’t imagine being happier. We have two beautiful, healthy little girls through open adoption. We hope to adopt another baby or child in the future and will use the Internet and other networking tools.

We would love to share adoption stories of other families here. To contribute, please email your story and a picture, if desired . Thank you.

Luv4adoption.com is not an adoption agency, attorney, or facilitator. The contents of the information in the letters to the birth parents are the sole responsibility of the prospective adoptive parents. Luv4adoption.com will not be held liable or accountable for the accuracy of any information displayed in the letters or divulged by the prospective adoptive parents. We recommend that birthparents and adoptive parents obtain legal counsel for all adoption proceedings.