How I Knew

From the time I was 5, I always knew that I wanted to be a mommy. I liked being a big sister and "helping" my mom. I've always loved kids and grew up in a closely knit family. I've always wanted a houseful of kids. I grew up in house that always had all the neighborhood kids playing in the yard; my mom was the coolest mom on the street. I wanted to carry on that role with my own kids. So, when my doctor told me at 21, I was reproductively challenged, I was a little devestated. I started looking at other options: adoption, surrogacy, embryo implantation, etc. I also started looking for doctors to help me achieve my goal. (Tip: WFUBMC has a great reproductive medicine team!!) Once I found the right doctor, I needed to find the right guy.



So, I started dating. I tried a lot of different ways to meet guys. And I met lots of guys that weren't right. A lot of them talked about wanting kids, but they're weren't speaking my language. Well, after a lot of searching, I've finally found the right guy. He, unknowingly, made it safe to talk about my reproductive challenges and desires to be a mother when he uttered the super secret magic word - adoption.



Why, do you ask, is it the super secret magic word? I've found that a lot of guys aren't willing to accept adoption as a viable method to becoming a parent. Adoption is by no means an easy process because you have to be willing to allow a third party to learn all your secrets and basically air your dirty laundry to the world. You have someone poking around your house, your life and checking references. No matter if you have children or how many children, you're required to take a parenting class. (It's 13 weeks of classes and it's tough work. I know, I did it.) I don't know anyone who wants to be told how to raise their child. So, to voluntarily consider adoption, you have to be a special person.