24 iParent Magazine August 2015 www.iparentmagazine.com
After years of wanting a child, failed attempts to get pregnant, and a ticking biological clock, Mike and Erica decided to pursue adoption to build their little family. They went into the adoption process assuming they would be most comfortable with a closed adoption, where they would not have any contact with their birth mother through the adoption process or once the adoption was completed. Well, much to their surprise, the entire process was nothing like they had expected, in the best ways possible!
In February of 2014, Erica received a call from the Infant Adoption Coordiantor at their selected agency, DePelchin Children’s Center in Houston, TX, http://www.depelchin.org/. They had been selected by a birth mother to raise her child. Their birth mother, let’s call her Megan, was 8 months pregnant and had just confirmed that she was expecting a girl. She was due in four weeks!!
Mike and Erica met Megan the following week and everything changed. She was young and sweet and had a wonderful perspective on adoption. Megan and her two siblings were adopted by their parents when they were very young. They were taken from their own birth mother and placed together with their adoptive parents. For her and her family, adoption was the best plan for her baby.
When they met with Megan, she cried when she told them that she knew as soon as she read their birth mother letter and viewed their family book that they were the right parents to raise and love her child. Their first meeting was a bit awkward at first, but Megan was so open and giving, that they all quickly became friendly. Mike and Erica had brought a small gift of a silver necklace with a heart charm that had a smaller heart attached on the inside. They decided ahead of time that they would only give this gift to Megan if they felt there was a connection, more than just them all getting along. There was an instant connection and they gladly presented Megan with this small token at the end of their meeting. It was a tearful moment, but everyone knew this was right, that everything was going to be OK!