A few years ago I met Chris and Meghan. They were looking to schedule anniversary pictures which would also be used for their adoption profile. Honestly, they're such amazing people that I couldn't wait to watch them add to their family.
In the years that followed (yes, years), you may recall seeing me share their adoption posts and profile. The truth is, I had no idea what a long and heartbreaking process it could be before you hopefully get matched. These are strong people, deserving people, people that wanted to love and welcome someone into their family.
I cannot do their story justice myself, so I've asked them to share their journey. Meghan and Chris shared their story below.
In October of 2016, we decided to officially begin our adoption journey in hopes to grow our family. However, we had always been open to adoption since Meghan was adopted and had been talking about it for a year prior to signing with the agency. We experienced numerous bumps and challenges throughout the 2.5 years before we were chosen by our son's birthmom (first mom). We experienced scams, walked away from connections, were chosen by a mom then never heard from her, and four disrupted adoptions. Through this time we continued to grow and communicate as well as continued to educate ourselves on adoption through all parts of the adoption triad (birth parents, adoptive parents, and adoptees). Then we received “The Call”, we had been chosen by our son's first mom and were told to get on a plane to Texas as soon as possible. We want to briefly share only our experiences with the adoption as we want Jordan to be the one to share his adoption story with whoever he chooses as he is older.
17 hours after The Call, we were on a plane to Texas. Jordan was born while we were waiting for our flight out of Illinois. Surprisingly, we were calm. We think this was mostly because we knew that whatever choice his first mom makes was going to be the best choice for her and him. We weren't sure if she even wanted to meet us, but our hopes were always to have an open adoption. On Thursday morning, the day after Jordan (our son) was born, the social worker contacted us asking if we had a name picked out as his first mom wanted the name we chose on the birth certificate. We always wanted a connection for our son with his first mom if she were to choose a closed adoption, so we asked her to pick the middle name. To our surprise she asked us to come to the hospital to meet her, her mom, and Jordan. We spent 4 hours at the hospital visiting and talking, the conversation flowed freely and easily. The next day we came after she had completed paperwork for Jordan to be placed with us, he was now our son. We spent all day talking with her and her mom again. We all came to the conclusion that we just gained a new extended family.
Discharge date was the hardest as we all were facing the time where his first mom walks out of the hospital, leaving us as Jordan’s parents. It’s truly the most emotional day we have ever experienced. She is so strong, we cried for her as soon left the hospital, then we cried in disbelief that we are parents to the most amazing and simply perfect little boy. We remained in Texas until the following Friday when Texas and Illinois cleared us to leave, before leaving we were able to meet up with his first mom. We asked her if she wanted to hold him, she agreed and for hours he calmly laid on her chest, familiar with her voice, heartbeat and smell. It is truly one of the most beautiful memories we will have of them together and one with will always cherish. We continue to talk to her daily and have plans for future visits. We are so blessed that our son will grow up knowing his first family. Overall, this journey is best explained as a roller coaster. Many ups and downs, but in the end we are just so happy to be parents and start a new chapter in our life with our new family, not only with Jordan but our new extended family as well.
I am SO happy Chris and Meghan have Jordan. They are so deserving of this new role in life. Thank you for letting me cuddle Jordan and share your story. I cannot wait to watch Jordan grow and your story continue.
xoxo,
Lauren
P.S. - Enjoy some of their pictures!