Our Adoption Journey

Liam (right) and I (Soph - left) discussed starting our family for many years, so in 2015 we acted on it and reached out to several adoption/marketing agencies for information. By the end of 2016, we signed onto an adoption marketing agency whom specialized in newborn adoptions. The term of the contract was 2 years to place us with a 'birthmother'. I know the term 'birthmother' offends some people but that is what the marketing agency used.

Creating a profile was one of the most challenging aspects of this journey. All due to the fact that we had to express ourselves as fit to be parents, not just to the marketing agency, but to the adoption agency and the mother or parents of the child being placed into adoption. The marketing agency advised that it may take 6-8 months to see any movement on our contract as the initial months will be setting up our profiles, advertising webpages, and home study. Once we completed our home study with an adoption agency, our profiles were place on several sites and print material (which would be passed out to interested mothers whom did not have access to the internet).

The wait seemed endless as each month passed by. We prepped everything as suggested by the adoption agency home study - child proofing our home, taking the required and suggested parenting courses, changing/testing the smoke/carbon monoxide detectors, putting up child gates, etc. We became less and less anxious through each month as we waited for that call/email from the marketing agency for placement. We even decided that we wanted to get on another cruise before (if we were to be placed) baby comes. We purchased a cruise through Princess Cruises and about a week before our cruise date, Liam ended up in the hospital and was hospitalized for a couple days. After Liam was discharged, we were advised by our Primary Physician that Liam should not go on the cruise in the event that he would need to visit the hospital again.

It was very unfortunate that we could not go on this cruise. It would have been our second cruise and it would have been to Alaska. We did not foresee any issues when purchasing the tickets and we passed on the insurance coverage. Since we had to cancel the trip, we could not get a refund or credit for the pre-paid trip. But in light of the situation, the same day we called to cancel the trip, we receive a call from the marketing agency about a potential adoption. We became very excited and made plans (even though we didn't know what we were making plans for).

As the due date came closer, we were getting more impatient. We had booked our flight, car rental and hotel stay for 2 weeks but ended up having to stay longer than we anticipated due to a late delivery. At the end of our 2 week visit was when 'Baby' decided she wanted to meet everyone. We had to extend our stay another 2 weeks as we need to keep Baby in her birth state for 2 weeks per State laws. It was very generous of the hotel we were staying in to let up keep our room for another 2 weeks as well as providing us with a discount. The staff there was great to say the least. We enjoyed our stay with them.

Getting back to 'Baby', we had many names that we liked and loved. We narrowed it down to 3 names. It was hard to decide the name we wanted to give Baby but we agreed on naming her when we met her for the first time. It was right after midnight when we received a call to go meet this new baby. We packed our things and made sure the car seat was in the car rental. When we arrived at the hospital, the security guard was not aware of what was happening and didn't allow us to go past the lobby. We sat in the lobby for about an hour. When we met our Baby Girl for the first time, both Liam and I agreed that the name Hope fits her very well.

From that day, we became parents/guardians of Hope.