Your baby is about a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil during week 6 of your pregnancy. So much is happening! Your baby’s face is beginning to form, with optic vesicles in place for the eyes and passageways for the inner ear that will eventually lead to the outer ears. […]
Category: Pregnancy
Whether you are unexpectedly pregnant or have planned to become pregnant, pregnancy is a significant event in your life. Your body is changing and the baby inside you is growing. It is normal to have many questions and concerns during pregnancy. Some want to learn about weekly development, prenatal care, labor and delivery, and postpartum recovery. Others are considering pregnancy options. Deciding to parent, planning an abortion or making an adoption plan is a momentous decision. Whatever you decide, make sure you are making the right choice for you. The decisions you make during pregnancy will have an impact on the rest of your life and your child’s life.
Being a Birth Mother Runs in the Family
I am a birth mother. I placed my little girl for adoption when I was 15 years old. This was not my first encounter with adoption, though. When I was a 10 years old, my mom was suddenly facing an unplanned pregnancy as a divorced, single mom of 5 children. My mom is a birth […]
Teaching My Children About the Baby I Placed for Adoption
I have a two year old daughter and a three month old son. I am also a birth mom to a beautiful 5 year old girl. Because I have an open adoption it is just kind of normal for us to hang out with my birth daughter and her family a few times a year. […]
The Open Adoption Experience: Birthmother Support is Critical
Alysia Foote Is open adoption good or bad? The open adoption experience is different for everyone. Though painful, birthmother Alysia Foote stands tall in her placement and feels she did what was for the best for her baby. She writes about the importance of birthmother support and how comforting it has been to lean on […]
Do I Keep Having Babies Because My First Was Placed for Adoption?
I have always felt a call to be a mother. I looked forward to the role even as a child watching family friends nurse their babies. I saw their bond and knew I wanted that one day. I was older when my brother and sister came along. I treasured getting to rock them, make them […]
Miscarriage Heartbreak Compared to Birthmother Grief
When I had a miscarriage 2 years into my marriage and needed a D & E at 12 weeks along, I was heartbroken. Although it wouldn’t have been the best timing for us as I was finishing my last year of college, I bonded with my new little beings (twins) from the moment 2 lines […]
How Soon After Birth do Adopted Parents Take the Baby?
If you have made a private adoption plan prior to giving birth, the adopting parents typically take the baby home directly from the hospital. In fact, as long as you agree, and your attorney or placing agency has made the arrangements, most hospitals will allow the adopting parents to visit with the baby as soon […]
Birthmother’s Day: She Made it Possible for Another to Know Parenthood
Birthmother’s Day is celebrated the Saturday before Mother’s Day, symbolizing the order of the maternal relationships in adoption. Created by a group of birth mothers in Seattle, Washington in 1990, it provides a day of observance and reflection. While mothers are publicly recognized through the year and celebrated on Mother’s Day, for most birthmothers, their […]
The Rights of Unmarried Fathers by State
Historically, unmarried fathers have had fewer rights with regard to their children than either unwed mothers or married parents. Over the past several decades, unmarried fathers have challenged the termination of their parental rights under The Rights of Unmarried Fathers, the Fourteenth Amendment, in cases in which birth mothers relinquished their children for adoption. In […]