Education

Matched One Week, Then a Midnight Call Said Baby Was Coming

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Jeff and Christine had been matched with a birth mom for exactly one week when the phone rang in the middle of the night. She was headed into an emergency C-section, and their daughter would arrive within 48 hours. They booked a flight, landed just in time, and met their baby girl in the NICU. Three days later, they sat down with Donna Pope to share what those first days really feel like. This is an honest, in-the-room conversation for waiting families who wonder what happens when the call finally comes.

The Tug-of-War They Feared Never Came

Jeff and Christine expected to feel anxious every time their birth mom visited the baby. Instead, she was the one comforting them. She told them "you got this," hugged Christine longer than anyone ever had, and framed her goodbye in words this family now lives by. This is not goodbye. This is see you later. They explain why her visits put them at ease instead of on edge, and why they already consider her family.

The Hardest Paperwork in Adoption

Waiting families know the preference forms, and Jeff and Christine call them the hardest documents they have ever filled out. They walk through how their answers changed on substance exposure, mental health history, race, and gender as they researched and trained. They started with tight limits and finished far more open, and they explain exactly what shifted their thinking along the way.

Paying for Adoption on Two Teacher Salaries

Jeff and Christine are both teachers, and they are honest about what adoption costs on a saver's budget. They share years of saving, skipped vacations, grant applications, and why a flat fee gave them peace of mind when fees at other agencies fluctuated by tens of thousands of dollars. They also open up about the grief of infertility, the questions that sting, and the instant love they felt for a daughter they had known for 30 seconds.

Adoption rarely follows the plan. This conversation shows what it looks like when the plan changes overnight and a family says yes anyway. If you are waiting for a match, or wondering what open adoption can look like in real life, watch this one. Then visit VoicesofAdoption.org for more stories and resources.