We were so thankful that Eileen reached out to us to share her sweet adoption story just in time for National Adoption Month!
Eileen and Paul waited 20 months for “the call.” As Eileen recalls, “Reading or hearing about “the wait” from your Adoption Specialist and actually experiencing it are very different! We knew we had a limited budget, so just took the advice of our home study coordinator to hang in there, knowing that the right birth mom would come along.”
But once the call came in May 2013, things started moving very quickly! “After 20 months of waiting, we still did not feel prepared!,” Eileen writes. “Thank goodness for the expertise of our Specialist who walked us through everything, including a phone call with the birth mom and her Adoption Specialist.”
Eileen and Paul had planned to meet their soon-to-be daughter’s birth mom upon arriving at the hospital. But they learned en route that little baby Duvessa had other plans and was born before they could arrive. The next morning, the couple was able to meet Duvessa with their daughter’s birth mother. Eileen had great memories of their time together:
“We were very excited to meet Duvessa’s birth mother, especially after getting to speak with her on the phone. She wanted for us to see the baby first, but for security reasons at the hospital, she had to accompany us to the nursery. We were so happy to meet with her first, and she was happy to take us to see the baby. She remarked how beautiful Duvessa was, and we couldn’t agree more. Just when I wanted to ask her how she felt about the name we chose, and if we could use her name for the baby’s middle name in order to honor her, a nurse came by asking had we named the baby yet! What an ice-breaker! Duvessa’s birth mom was pleased with the name, and thanked us for using hers as well. The nurse then informed us that she had two adopted children of her own and thanked Duvessa’s birth mom for her bravery, assuring her that women like her made families so very happy. We got to meet with her several times during our stay at the hospital. We learned about things they had in common, and got to talk about Chloe and her little daughter (Duvessa’s birth sister) who was waiting for her to come home. We couldn’t ask for a better birth mom for our daughter and have been able to remain in touch, which means a lot to all of us.”
