Leon and Janine's story
Thanks for taking the time to read the story of our family's adoptions!
After learning children were not going to come to us in the traditional way, we decided to go the way of adoption. Believe it or not, Leon wanted to adopt and needed to convince me that it was the right option for us. After investigating our adoption avenues, we knew that Adoption Support Center was the right place for us. We had confidence in them and liked very much that they offered lifetime birthmother counseling. It was very important to us that the birthmother be secure in her decision and know that, anytime in the future that she needed some help regarding the adoption, that she just had to pick up the phone and call the wonderful women at the agency.

Our first adoption, of our son Kevin, in 1997 was amazing. We had one adoption fall through in the waiting process. At the time it was very difficult for us to endure, but just three days later (no joke!) we received a call about Dawn, our son's birthmother. We met Dawn at the 28-week mark of her pregnancy and bonded right away. I went to all doctor visits with Dawn, and then she and I always went out to lunch afterwards, often with some or all of her children, and sometimes with her sister. In addition to meeting her three other children and her sister, both Leon and I were also able to meet some of Dawn's nieces and nephews, and even Dawn's parents. Dawn kept trying to tell us that this baby was ours, but we were not willing to believe it...we didn't want to endure more heartache than necessary if this adoption didn't work out.

We were invited to a cookout at Dawn's sister's home with her entire family. It was a very wonderful day and it ended with tears. As Dawn's parents left, they wished us much luck and said that, after spending time with us, they knew that Dawn was making the right decision and that Leon and I were meant to be this baby's parents. Wow...

Just a few hours later, at 3:30 a.m., the agency called to say "Get to the hospital. Dawn is in labor!" The call finally came!!!! We were very blessed because Dawn wanted us in the delivery room, along with her sister. We held her hands as she gave birth to our son Kevin, and then together, Leon and I cut the cord. It was powerful. Dawn held Kevin first, then handed him to us and told us, "Here's your son." There is no way to put our emotions into words. We still get goose bumps and tear up when think about it.

As happy as we were, I missed Dawn and she missed me. We kept in contact with phone calls and letters, and even got together a couple of times for lunch. When Dawn married a few months later, she asked me to be her matron of honor. WOW!!! She said no one had ever cared for her the way we did. When we said to Dawn that we were amazed at her strength to carry a child for nine months, give birth to him and then let other people raise him, her reply was, "After meeting both of you, that was the easy part. I don't understand how you can love a child that much if you didn't give birth to him." And my reply: "That is the easy part for us!"

Leon and I decided to adopt a second time. This time around it was much less stressful. We'd lost that "baby lust" you hear about, and now we truly believed that "God would bring us the baby we're meant to raise", because it had already happened once. Our one hope for this was that it be a very different experience from Kevin's adoption.

We had a couple of fall-throughs during the process but we endured them more easily. We got a call while we were in New York for Christmas about a woman named Alyson who had gone to the hospital with labor pains, and she wanted us to come. Well, we'd never even met her, so we told the agency that we weren't going to cut our trip short (definitely second-timers here!) The labor pains ended up being a false alarm for her, and a few days into the new year, Alyson asked to meet us. We spent four hours talking with her at a Bob Evans, but then we didn't hear any follow-up from her. Exactly a week later we got a call at about 6:00 in the evening to let us know that Alyson was being induced the next morning and wanted us there!

A slippery and icy snowstorm just slowed us down, but didn't keep us from making the trip. After a long day of labor, our son Luke was born via C-section. He was in NICU for a day so we didn't get to hold him. That was tough!! Alyson signed papers at the hospital giving us permission to be his primary caretakers throughout his hospital stay, and she signed the adoption papers after 48 hours. It was magical...we now had two sons!!

Alyson did not want any contact with us following Luke's birth. Only two people knew of her pregnancy, besides those involved in the adoption. Alyson loved our son so much that she carried him to term in her body, but for her the best way to deal with the adoption was to cut ties.

Leon and I remain in awe of not only our birthmothers, but all birthmothers. They are angels walking the earth. Because of these two women, women we never would have met if not for Adoption Support Center, we are parents. Our sons are 9 and 7 years old now and they are true lights in our lives. Nature, nurture? It doesn't matter one bit. They are our sons, and we are a very happy family.