Still waiting and wondering!!!

In the middle of all this waiting for the referral I have been having some fun. Last weekend I went to New York City with my friend Mandy. We stayed over night did a lot of shopping. we walked so much my hips were killing me the next day. We also went to see Mama Mia it was fun until the people next to us decided to be chatter boxes. we went to the M&M store. i bought my nephews cute little straws that have the M&m candy hanging off of them so I hope they like them. By walking around we found this cute breakfast place where I had the best french toast and fruit. it was nice just to have girl night out in new York. we plan to go again soon when it gets warmer so we can go to SOHO and do some more shopping. we are still waiting for a referral. In April it will be going on 6 months. Idon't know if its a good thing that I read other peoples blogs or not ,for some reason it makes me happy that some people already have their kids and on the other hand it makes me more worried between the 8 doctor medical and that maybe we will have to to the FBI clearances that now take 13 weeks. Everything is so unknown it just makes me nervous. So far our agency didn't tell us none of these things and its maybe because we don't have the referral yet. I think my husband will shoot them a quick e-mail just to see what is going on because everything I know is from all the blogs I have been reading. I pray to god that everything will work out. so until than we are still waiting.......

What a beautiful weekend!!!

So true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Cherished Child: Parenting after Infertility

Posted by Dawn - March 16th, 2010 - No Comments

Published in Adoptive Parenting, Infertility

I was talking with a woman last month who was in the midst of trying to decide about the next step on her infertility treatment journey. They have been trying to conceive for three years. She told me that what kept her going was knowing that they had so much love to give to a child. “One thing I know for sure is that when we finally have kids, they are going to be the most loved children in the world.”

There is some evidence that she’s right. Parents who have struggled to conceive make very good parents. Research shows that families created with the help of fertility treatment compare favorably with families that conceived without treatment, especially after the first 12 months. There is some research that infertility patients are more anxious during pregnancy and their child’s first year of life, but the anxiety usually passes after that. Parents that conceive through IVF tend to be more protective of their children; more child focused; and show greater warmth towards their children. These studies have been small, but this supports what I see in real life.

Parents who chose to adopt rather than stay in infertility treatment also make great parents. Studies show that adoptive parents invest more time and financial resources in their children than biological parents and “evidence a high level of strength in terms of warmth, communication, discipline, and cohesion.” Researchers speculate that “One of the reasons adoptive parents invest more is that they really want children, and they go to extraordinary means to have them.” Amen to that.

I have to admit that I worry about the effect of over protectiveness on kids, but I think our entire generation of parents is over protective, not just parents that conceived or adopted after years of trying. I don’t think we have a good grasp on how to weigh relative risks. We are overly worried about low chance risks such as stranger abduction; as a result we micromanage our kids’ lives because we are afraid to let them out of our sight. The older my kids get the more I believe that children need to learn certain lessons from failure and falling and figuring things out on their own. But that is the subject of a different blog.

Parents that have had to struggle to become parents sometimes have a hard time giving themselves permission to have the normal feelings of frustration that comes along with parenting. (See last week’s blog about a mom through surrogacy and donor egg.) They may feel let down after all the years of anticipation. They may think they don’t have the right to complain about being tired, or wishing for a day to themselves, or craving time to wash their hair and shave their legs. But fortunately, these feeling also usually pass with time. Most parents of two year olds and teens feel pretty darn entitled to their frustration, regardless how they got their kids.

Infertility can affect the quality of parenting in two ways. Infertility treatment results in a disproportionately large number of multiple births, and much research supports that parenting twins and triplets is much more stressful on parents. Also, subsequent attempts at infertility treatment for a second child can add significant stress on parents. I’ve not seen research on whether already having a child reduces that stress somewhat. I would also like to see more (any?) research on how parents of kids conceived through higher levels of infertility treatment (donor egg, surrogacy, etc.) fare as their children age, but I suspect they’re doing just fine because they too have so much love to give a child.

Everyday I see and hear from people who have struggled for years to create their families. I don’t know whether these kids are “the most loved in the world”, but I can certainly say that they are a very cherished group, and being cherished is probably the greatest gift we can give our kids.

I got this from Creating a Family website

A poem that I came upon

Thoughts on Becoming a Mother
There are women that become mothers without effort, without thought, without patience or loss and though they are good mothers and love their children, I know that I will be better.
I will be better not because of genetics, or money or that I have read more books,
but because I have struggled and toiled for this child.
I have longed and waited. I have cried and prayed.
I have endured and planned over and over again.
Like most things in life, the people who truly have appreciation are those who have struggled to attain their dreams.
I will notice everything about my child.
I will take time to watch my child sleep, explore and discover. I will marvel at this miracle every day for the rest of my life.
I will be happy when I wake in the middle of the night to the sound of my child, knowing that I can comfort, hold and feed him and that I am not waking to take another temperature, pop another pill, take another shot or cry tears of a broken dream. My dream will be crying for me.
I count myself lucky in this sense; that God has given me this insight, this special vision with which I will look upon my child that my friends will not see.
Whether I parent a child I actually give birth to or a child that God leads me to, I will not be careless with my love.
I will be a better mother for all that I have endured. I am a better wife, a better aunt, a better daughter, neighbor, friend and sister because I have known pain.
I know disillusionment as I have been betrayed by my own body, I have been tried by fire and hell many never face, yet given time, I stood tall.
I have prevailed.
I have succeeded.
I have won.
So now, when others hurt around me, I do not run from their pain in order to save myself discomfort. I see it, mourn it, and join them in theirs.
I listen.
And even though I cannot make it better, I can make it less lonely. I have learned the immerse power of another hand holding tight to mine, of other eyes that moisten as they learn to accept the harsh truth and when life is beyond hard. I have learned a compassion that only comes with walking in those shoes.
I have learned to appreciate life.
Yes I will be a wonderful mother.

I don't know who wrote it...