When my husband and I decided to adopt neither of us desired a newborn baby. I don’t have a specific reason as to why. Perhaps it just wasn’t a part of the Master’s plan in our lives. I’ve spent the past five years in adoption support groups surrounded by families that surprisingly felt the same way as we did. Many were just not interested in the baby ages at all. Some didn’t want to deal with diapers, and all the other things that come with taking care of babies. There are many families that want to adopt older children because more than likely; there is an established history on them. Though, this isn’t always the case.
Most of the younger babies I’ve seen available for adoption are closer to a year old. Many of these children that come into care suffer drug effects. Methamphetamine exposure seems to be a big one as well as alcohol and heroine. It is absolutely heartbreaking to see a new baby suffering withdrawals from drugs their mother took while pregnant with them! These little ones are often difficult to sooth, many times requiring more care than an average newborn.
Though my husband and I didn’t initially desire a newborn baby, we did want young children. We wanted to be able to witness as many firsts as we could and guide them from the earliest age possible. After the placement of our first son who was 13 months at the time, I watched other mothers with their tiny babies. I started to feel like I may have missed out with our son.
When our second son came to us at 5 months, he was still dealing with effects from drug exposure while in his birth mother’s womb. He didn’t sleep through the night until about 10 months old! I don’t feel like I missed out on the sleepless nights with a newborn as I got to experience them with my youngest.
I wish I could have been there from the very beginning to protect both my boys from what they endured. They are who they are because of where they came from. I wouldn’t trade either of them for a different experience.
(Melissa is a Families.com Christian Blogger. Read her blogs at: http://members.families.com/mj7/blog )