Our Adoption Story: The Story of How We Met Our Baby, is a book for adoptive parents to fill out, so that each one can tell the story of how they met their baby.
This book has guided prompts to help the adoptive parents fill in the blanks, so that they can write their own adoption story, and also share information about their baby, such as how meeting their baby came about, things they did the day that they brought their baby home, things they did to prepare ahead of time for bringing their baby home, etc.
Some pages also include little images to help out with the written prompts, as a fun way for the parents to personalize their story.
There are also pages that include a simple picture frame to add a picture to help depict what that page is about.
The inspiration behind this book:
My husband and I became adoptive parents decades ago. It was before the internet, so most exchanges of information were done locally, and or reading magazines, finding a group, etc.
When a couple becomes adoptive parents, things can happen rather quickly. Adoptive parents can find out that they are 'expecting' their baby anywhere from a day, to weeks, or months, before their baby is ready for adoption. It can be a whirlwind to prepare and get things ready for the day, for this new bundle of life to enter their lives. Some perspective adoptive parents can also be on a waiting list that can take even longer.
We actually found out about our potential baby around a couple of weeks before the baby was to be born. We didn't know for sure which gender we were 'expecting', but we at least had an idea. We purchased baby clothes, a crib, a dresser that included a changing table on the top. We waited to see what formula the hospital was feeding our baby, before purchasing baby formula. We also purchased diapers, both cloth and disposables.
The day came and we were both excited and nervous. But all of that changed once our baby was handed to us.
We had already made an appointment with a local pediatrician; our first stop before arriving home was with with the pediatrician. There, the doctor showed us how to change the baby's diaper, take her temperature, and gave us other new parent information.
Some time after that, I joined a parenting group, where I could take our baby. The new parents could learn about being parents. That was a great learning experience; it was very helpful. I also noticed that the new moms also talked a lot about their pregnancy and birthing stories. There was no one in the group on that particular day of the week, that I could relate to. But I did hear about another adoptive mom that went to that parenting group on a different day of the week, that wanted to start a play group for adoptive parents. Yay!
There ended up being five of us adoptive moms and five babies in our adoption play group. We all had different adoption stories. And we all had a learning curve; there were many similarities to new moms of any type, learning how to be a mom, but also things that were unique to us, as adoptive moms.
After all of this, I decided to write a story, just for our child, for her to be able to read and know some basic background about our adoption experience and information about her.
I wrote our story on index cards, and included pictures from magazines to help explain whatever, and pictures of us and her as well. I wrote answers to questions that might arise, using simple words. It became a favorite book for us to read together.
After many years, the idea came to me to make something that other adoptive parents could easily fill in and personalize, so that they could share their story with their baby.
This paperback booklet measures 6 by 9 inches and is 24 pages long. It is simple to fill out, and add photographs to. It will be a lovely, informative book for when the child is young, and also a wonderful keepsake for years to come.
Let me know in a comment below, if you think a similar booklet would be a good idea for adoptive parents that adopt a toddler or an older child. Thank you.
Update: Thank you for your comments. I will be designing three more adoption story books; one for toddlers, grade school children, and teens., each of which will include sections for the child to have some input.
Cheryl Paton
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This is a lovely idea, Cheryl. And I speak from the personal side of having a brother and a sister who each adopted two chidren. So I have 3 adopted nieces and one adopted nephew. All four were adopted as babies, but I also think a similar booklet for parents adopting older children would be well received.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the adoption of your child.
Cheryl, I loved reading about your adoption experience and the story you put together on index cards for your adopted child. Making it easy for other adoptive parents assemble a similar story in a bound keepsake book format is a wonderful gift, and I love the idea of creating another version geared toward parents who are adopting a toddler or older child.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet idea and book! We had a book for both of our babies, although I admit, I did not do a great job of making the needed notes. I definitely think it is a great idea to have a memory book for an adopted baby or child. They may not treasure it as much as you do until they have their own children, but I'm sure the time will come when they will be glad to have it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful idea to have such a beautiful book for parents to write their own adoption story, and share information about their baby. A wonderful keepsake for the parents to look back on and for an adoptive child to read and keep. Yes, I like the idea of a similar book for parents adopting an older child as well. Thank you for sharing your story of adopting your baby too, it was very touching.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea and yes I think it would be good to have one geared to older children too
ReplyDeleteThis is such a wonderful idea for a book. We have adoption in my family as well (not my kids, but other members), and have stories about it that I've told over and over. I love the stories too, and to have a book to tell it in more detail as a keepsake is such a terrific idea.
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful idea Cheryl and I'm so happy that you have put this together each story is different and each one should be told! Thank you for this!
ReplyDelete