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Vicki & Chad’s Adoption Journey

To fully understand the depth of this story, you will have to go back to the beginning and understand Vicki’s story. In the spring of 2016, Vicki married her longtime boyfriend Chad in an intimate ceremony. Since then, their story sounds like one out of a movie. Work for both of them was going great and they bought their first home. Everything was starting to feel complete- well, as complete as it could be at the time. They knew that when they bought their dream home that the spare bedrooms would be for their future children. It would be somewhere safe where the kids could play on the street and grow up in the community. It was a dream that became harder and harder to attain as there were issues with the couple trying to get pregnant. Deciding to try adoption, Vicki and Chad were overcome with emotion. Was this the right choice? Would they get picked? How long would they have to wait? Did they have enough money to invest into adoption? Surprisingly, they were quickly matched with a pregnant mother of a baby boy! There were screams of excitement, tears of joy and passionate hugs as Vicki and Chad realized that they were about to get the final missing piece of their family puzzle. Over the next few months, Vicki and Chad developed a special bond with the birth mom. Granted, as the adoptive parents, they were expected to pay for all the birth mom’s living expenses, but she would be giving them the greatest gift that she possibly could. They paid for food, therapy, rent, phone bills, and transportation- basically anything that she needed. In addition, they would meet up with the birth mom over meals to assure she knew how grateful they were for this amazing experience. It didn’t matter that their bank account crept lower and lower. Vicki felt connected to her, because she was the mother of her future child. The birth mom had even insisted that Vicki be in the delivery room, announcing, “This is your son, you should be in the room when he’s born!” Vicki and Chad tried not to get their hopes up. She had heard horror stories about mother’s changing their minds at the last minute, but it seemed that this birth mom was so sure that Vicki and Chad were meant to be this child’s parents that it was hard not to get overly excited. The days before delivery, the birth mom emailed Vicki and told her to enjoy her last days of sleep, because as a new mom she wasn’t about to get any sleep for a long time. Soon, delivery day arrived. Vicki was in the delivery room and experiencing the baby boy being born via C-section. The birth mom chose not to hold the child and had the baby handed directly to Vicki. As she put the boy in her arms, it was an instantaneous love that Vicki had never felt before. She felt more love than she could possibly experience, and watching Chad hold their son for the first time, she fell more in love with him. They spent the rest of that Tuesday at the hospital, bonding with the baby. The following day, they made their way to the hospital to spend more time with the baby. After waiting around all morning, they were told to go home and come back later because the birth mom was having a rough morning. That evening, they went back to the hospital and were able to spend a few hours with the baby boy and the birth mom told them she would see them tomorrow.It was finally Thursday, the day they were scheduled to take home their new beautiful family member. They prepared to go to the hospital with their car seat installed, new set of clothes, and so much love, but received a call from the attorney saying they would not be taking home their child because the birth mom was not in a clear mental state to sign any papers legally. Everyone believed that this was normal and it wasn’t anything to worry about. After all, they had waited this long, what was just one more night? Instead, they would be taking home their child early Friday morning. It’s standard procedure that the mother has 48 hours to change her mind before signing any papers before Vicki and Chad can take him home. Vicki and Chad spent 3 sleepless nights staring at the ceiling wondering what the future would hold. Vicki and Chad patiently waited for Friday morning to arrive, before getting a call that no one wants to hear. Their lawyer said that they would never get to bring the sweet baby boy home. The amount of pain, tears, and feelings of loss that followed are to be expected. Vicki and Chad spent months preparing mentally, physically, emotionally, and financially. They invested everything they had into becoming parents, only to be left with nothing but heartbreak. I’ve watched as they have mourned the loss of a child, because that’s what this is. It is the loss of their child. I’ve watched Vicki try to put one foot in front of the other and to make sense of all of this, but the truth is that it doesn’t make sense. It will never make sense and it is not fair. Now all that Vicki and Chad can do is try again. The costs have taken a toll and it’s not a burden they should have to face alone. Everyone deserves the right to be a mother, especially someone like her, who would be a great mother or a man like Chad who would be a great father. I am asking that you help me, help them, in realizing their dream of having a family and finding that one child that they will get to take home forever. Anything helps. In an effort to show their new addition just how much he or she is LOVED and WANTED, I am launching their first fundraiser. I am making "A Tree of Life" art piece for the nursery. The Hebrew word for "life" is Chai. Often during special events, increments of $18.00 are given to the recipient(s) to symbolically represent the gift of "Life" or luck. In honor of this, we are selling paper leaves for $18.00. For every leaf you purchase, we will write your name on the back of the leaf. We will then place the leaf on the tree. After the tree is complete, it will be framed and hung in the nursery. We will use this art piece as part of his or her adoption story throughout their life. We cannot THANK YOU enough for your generosity!
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Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • $50 
    • 5 yrs
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Organizer and beneficiary

Amy Robbins Gordon
Organizer
Villages of Oriole, FL
Vicki Ward
Beneficiary

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