I was recently reading the blog of a friend and fellow birthmom. In one of her posts, she talks about attachment and whether or not birthmoms attach to their babies. In a nut shell, she said that she tried not to attach, but she did, because it was almost impossible for her not to.

I tried not to attach myself to Supergirl. Boy, did I. I tried to tell myself that I was not pregnant. You couldn’t tell me that I was. I fought about it. I denied it.

I tried not to attach but then I was... more

The lists for the most popular baby names of 2007 have recently been released. I always find naming trends so interesting and brought you the top baby names of 2006 last year, so I thought I’d do the same this year.

First of all though, let me remind those of you who are actively making adoption plans, that you still have the right to name your child. Yes, the adoptive parents will be your child’s parents and they have legal rights to change his or her name to a name of their own choosing.... more

In my last post, I discussed breastfeeding and listed some of the benefits of breastfeeding, but you may be wondering if you can breastfeed even though you are making an adoption plan.

The answer is yes! Some adoption agencies and other adoption professionals may tell you that you can not breastfeed, but you can. They may want you not to breastfeed for the simple reason that breastfeeding a baby gives you a chance to bond on such an intimate level that... more

As an expectant mother someone may have mentioned breastfeeding to you. This can be a touchy subject to some mothers considering adoption – I didn’t even want to think about it! But you may want to give it some thought, especially if you are leaning towards parenting. Whether or not to breastfeed is a personal decision, but one that you should educate yourself on. In this post, I will discuss breastfeeding in general and in the next post I will discuss it more specifically in the context of breastfeeding while making an adoption plan.

Many doctors consider breastfeeding... more

So, you may be thinking, if I name my child can the adoptive parents change his/her name? Yes, the adoptive parents will be your child’s parents and they have legal rights to change his or her name to a name of their own choosing. Sometimes adoptive parents may keep one of the names that a birthmother gave her child. They may keep the first name a birthmom gave him and use it as middle or do something with his name to acknowledge the name she chose as well. With the more open adoptions of today, adoptive parents and birthparents... more

In my recent post about regrets, I mentioned that one of my few regrets is not giving my son, Charlie, a name of my own choosing. I’ve heard a few other birthmothers mention that they are saddened they did not give their child a name of their own choosing as well, so let’s look at this dilemma a little closer using myself and my situation as the example.

Why do I regret not giving Charlie a name of my own choosing? I can’t really put my finger on it and tell... more

Recently I wrote a post about the unexpected – when unexpected complications pop up during pregnancy. One of these complications could be premature labor and delivery.

A friend recently gave birth to her son five weeks early and he now remains in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, otherwise known as the NICU. Seeing pictures of her tiny baby in the NICU reminded me of my son’s NICU days and the fact that no one usually expects for their baby to end up in the NICU. It’s just something that happens.

I wasn’t prepared for this and I doubt my friend... more

Why You Should Choose A Name

Yesterday I talked about baby names. I received a few comments as the result of that post and wanted to expand on them….

Jenna wrote,

“Could you write more on why it is important for those who DO choose adoption to name their child? Munchkin was only ever Munchkin to me... and I kind of regret that. Not that we don't all LOVE the name Munchkin which is still a nickname...”

First... more

As a child or a teenager, did you dream up names for your future children? I did! I came up with these really crazy names as a teenager. I was a tree hugger and ocean lover and wanted to name my children after the ocean. I’m almost embarrassed to admit the hideous names I came up with. Ok, ok I will tell you the names but let’s keep it our little secret. If I had daughters I wanted to name them Oceanianna and Dolphina. Of course, I was only going to have daughters, like I could control that, right? But when you are a teenager, you have it all figured... more

Have you started thinking of a name for your baby? Even if you make an adoption plan, one of your rights is to name your baby.

Naming a child is no easy task! You have to find this tricky balance between what’s trendy and old fashioned, what’s current and what’s not, what’s traditional and what’s heritage and choose something that you will still like in 50 years. I love the advice I read somewhere about shouting the name aloud and making sure it sounds nicely when yelled!

While making an adoption plan, you can choose a name for your baby and then the adoptive parents... more