This week’s Birthmom of the Week is Melissa T. Melissa is a teenaged birthmom from California. Melissa chose adoption for her only son and shares her answers to my Birthmom of the Week questions below.

1. How old were you when you placed your child for adoption? I was 16 when i got pregnant and 17 when I delivered.

2. What circumstances led you to choose adoption? The fact that I was still in high school, I couldn't provide for... more

As a result of the recent survey, my readers have requested more true life birthmom stories. You requested it and you got it! I will be starting a new feature each Tuesday called “Birthmom of the Week,” in which I will interview a different birthmom. She may be young, she may be older, her child may be small, or maybe a teenager. She may have a closed adoption or it might be open. She might think adoption was a good thing for her or she might regret her choice. Their circumstances... more

Writing about spending time with your baby in the hospital earlier got me to thinking of my own hospital experience. This is my favorite photo of Charlie and I from the hospital.

Those few days in the hospital are the days (aside from pregnancy) where I most felt like Charlie’s mother as I was able to mother him. Although, A. was there in the hospital with me most of the time those days are the days I felt most like his mother. I fed him bottles,... more

I am thankful (and lucky) that during my pregnancy I had good, knowledgeable, and caring doctors.

With my first son, Noah, I had a very complicated pregnancy, health wise. I ended up in the high risk unit of the hospital on bed rest for almost five weeks until he was born, six weeks early, with lots complications.

Because of all the complications with my pregnancy with Noah, I was automatically considered “high risk” with Charlie’s pregnancy and any subsequent pregnancies. Adding to the dilemma of my pregnancy with Charlie, I did not find out... more

I am thankful that I made Charlie a Life book. I have written about his life book before and am really glad that I made it for him.

If you are wondering what a life book is, it’s a scrapbook really, that tells your role in your child’s life and provides him or her with a direct connection to his or her biological history. Charlie’s life book contains information about myself (full name, birth date, favorite color, where I grew up, etc) along with pictures... more

I can't hit the suggested word count in this post, because some events are just too good to be covered up in a lot of talking. But I am thankful for two very important things right now:

1. That I summoned the courage to call my son's family on his birthday; that I had a warm, friendly, productive conversation with his mom; that his health and behavior seem better; that he got to tell me about his birthday party and his presents in his own words; that he is so very smart, asking all kinds of penetrating questions about my recent trip to China and why I chose for him the gifts I chose; that he FINALLY knows who I am to him, and that he said "I love you" twice. Twice... more

Oh, I just love this picture! It means a lot to me because we are just doing a normal parent/child thing. It was taken a few weeks ago at Noah’s tenth birthday party. Noah’s birthday party was at a fun park that has arcade games, go carts, bumper boats, ski ball, miniature golf, and more! While Noah was riding a go cart with J, Charlie who decided (for some odd reason) that he did NOT want to ride a go cart. His Mom needed to stay outside and watch his sister since she was on a go cart at that moment. So I offered to take him inside and play games... more

That’s me and my best friend in that picture. Normally I feature pics of my kids. But I received a card in the mail yesterday from Lani, a friendship card, reminding me that this month is our friendship anniversary. We’ve been friends for five years now.

I’ve written about Lani before and how she helped me through the beginning stages of my grief, how she was the first birthmother I met besides myself and how she has become like a sister to me.

But I haven’t... more

One of the things I am thankful for is having a pretty normal and uneventful hospital experience compared to others.

I have heard many horrid accounts of hospital experiences of other birthmothers who have been verbally abused by members of the hospital staff, denied pain medication, ridiculed, denied contact with their babies, disrespected, and so on. I have heard the stories of other mothers who dealt with excruciating labor that seems to go on for hours and hours with no end seemingly in sight.

I was induced so I didn’t have to deal with the... more

I was reflecting on my life last night on a long quiet drive home. I was thinking about the changes in my life since becoming a birthmom. Some of the changes have been good and some of course have been sad.

I think I have become a better Mother to the son I am parenting. I treasure the moments that we have a lot more. I mean, I always treasured them before, but now I know what it truly is like to miss moments and so the moments mean more.

I have learned not to take things for granted. Parenting a child with special needs, I had learned before not to take little things a child does for... more