I (Megan), have been interested in and drawn towards international adoption from a very young age. I remember attending a baby shower for a family friend from church who was adopting a little boy from Russia when I was quite young – probably 6 or 7 years old. While babysitting in my early teen years, I remember watching a TV show called “Adoption Stories” during nap times. Throughout high school, I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to a number of different countries, including Thailand. All my life, I hoped to adopt. It was never a plan B, but I did anticipate that we would have biological children before adding to our family through adoption.
Enter unexpected infertility. After a challenging year trying to conceive with no luck, followed by an early miscarriage and several more fruitless months, we sought additional professional guidance from a reproductive endocrinologist. She conducted a variety of tests and concluded that I would need surgery in order to have an increased likelihood of a viable pregnancy. Following surgery, we were encouraged when we were told that there was no apparent reason that we should have trouble conceiving and maintaining a healthy pregnancy. Once again, several unsuccessful months passed. We returned to the specialist and began some cycles of medication to aid our efforts. After another futile month, I sat in a different doctor’s office and was told that I would need at least two minor surgeries for a completely unrelated issue. She explained that the surgeries would need to be spaced out by a few months and that, in the interim, we would need to stop all fertility treatments. To say that I was heart-broken and angry walking out of that appointment would be an understatement. I screamed and cried, and slammed my hand into the steering wheel repeatedly as I drove myself home.
After a bit of thought, conversation, and prayer, Tim and I decided that we would go ahead and pursue international adoption from Thailand at this point rather than waiting. In early April we submitted a pre-approval application and additional documentation that the Thai Red Cross was requesting. After the first board meeting, they requested even more documentation due to my past diagnosis of melanoma. Finally, on June 1, we received word that we had officially been approved and could move forward with the rest of the process.
We began gathering documents, making necessary appointments, and taking the steps needed to complete our home study and dossier. And on October 2, our dossier was officially sent to Thailand where it will be reviewed by the Thai Red Cross and held until the time of our referral.
We are thrilled about our adoption and cannot wait for our Thai child(ren) to join us in the not-near-enough future. :)
Thanks for taking interest in our adoption journey!
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