No bump, still pumped-Adoption as an LGBT couple

People always talk about how difficult parenting is, but rarely do we hear about how difficult it can be to become a parent, especially for lgbtq couples. Our story starts 6 years ago when I met my wife through mutual friends. We met as babies at 21 years old and have grown together through the years. 2 apartments, 3 dogs, our first home purchase, EMT school, paramedic school, fire academy (my wife is a firefighter), and a wedding later, we finally felt ready to grow our family.

From the beginning we discussed adoption, but we were quickly deterred  from that plan when we found out how costly it could be. In December 2019, we went to our first fertility appointment and began treatments the following month. After multiple failed attempts at conceiving costing about $10,000 with no explanation as to why it wasn’t working we took a step back and really dove in to why the universe wasn’t allowing this to work for us. After many tears and conversations we realized, we weren’t having success because our baby wasn’t meant to come from us biologically. We are meant to adopt! So back to the drawing board we went.

Finding an LGBT friendly agency in our area was the first step which we were lucky enough to find without too much struggle. In our home state of Texas private agencies can deny couples based on sexual orientation so this was a huge blessing. Once we finally found the agency for us step two was getting more information on the process, what to expect, and most shockingly, the cost. $55,000 to find our baby and bring them home. That brings us to where we are today. We have started a tee shirt fundraiser and GoFundMe to help fulfill our dreams of becoming moms. We are still a long ways away from our goal, but we refuse to give up on this dream. We have been shocked by the outpouring of love and support we have received already. It takes a village a child, but it is also taking a village to bring ours home to us. I don’t know what our baby will look like, when they will be born, where they will be from, but I do know we are ready, we are waiting, and we have spent years growing our love for this child that we have yet to meet. I hope by sharing this part of our story it will give someone hope and the will to never give up on what your heart wants most. I truly hope to bring a an update in the next few months with the happiest ending to this chapter.