By Lisa Frerichs
I am a mom who has both adopted and delivered a biological baby. I find nothing different between my two kids except that one has brown hair/brown eyes and the other blond hair/blue eyes. Oh, yes, one is a perfectionist and one is an optimist, one likes meat and one is adventurous.
The point is that they are normal brothers; we all know one is adopted and go on with our complete lives.
Standing over the bassinet at the hospital and having a baby placed in your arms is a humbling and overwhelming experience to say the least. To think that God and this young couple chose us to be parents to this beautiful little boy blows my mind. Still does to this day. The gift of a child. The blessings of a young birth mom and birth dad. The love.
Whether an adopted child is from Ethiopia, China, Guatemala or Springfield, the overwhelming joy of being a parent is unexplainable. I have never been on such an emotional roller coaster filled with tears, stress, suspense, fear, joy, anger, doubt and satisfaction.
The one word I left out was “humor.” My husband and I decided that if we didn’t maintain some type of normalcy with humor during the process then we were going to go off the deep end. Humor is a great ice-breaker during a stressful situation. Humor can calm most tears and humor keeps your head above water.
When I read Laura Weisskopf Bleill’s post about the funny things people say to you about pregnancy, I thought that we should do the same for adoption!
Here are a few of mine:
“Where is the Mom?”
Me: “I am the Mom.”
“Aren’t you scared the parents are going to come get the baby?”
Me: “You shouldn’t watch so many Lifetime movies!”
“Wow! You look great after having a baby!”
Me: “Yeah, I just have 10 lbs. Of cookie dough to lose from stress eating.”
“He looks just like you!”
Me: “Thanks. I love him all the way from here to the moon and back!”
OK, adoptive parents, what are you some of your greatest humor moments?
As a resident of Champaign since 1992, Lisa Frerichs finds herself dreaming of tropical islands where she can soak up plenty of Vitamin D during the winter months. She is happily married to Jeff the Dentist, who loves going to work everyday, and sons, Matthew, 9, and Michael, 6. When she is not volunteering at school, church or making her weekly Target trip for mostly unnecessary items, she’s doing “mom” stuff, playing with the kiddos, reading or cooking.