Taking Care of Yourself Through Adoption Pregnancy
By David Seamonson
What about me? The adoption process focuses on what your baby will be able to do after the adoption and where they will end up. Everyone forgets about the process after the plan is created, you have made all the necessary decisions, and now you are trying to figure out what to do. What should you do? You are still pregnant, so how do you focus on yourself when the baby, adoption agency, and adopting family depend on you? It’s about keeping your mental sanity and building upon what is important to you. Our adoption specialists here in Adoption Choices of Colorado are here to help you throughout your adoption journey. Here are five tips to help when taking care of yourself through adoption pregnancy.
If you need adoption help now, please call or text us at 303-670-4673 (HOPE) or visit us at Adoption Choices of Colorado.
1. Keep in touch with friend through your adoption journey
You are pregnant, not sick. Going and doing things with your friends, coworkers, and family is all things that you should do. Regardless of your personality, having other people involved in your life to talk to and get you out of your house will keep you engaged in life. You cannot stay inside forever, so having excuses to talk to your friends and build new relationships will help you through your pregnancy.
Adoption agencies and the adopting family care about the baby. Still, you are living with the baby as of right now, and you might not see them again depending on whether you choose an open adoption, closed adoption, or semi-open adoption. So having these people around you to talk to and tell them about what has happened will take the situation’s stress off you.
2. Go for a walk
Going outside and enjoying the fresh air is extremely important. You may be a human incubator, but you are still you. Exercise is still an important thing for your health, and a simple walk will be able to get your blood flowing. In addition, the time you spend outside gives you time to think and reflect. Mental sanity is no joke. You might get a little stir-crazy, so get out there and enjoy the world. It has not completely forsaken you.
3. During this adoption remember to take time for yourself
A little part of your day should be spent just for you. No friends, no family, no phones, and no technology so you can reflect on your day. This time can be a nap to relax, a time to get off your feet, or a time to not worry about work for a while. This can be time spent on a new hobby or in meditation. By taking a little time for yourself, you can come back to socialize with others, refocus on your tasks, or center yourself before going to sleep.
4. Keep an adoption pregnancy journal
Keep a record of your pregnancy and why you chose to come to an adoption agency in Colorado. A journal is a great way to let out thoughts and emotions you cannot understand until you put them on paper. Identifying these emotions can allow you to reflect on your day and what you enjoyed. Would you do a certain action again? What triggered that thought? Questions you would not normally know how to answer can now be answered because you wrote them down.
A journal will also allow you to reflect on why you made the decisions you did so long ago. It is a developing record of why you made the decisions you did. You can look back on your tougher days and reflect on days when you feel better. It is all about figuring out how to see the other side of the coin.
5. Have trust in your choice to pursue adoption
At the beginning of the adoption process, you made a choice to come to an adoption agency. An adoption agency opened its doors to all of its resources and allowed you to make all the decisions you wanted. Whether you chose an open adoption, a closed adoption, or semi-open adoption, you made a choice you did for a reason. You know what you are doing and are living your life again.
Taking Care of Yourself Throughout Your Adoption Journey is Our Number One Priority
Pregnancy may seem to limit you and what you want to do now, but forgetting to hang onto your other relationships and responsibilities can make the future seem difficult. Keep your friends and family with you, write about them in your journal, go outside with them, and at the end of the day, know that you made your decision for a reason: so you can take time for yourself again.
If you are facing an unplanned pregnancy and want to learn more about your adoption options, contact Adoption Choices of Colorado by email, phone, or text: Email Us, Text us: 720-371-1099, Call us: 303-670-4673 (HOPE). If you are hoping to adopt, please contact us here.
Stephanie joined the Adoption Choices family in 2014 as the Child Placement Supervisor. Her love for adoption began in first grade when she made friends with twins adopted from Vietnam. Her heart grew strong over the years for adopted children and ultimately led her to graduate school where she continued her focus to her dream of working in the adoption field. Stephanie earned a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Denver in 2001. Over the past 15 years, Stephanie has worked as a pregnancy counselor and as an adoptive parent counselor for foster care, international adoption and domestic adoption, writing hundreds of home studies for families, and helping build their forever families. Stephanie is married and has three boys ages 12, 9, and 5. Together with her family she enjoys riding bike, playing games, watching her three sons compete in their various sporting and musical activities and go on vacations.
Christy Ikeler, is our Executive Director and Birth Parent Director. Christy has been with Adoption Choices Team for 18 years, since opening the doors in 2002! Christy has a true passion for what she does and her true love is working with and helping each birth parent. Whether she is up all night on the phone talking with them, taking them to doctors appointments, out for their favorite treat, providing counseling or at the hospital during labor and delivery, Christy is very involved every step of the way. She has a contagious laugh and a spunky personality that our birth moms all can bond with and relate to. As an adoptive parent herself, adoption holds a very special place in her heart and she can relate on every level with both birth parents and adoptive parents. In her free time Christy loves spending time with her daughter, gardening, baking and taking vacations with her family. Christy is an excellent leader for our team at Adoption Choices and is truly one of a kind!! As Executive Director, Christy spends time with the staff, birth parents and adoptive families in order to ensure that the agency is running smoothly. She has placed a huge emphasis on community outreach and programs for birth parents. Christy loves the opportunity to lead the agency into a brighter future.
Ms. Mackenzie has built a successful counseling career over the past 20 years, supporting mothers and families, people of all ages and genders, students, community professionals and fellow clinicians. Liv values a diverse professional focus, including the entrepreneurial life of a sole proprietor, the evaluative process of certifying foster/adoptive homes, the insightful and mindful one-on-one one work with enthusiastic clients, and serving as an advocate for underserved populations. Liv is a Licensed Professional Counselor and holds a BA in Pre-Law and Economics from American University, an MA in Counseling from Adams University and a certificate in Human Resource Management from Villanova University. Away from work you will find Liv spending time in nature, biking to the farmer’s market and adventuring with her family.
Catherine A. Madsen, joined the Adoption Choices family as legal counsel in 2013. Catherine is responsible for providing legal guidance to the Agency, training and updating staff on developments in adoption law and legislation, and program development. Catherine
Virginia Frank is an adoption attorney accredited since 1991 with the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. Ms. Frank is a leader in the field of private adoption and has completed over 4,000 adoptions in her career. Ms. Frank has a law degree from Oklahoma City University and a BA in both Political Science and Communications from the University of Oklahoma.
Cassidie has been with Adoption Choices since 2015, she has her bachelors in Interdisciplinary Affairs with concentrations in both Sociology and Business Management. Cassidie has additional training in Victim Advocacy, foster care and has been working in women’s services for over 10 years. Cassidie has always had a heart for adoption and it was her career dream to work in adoption. She started off doing volunteer work for advocacy programs, adoption organizations and worked in High Risk Maternal Fetal Medicine through the University of Colorado Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Colorado. Cassidie is also blessed to have personally experienced an adoption of her own in 2012, completing her family of five! Cassidie loves what she does as a case worker from initial phone calls, meetings, doctor appointments, interaction with the adoptive families to delivery and counseling. Cassidie has a passion for those in need and strives to help make a difference in the lives of the people she meets. She is a firm believer in being kind, compassionate and open minded in all situations. “Unless you’ve walked in their shoes, there’s no place for judgment. A kind word or compliment can go a long way!” The bittersweet moments in adoption reminds Cassidie each and every time, why she loves what she does!