The First Post

Let me introduce myself. My name is Jena, and I'm a pre-adoptive parent. What does that mean? Well, it means I'm in the process of adopting but haven't gotten custody of my kids yet. Actually, we haven't even gotten a referral yet. But it should happen "soon".

Pete and I got married on May 9, 2003, and started trying to conceive immediately. Over the next three and half years, he and I both endured many tests trying to figure out why we weren't getting pregnant. I had exploratory surgery in July 2005 and the doctors found nothing conclusive. Our next step was IntraUterine Insemination (IUI) in August. It was unsuccessful, and I fell into a deep depression. A year later, when I felt up to it again, we tried IUI once more. Again, we were unsuccessful, and our fertility doctor told us that I don't respond well to the hormone shots. I had only a 50% chance of producing enough eggs to even continue to IVF. Additionally, the IUI process had sent me into a depression once more. We decided at that time that the best option for us was to adopt. I felt a huge sense of relief knowing that we were heading down a path that would lead to us definitely having a family!

We spent a couple months researching agencies, countries and types of adoption. After much consideration, we chose to adopt two children from Russia and signed up with a reputable, trustworthy agency. That was October 2006. It took us 8 months (yes 8!) to get our dossier together. On a wonderful day in June of this year, we submitted our dossier to our agency. We are now just waiting for the call!