little girl who would become my daughter. She looked so bright and alert and I was fighting so hard not to fall in love with the pictures. That fight was a losing battle.
I was trying to protect myself emotionally. A lot of things can go wrong in any adoption. I had done my research, and I knew that Guatemalan adoptions could be full of negative surprises, like the horrors faced by the families on Dateline NBC the other night. I was confidant that I had picked a solid agency. I knew that kidnapped children and scamming facilitators, like those featured on Dateline the other night, were sometimes realities. I knew that more often, however, birthmothers, who are required to sign off on the adoption 4 times, change their minds. I know quite a few families who had fallen in love with a picture, only to find out that the child they had grown to love would not become a member of that family. I also knew that on the forums that I frequent, at least once a month a prospective adoptive family reports that the child they had fallen in love with had died.
One in five children born in Guatemala dies before reaching his/her fifth birthday. Kids waiting to be adopted probably have a better chance. The prospective adoptive families are paying, (through the attorney fees), for clean water and baby formula and regular medical care. And emergency medical care.
Last year at this time, I was trying not to fall in love with these beautiful pictures. And I was waiting for the medical information on this beautiful baby. And waiting. And waiting. And calling and following up and wondering why I was not getting the medical information.
I did not know it, but this time last year Liana was in the hospital with rotovirus. Lots of babies in Guatemala die of rotovirus. Liana was in the hospital for three nights. She was hooked up to an IV. Ultimately, her hospital bills were paid by my fees. But no one told me about her hospitalization until almost a year later, when her foster family (the wonderful people who cared for her the first 13 months of her life) told me this story.
So yeah, this time last year I was falling in love with these photos. Liana was in the hospital. But our story has a happy ending.
Actually, a happy beginning.
