Dads Mike and Jason met in 2015 and were married in 2019. “We knew we wanted a family of our own so we started to explore private adoption in late 2020.”The couple wrapped up their home study in April 2021 and began the waiting period. It was a few months before anything major happened, but when it did, all the pieces fell into place very quickly.
In November, they notified their agency that they were going out of the country for a vacation and asked to be emailed rather than called if anything happened. “They informed us that just that week, an expectant mother had come into their office and expressed interest in us as prospective adoptive parents.”
They were told to still go on their trip since nothing was official. But within 24 hours of being on vacation, they received an email saying they were matched.
“The baby wasn’t due until the following week, and with COVID testing restrictions, the earliest we could get back into the US was that Saturday. So we changed our flights. Saturday morning rolled around and we got another message saying the baby was coming!
After scrambling to change flights to get home earlier, they coordinated with families, friends and their social workers from 35,000 feet up in the air to have some things in place for the baby’s arrival.
“We had NOTHING – no car seat, crib, clothes, formula… nothing. Our friends and families rallied and stocked our apartment with everything we would need to get started all within 48 hours. We drove from the airport to the town where Zach was born. We missed the birth by about 12 hours. Thousands of miles and 16 hours of travel later though, he was in our arms.”
After spending a couple of nights in the hospital, meeting and chatting with the birth mom, they made their trek home to Chicago, as a family of three. Zach’s adoption was finalized 3 months later on January 1st, 2022.
“A very quick and wild turnaround. Finalizing felt great knowing that he was finally ours. Our entire adoption process went incredibly smooth. Zach’s birth mother is amazing and we regularly email pictures and videos and life updates.”
