Ivy’s Family
In 2019, we gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Emma. She was born with Down Syndrome and a heart defect. A year and two surgeries later, Emma was doing well and receiving good reports on her health and the condition of her heart. At 20 months old we tragically and unexpectedly lost her to heart failure.
After our experience with Emma, we felt like our family was no longer complete. While we could never replace Emma, we felt called to adopt a child with Down Syndrome. We felt we had the experience and resources necessary to provide for a child with these special needs and to help another family who might not feel they could provide in the same way.
We completed our domestic home study and got connected with Stephanie from NDSAN. We were matched with three other families in the course of about a year, where none of the matches worked out for a variety of reasons. While this was disheartening, we knew the child we were meant to adopt was still to be revealed to us.
In October 2024, we were matched with an expecting birth mother who had a prenatal diagnosis of DS. Ivy was born November 6, 2024, and we were able to come meet her on Christmas Eve, truly the best Christmas present we could have ever asked for. Her new adopted siblings were so thrilled to meet her as well!
Ivy is now four months old and thriving. She has a g tube due to her struggles with feeding orally, but has no other medical issues. She is growing, getting stronger, and meeting milestones almost daily. Her birth mother is an amazing mom who chose life despite all the doom and gloom the medical professionals were predicting for Ivy. Thank God she did choose life, as she is such a blessing in our life and we feel so lucky to have been chosen to be her adopted family. We have an open adoption and are in regular communication with the birth mom via text with plans for annual visits. We are so thankful to the NDSAN for supporting us every step of the way and so grateful to organizations like GLADS for taking on some of the financial burden adoption yields. We cannot wait to see all the ways Ivy will conquer every challenge she faces.
