I have been doing some research (so that I don't go absolutely crazy while we wait for word from the Ethiopian Consulate) about post adoption depression. This is not talked about very often, but is fairly common. It seems that studies have shown that women who adopt children have many of the same hormone fluctuations as women who give birth to children. Also, they have the added pressure of feeling like they need to be the perfect parent to the child that they have waited for and wanted for so long. I came across this article written by Melissa Fay Greene (the same woman who wrote There is No Me Without You) and thought it was wonderful, if incredibly scary.
http://www.melissafaygreene.com/pages/adoptanthology.html
Also, I thought I would include some pictures and video of our beloved niece, Ms. Lillian Grace Schutz, because the research on post adoption depression reminded me of when she came to live with us. We were planning on adopting her and already loved her dearly, but there was about a week when both of us thought we would need to send her back. It was so hard to go from being a married couple to two parents of a 14 month old in the blink of an eye. I only had two days off from work to try to figure out how to be a mother, and then had to drop the poor kid off at daycare and try to figure out how to get to work on time. Thinking about this experience gives both of us great hope, because it only took a week to go from panicking about not being able to do this to absolute love and adoration of Lilly and of being parents. At least we know what to expect... thanks to this extremely good looking little person.
So, thanks Lilly-Monster. If you weren't so darn wonderful, we would never have realized how much we wanted to be parents.
I understand...
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