"Talking to Becca on the phone the first time was like a weight lifted from our shoulders!"

We decided to adopt after Shannon suffered some health setbacks after the birth of our daughter Sloane. We originally wanted to adopt from Nicaragua, but months into the process the government was not putting through anymore adoptions, and the country was suffering from civil unrest. We were disheartened, as we had put a lot of time and money into this path, but we knew that we shouldn’t give up and that our family still was going to have adoption as part of its story.

We then turned to domestic infant adoption in November of 2017.  After doing a lot of research, we were certain that we did not want to wait 2 or more years for a baby as was the case with many local adoption experiences.  Shannon found RG Adoption Consulting on an adoption Facebook group, and had a strong inclination that Becca would be able to help us.  She was right!

Talking to Becca on the phone the first time was like a weight lifted from our shoulders – we no longer had to do the heavy lifting of figuring out which agency to choose, what to put in our profile book, or how to navigate the many processes that go along with adoption. Becca was so experienced, and her strategy to work with many agencies at once is a game changer.  Within a month or two we had finished our profile book, and applied to 4 agencies.  We were matched with an expectant mother in March of 2018, and our sweet baby Maren was born in June!

Shannon flew down to Florida to be at the hospital when Maren was born, and Anthony followed by car a couple days later. Navigating the experience at the hospital by herself was a little daunting for Shannon. She was surprised by the lack of access she was granted to the baby – this particular hospital had very strict rules prohibiting adoptive parents from immediately being with the baby after birth (she had to wait about 90 minutes). The most frustrating, however, was that even though the birth mom preferred to have the baby in the nursery and not with her at night, Shannon was not allowed to stay the night at the hospital nor spend any time with the baby at all unless accompanied by the birth mom.  Given all the research on the benefits of skin-to-skin for babies and crucial bonding time in the days post-birth, this was a hard pill for Shannon to swallow.  It was especially frustrating because it seemed like all of these restrictions were being imposed by the hospital and not the wishes necessarily of the birth mom. Shannon had read all of these beautiful adoptive birth stories (some here!) where the adoptive parents did skin-to-skin and spent the night in a room at the hospital with the baby. So it was a little unexpected and disheartening to not get to have that same wonderful experience.

Despite these barriers, Shannon fell in love with Maren at first sight when the staffed wheeled her by in the hall on the way to the nursery. Holding her for the first time was a surreal experience, and the smile on her face in this first picture pretty much captures all the joy and relief of finally meeting their little girl.

“We had the most magical first few weeks…”

We had the most magical first few weeks with our new addition in a beach house in Florida – lots of cuddling and bonding time. Maren was a dream baby.

Shannon tells anyone who is interested in domestic adoption to get in contact with RG Adoption Consulting – they really have figured out the best and smoothest way to navigate the adoption process, walk you through it step-by-step. Becca was always available to chat and I could call her with any questions that came to mind. It was so helpful having someone with so much experience to talk to when I was looking at prospective cases and trying to decide what was best for our family. She truly has the best interest of her clients in mind, 100% of the time, and she knows how to get results – quickly!

We are so grateful we made the decision to hire RG Adoption Consulting – it’s been such a positive experience, and we have our little sweet Maren now to make our family complete.