Jessica’s Story

I found out I was pregnant when I was 15 and a freshman in high school. I didn’t have a car or a job.

My mom heard about Life Choices through a friend and decided to take me there to talk to someone. They talked to me about my options and helped me think about the pros and cons of each one. I knew parenting wouldn’t work. My parents were divorced / remarried and so were the dad’s parents. The baby would have been going between so many people, and we already were not on good terms with each other. Abortion was something that I considered for a little while until I realized it was not something I would not be prepared to handle mentally, emotionally or spiritually. I knew it was wrong, but I wanted a way out. I prayed about it, and God let me know that it wasn’t the answer. I thought more about adoption and the idea started to sound better and better. After talking with my parents we decided that it would be the best thing for everyone, including the baby. Then I started looking at profiles. I’m sure it was only 7 or 8, but it felt like a million. I kept getting these black and white, printed out profiles of couples who already had children. They either had a few of their own already and wanted to adopt, or had already adopted a few, or had their own plus adopted ones. I knew I wanted my baby to be loved and put first, not to say that he wouldn’t have been with the other families, but I wanted to be sure that he would be a top priority and have the best life. I wanted a couple who did not have kids and could not have kids. I wanted him to be someone’s first.

It was only a couple weeks before my due date and I couldn’t decide on anyone, no one felt right. Finally, I was given a last minute submission. It was a large photo album with handwritten captions and real photos of this beautiful couple. As fate would have it, they did not have children and were not able to have children. And even better, they were both adopted. I instantly knew I wanted to meet them. I met with them at Life Choices for the first time and knew right away that they were the ones. The father chose them too, and we were not even speaking at the time. We didn’t even get to meet for a second time like we had planned before I went into labor, but that was okay because I knew I had found the right people. They came to visit me at the hospital and told me stories that just let me know that God was working miracles within our lives that were meant to bring us together. I wasn’t sure at first if I wanted to hold him after he was born. Everyone was scared that I would change my mind, but I knew I couldn’t hurt the adoptive parents like that. No matter how much I wanted to bring him home and love him, I knew it wouldn’t be for the best. I had some time to be alone with him and sang him songs and told him about how he’s going to grow up to be an incredible person because he is such a blessing and he was meant to be here. After, the adoptive parents came into the room and I handed him to them and said, “meet your baby boy”. I’ll never forget the looks on their faces when they held him for the first time. A mixture of panic, happiness, disbelief and thankfulness, that I’m sure they still feel to this day. The first couple of months were some of the hardest months I’ve ever been through. But they sent letters and pictures and I never doubted that I made the right decision.

It’s been 8 years and now we are all closer than ever, and I fulfilled my dream of working at Life Choices so I can help girls like me find light in a dark situation.