Tejal Shah pens down her journey of adopting her son at the age of 38
“My husband and I are both doctors. We met in medical college during our postgraduation, fell in love, and got married. Initially, we were working and had no time to even think of having children. After many years we thought of it, and it just wouldn’t happen. All tests were normal.
I started with IVF (In vitro fertilisation). This treatment involves many medicinal drugs and injections over long periods and has lots of reactions like mood swings, weight gain etc.
I did two cycles and both were unsuccessful.
I had always wanted to adopt and I started wondering why I was going through this treatment. During the third cycle, I got tired, and my husband and I had a conversation about adoption. I stopped the treatment midway and we decided to adopt a baby. Believe me, this was the best decision I have ever made.
Our families and friends were very happy and supportive about this. We prepared our papers as needed by the adoption agency in January 2008. And waited. We had been told this could take time, (just like pregnancy), so we were patient. In April, we got a call saying there is a baby for us and we rushed to their office, thinking we were going to be shown a photo of the baby. We didn’t even know the age of the baby, only that it was tiny. We didn’t know whether it was a boy or a girl as we had said we were okay for either sex.
At the office, we met our beautiful son! He was all of 2 and a 1/2 months old. He was an angel. I can’t even describe that moment. It was love at first sight. Our emotions were pouring all around. My husband and I felt an immediate connection with our son. Today he is a smart, handsome14-year-old, doing well in life.
For parents who want to become an adoptive family, I have only one thing to say- be patient (the paperwork needs it) and savour each moment.
Lead image via Pixabay
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