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  1. #11
    cmdunn1972 Guest

    Default FYI

    Adoption.com has a forum that you might want to visit. I'm sure you'd get lots of great tips from lots of adoptive parents if you chose to visit:

    http://forums.adoption.com/forumdisplay.php?f=201

    HTH! :)

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Dutch Country, PA.
    Posts
    459

    Default RE: Tips for adoptive parents

    My biggest tip: make a website. And be sure to be *completely* open and honest on it. We spilled out our hearts on ours (including a few negative things about us...) and it was our utmost honestly that our birth mom liked. She contacted us within *2 weeks* of our website going online!

    We did not pay to list anywhere (like ParentProfiles, etc.) - she just used google to find a bunch PAPs and just liked ours due to our honesty (and the fact that we wanted an open adoption).

    So, website and ultimate honesty are my biggest tips

    Best of luck,
    Barbie

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    MidAtlantic region, USA.
    Posts
    252

    Default RE: Tips for adoptive parents

    I agree with PP. We got the same advice from many people, but after 3 showers received only about half a dozen items off of our registry. We also received MANY wonderful clothes. There were other gifts too, but by far, friends and family preferred to give baby clothes. Our first shower wasn't until 6 weeks after we returned home just like PP (granted, we had very short notice of the birth also).

    Please don't misunderstand this recommendation. We have been wonderfully supported and are grateful for the love and gifts shared with us! These comments are only shared in order to hopefully help others plan better. I think maybe one or two of the several people who told us not to purchase any baby items before the shower(s) actually purchased anything off of our registry. -- Bottles were one thing I remember waiting on and then wishing we hadn't since we didn't receive any as gifts. We finally bought a few just before the first shower because DC was needing to switch from the smaller bottles we were using to the larger ones we did not yet have.

    I always suggest to others to go ahead and decide what they really want for basic items -- crib, car seat, stroller, bottles, sterilizer, etc. and begin to get prepared once they are approved. You never know how long the wait will be -- or, how short. Some like to close the nursery door off and stay out once it's prepared until the baby comes. I more preferred to sit in my glider in there and contemplate the joys to come.

    If your adoption will be domestic, don't sweat the small stuff you can easily pick up at a warehouse store or Walmart, Target or the like. These things would be diapers (other than maybe one pack of newborns), formula, wipes and such. Formula may be determined at the hospital and many hospitals will give you enough for a day or so. Some are more generous -- unfortunately, ours did not want to give us anything and told us we could go to the store after we returned to our hotel. In the end, they gave us one feeding to take with us.

    On the other hand, I'm glad we didn't have to do a lot of shopping as soon as our baby was born. It was wonderful to just be able to enjoy our new DC and not be running around trying to find things.

    Also, I don't recall if this has already been mentioned but it helped us to have a small spiral notebook in our bag to take down any notes from nurses, doctor, birth parents, attorney, social worker or anyone else in those first days with your newborn. You can also jot down first impressions, and other details of the story that you are absolutely sure at that time you will remember forever, but may be a bit vague on a year later when you're writing the story to share with your little one. :) You can also write down questions in there that you want to be sure to ask the nurse or birth family, etc. while you're still at the hospital or of the social worker or foster parents when you take your child home.

    BTW, we chose the PP Navetta as the travel bed (& carriage) for our DC. It fit with our Pliko P3 and we have never regretted it! We felt we found a good deal on it too. :) There are newer options out there now with other strollers.

    Hope this helps others in the "waiting game!" :) . . . and be sure to have the latest copy of Baby Bargains on hand too! I also liked Baby 411 and Caring for Your Baby from Birth to Five Years (American Academy of Pediatrics).

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    .
    Posts
    773

    Default RE: Tips for adoptive parents

    How would I search for such sites to know what it's like?

    Thank you

  5. #15
    StephanieW Guest

    Default RE: Tips for adoptive parents

    If you are looking for sites to explain what it is like to adopt, I'd recommend books instead. I adopted internationally and read Daughter from Afar and The Russian Word for Snow and enjoyed both. I also read An Empty Lap. It was not for me but maybe someone else would like it. Adoptive Families magazine is also a great resource.

    I did like this link: http://www.redthreadstories.com/

  6. #16
    StephanieW Guest

    Default RE: Tips for adoptive parents

    Not sure if you are still collecting tips but I was reminded of how wonderful this product was for us when we traveled to adopt our daughter,

    http://store.babycenter.com/product/...g_ParentsPicks

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