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Hi, I'm a birthmother. I'm sorry to post on this forum cause I know it's not for me, but I'm in need of some answers and some advice. Please help if you can.
My bson is now 6 and was placed in what was initially, a very open adoption. His aparents are in my distant family. They are the cousins of my moms, brothers wife. They are not related by blood. Anyway, we found eachother when I was losing hope and my aunt suggested I talk to her cousin cause she was looking to adopt two children from the Ukraine. Amom has two children of her own. A little girl, who at the time was 4, and a little boy who was 2. She later went on to adopt a little boy from the Ukraine, so now she has four children. My bson is her youngest. Because we were kind of family and they are both nurses, I invited her and her husband to be present during the birth. I stayed with P(my bson) for 3 days in hospital until I passed him over and watched them leave with him at the hospital doors. I was due to move to London, England one month after the birth. My mom thought it would help and she recently accepted a new position there, and I couldn't go back to high school cause everyone knew and I would have been tormented. So that month I stayed at amoms house overnight a couple of times, babysat my bson and her other kids, and really got to know her. For the next few years until I was an adult, my mother paid for flights overseas to go and visit him. I always stayed at their house and amom and I got on so well. She was like a big sis. We told eachother so much, we shared a great relationship. I guess I was comfortable with that because I hadn't grieved yet, it hadn't hit home that my bson was really gone because he was right in front of me so often, whenever I wanted to see him I could.
When I turned 18, my mom was unable to afford the cost of the flights anymore, so with much pain, I didn't visit for 3.5 years. We stayed in touch via email. I used to get these long emails about how he was doing, what he was saying, what his interest are, and how loved he is. It was so great to feel a part of things and feel that I somehow fit in with it all.
Then, she sent me an email, quoting, "P was so cute today, he walked into the room and said, "mom, i love you"". I was so confused. For some reason, hearing that P loved his amom really hurt me. I was so jealous. I should have been thankful that P does love his amom, because that's a wonderful thing. But hearing it was something different. I wrote a reply asking her to be a bit more cautious about what she writes to me because regardless of our close and open relationship, I still have feelings. After that, the emails stopped, completely! Stopped. I wrote a couple of times, but never got a reply. I was completely cut off. I found out I was pregnant with my daughter and that seemed to occupy my mind for a year. But it also made the lost relationship with amom more real and so I finally wrote her a long letter. I sent it, and 2 months later, still no reply. So I called my aunt, amoms cousin, and she said she would have a word. I also asked my mom to get involved. I just felt amom was being horrible, ignoring the situation. I finally got an email from amom, after one year and a half, saying she wanted to keep distant because she didn't want to upset me when I was pregnant. She also said that she was hurt by me and that it would take a while to heal. I was again, confused. I finally was able to get some money together last year and visited for the first time in 3.5 years. P had no idea who I was, he was distant and even afraid of me. This was not the 2 year old that ran into my arms everytime I came to see him. He had fogotten me! I don't know if she talks to him about me, but it didn't seem like it. I was a nervous wreck during the visit. We were surrounded by children, her 4, my daughter, and my aunt's 2 boys. I had no time with him, he just wanted to play. I couldn't look amom in the eyes, there was so much burried anger. I realised, that not talking about the adoption and how we were going to run things has really ruined our relationship. I never knew I was going to have all these feelings of regret and grief. I never went to councelling, everyone told me I would forget cause I saw him all the time. This past year since the visit, I have sent P some gifts and talked with him on the phone. He seams to know who I am now, and was excited to speak with me. I talked with amom on the phone to, about the weather, about babies, and about the kids. We never talk about the adoption.
I tried writing her some emails about open adoption books I read. She ignores those parts of the emials and writes about something else. Her emails are short and sweet, never more than two lines. Sometimes she ends with 'Love,' sometimes nothing. I'm getting mixed messages. When I begged in one email to have things how they used to be, she said I would just have to get used to the way things are now, cause that's the way they are going to stay.
Does she feel threatened? Does she think I am not good enough for him anymore? Do you think she is worried that I will be a bad infuence on him? I just want to ask her what she calls me when she talks about the adoption to P. Why does she ignore my emails about adoption? I read about so many amoms who are so thankful to the bmoms of their children, but in a way, I feel my bsons amom is not thankful because she thinks she did me a favour by adopting P. She wasn't infertile, she didn't need him, and she would have gotten another child from Ukraine. Do you think because she didn't need P she is less relaxed about all the emotions? I don't understand why she is so cold now. Any advice will help. Sorry it's so long. Lea
Since I don't know both sides of the situation, I'm only guessing at her feelings and motivations. But...you did tell her to be more cautious about what she shares. If my girls' birthmother had said that to me, I would be terrified of saying something that would upset her. I wonder if she's avoiding talking about the adoption simply because you told her it caused you pain.
I find it unrealistic to think she might be threatened after all these years. Especially since you had a close relationship prior to P's birth and in the couple of years you had regular visits.
You mentioned how you couldn't look her in the eye when you were visiting. If you've got unresolved anger about the situation, it's your responsibility to bring it up for discussion. There's no way another person can know how you're feeling unless you tell them.
You said:
Her emails are short and sweet
But then you said:
I don't understand why she is so cold now.
Is she being sweet and cold? It seems impossible to be both.
Anyway, my advice (for whatever it's worth to you) is to talk to her. Call her, send a handwritten letter, email her - whatever it takes. Lay out your feelings and your questions about her feelings. Without communication, relationships are doomed.
Good luck to you!
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I am sorry that you are having these struggles....OA is such a complicated, emotional thing for many people (myself included)....It's really hard to know exactly what is going on, you know?
I am sure it was really hard for you to hear some things about your son and how he feels about his a mom. And maybe it was insensitive on her part too...but maybe she does feel like if she can't be totally open and honest about all of the things (including the loving relationship she and P have) then it's easier just to be "curt." This may seem a little "vindictive" and maybe it is, I don't know.
Also, I wouldn't think that your son's reaction to you was necessarily a result of anything his a mom did, but just the time lapse between visits. It sounds as if you and he are having a good relationship and I hope that continues! Obviously, that's the most important thing.
One thing I always say is that if my DD had a "video" of everything and every interaction we have with her birth family, I would want her to be proud of how we have handled everything (I can't say that it would be 100 percent! but you know what I mean). I would hate to think DD thought I mistreated or disrespected her birth family in any way.
I wish I had a "solution" for you, but it's really hard to know what's going on here....I do hope that the communication and relationship improve! Good luck.
I have a very open relationship with our birthmom and I know when she first heard me refer to myself as A's mom it was very difficult for her. She was upfront with me about it and I asked what I could do at that time and really made me see things through her eyes. So, I think maybe the way you phrased it to her made her want to hold back stuff from you. I think if you write a heart felt letter to her that it may help her understand what you are feeling and hopefulthat will help open up the lines of communication. I know it its very important to have a relationship between birth family and adoptive family, so I will be hoping for the best. I am glad to hear that you have established a great relationship with your son that is really the most important thing to consider.
Good luck!
Deb
leakaye
When I turned 18, my mom was unable to afford the cost of the flights anymore, so with much pain, I didn't visit for 3.5 years. We stayed in touch via email. I used to get these long emails about how he was doing, what he was saying, what his interest are, and how loved he is. It was so great to feel a part of things and feel that I somehow fit in with it all.
Then, she sent me an email, quoting, "P was so cute today, he walked into the room and said, "mom, i love you"". I was so confused. For some reason, hearing that P loved his amom really hurt me. I was so jealous. I should have been thankful that P does love his amom, because that's a wonderful thing. But hearing it was something different. I wrote a reply asking her to be a bit more cautious about what she writes to me because regardless of our close and open relationship, I still have feelings. After that, the emails stopped, completely! Stopped. I wrote a couple of times, but never got a reply.
I am not sure what you expected from her after telling her to "be cautious" about what she said to you. She is P's mom, too. I can understand why it might have startled you to hear it, but I don't think it's fair to ask her to communicate openly with you if you don't really want that. Do you want P to love her, but you don't actually want to hear those words? I think if I'd been the amom who received your communication, I would have felt like you weren't on board with my role as a parent.
I was completely cut off. I found out I was pregnant with my daughter and that seemed to occupy my mind for a year. But it also made the lost relationship with amom more real and so I finally wrote her a long letter. I sent it, and 2 months later, still no reply. So I called my aunt, amoms cousin, and she said she would have a word. I also asked my mom to get involved. I just felt amom was being horrible, ignoring the situation. I finally got an email from amom, after one year and a half, saying she wanted to keep distant because she didn't want to upset me when I was pregnant.
She also said that she was hurt by me and that it would take a while to heal. I was again, confused.
I hope that you don't mean it this way---perhaps I don't totally understand the progression, but they way I'm reading this sounds like you think it's not OK for her to hurt you (whether she meant to or not) but if you say something to hurt her (again, whether that was intentional or not) she should let it go.
I finally was able to get some money together last year and visited for the first time in 3.5 years. P had no idea who I was, he was distant and even afraid of me. This was not the 2 year old that ran into my arms everytime I came to see him. He had fogotten me! I don't know if she talks to him about me, but it didn't seem like it. I was a nervous wreck during the visit. We were surrounded by children, her 4, my daughter, and my aunt's 2 boys. I had no time with him, he just wanted to play.
Truly, I think you could be overreacting to that visit. If I'm doing my math right from your post, he's around 5 or 6 at this point? At that age, I doubt that his behavior toward you had very much to do with you at all, or with whether anyone talked about you to him before. If he hadn't seen you since he was 2, he probably did not remember you. Young children are very concrete in their thinking---I know of many grandparents who only see a child a few times year that have similar experiences. Plus, you put lots of other kids in the room and almost any adult is going to be a distant second.
I couldn't look amom in the eyes, there was so much burried anger.
If you were that uncomfortable, I would bet amom was too, which P probably picked up on at some level.
I realised, that not talking about the adoption and how we were going to run things has really ruined our relationship. I never knew I was going to have all these feelings of regret and grief. I never went to councelling, everyone told me I would forget cause I saw him all the time.
I so hope you are getting counseling now. I know pieces of my post must sound harsh to you, because you're clearly grieving. I do think it is important for you to get help to sort out how much of this is really amom's behavior (and maybe some of it is---obviously we don't know her side of the story here) and how much is really your own pain and guilt looking for an outlet.
I tried writing her some emails about open adoption books I read. She ignores those parts of the emials and writes about something else. Her emails are short and sweet, never more than two lines. Sometimes she ends with 'Love,' sometimes nothing. I'm getting mixed messages. When I begged in one email to have things how they used to be, she said I would just have to get used to the way things are now, cause that's the way they are going to stay.
You hurt her, and she's probably feeling guilty because you made it perfectly plain that she was insensitive when she tried to share some of the joy she was experiencing. You're going to have to let her move past that just as she has to let you deal with your grief and guilt. Things won't be as they were before. You can't take back what you said that hurt her any more than she can take back what hurt you---you can't unring the bell. This isn't going back to how it was before overnight, no matter how badly you want that.
Does she feel threatened? Does she think I am not good enough for him anymore? Do you think she is worried that I will be a bad infuence on him?
I doubt that she's threatened or that she thinks you're "not good enough"---I've seen that on these sites a lot and while I can't speak for all amoms, I've never had a thought like that. Who am I to judge someone's worth? Why would I want to? All I see is that you hurt her feelings, you were relentless in demanding that she communicate with you on your terms, and when you saw her you were angry and wouldn't look her in the eye. I doubt I'd seek out a friendship with someone who treated me like that.
I just want to ask her what she calls me when she talks about the adoption to P. Why does she ignore my emails about adoption? I read about so many amoms who are so thankful to the bmoms of their children, but in a way, I feel my bsons amom is not thankful because she thinks she did me a favour by adopting P. She wasn't infertile, she didn't need him, and she would have gotten another child from Ukraine. Do you think because she didn't need P she is less relaxed about all the emotions? I don't understand why she is so cold now. Any advice will help. Sorry it's so long. Lea
What makes you think she's not thankful? Whether she thinks she did something good for you or not doesn't have to mean she's not thankful for P.
Children aren't interchangeable, so whether she could have had another biological child or adopted from the Ukraine is unlikely to have anything to do with her relationship with you. I think she is cold because, in your grief, you put her on notice you did NOT want to hear about how her son loves her. In short, you told her that you did not want to be reminded that she, too, is his mother. From an amom perspective, it's pretty hard to want a relationship with someone who is hurt by the relationship in your life that gives you such joy. I understand that you're in pain, but your post seems to want amom to fix that grief, and I just don't think she's in a position to do it if it means denying the joy she takes from her role as P's mom.
Here's the thing---I think it's hard for both amoms and bmoms to totally understand the other's perspective. I can't totally empathize with the grief a bmom suffers. But just because I can't completely understand it doesn't mean that I doubt its existence. Sometimes I get the feeling that, in handling their own grief, bmoms forget that amoms have plenty to work through on their own side, too. And we suffer from some societal pressure to be solicitous of the bmom's needs, no matter how they conflict with our own. And we have guilt when we don't (or can't) meet those needs. Nobody in this deal has cornered the market on emotional baggage.
My advice is to take smaller steps here, as you're doing w/ the phone calls and occasional gifts. Recognize amom's role in his life, and celebrate P's milestones. Take it a day at a time and build the relationship back up again---not for you or amom, but for P. You can't have everything the way it was, but maybe you'll get something better.
**Sorry, guys, I don't mean to "yell" w/ the boldface, but I can't get the quote wrap to work right today.
HBV, I suppose your right. It's really hard for me to accept this all. Now that I am a mother, and a very good one at that, I can't help but regret everything. I just can't get over the fact that no one told me it was going to be this hard. No one said I would need years and years of councilling. The adoption agency didn't warn me. I feel cheated cause I didn't know it was going to be this hard.
Thank you for all your posts. I do understand that amom goes through a lot too. She has 4 kids, and probably does not have time to think about all of this, whereas my thoughts of adoption consume my life. I long to have her as a friend again, but that would mean accepting that I think it's all ok, and it's not, yet. I hope one day I can look her in the eye and be happy with her role as a mother. And HBV said it just the way amom once said it in an email. "your not comfortable with my role". It's still going to take time. I just hope it doesn't take forever. Thank you again for your posts. It really helps hearing the other side, bmoms can tend to feel very sorry for themselves a lot of the time, it's difficult to pull out of that rut and turn the page to see what the rest of life will bring. x
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On the bright side---even though this is hard, it has its rewards. Think how many people never get an opportunity to learn about themselves with the kind of depth that amoms and bmoms do.
I am a firm believer that "the unexamined life is not worth living."
Hope things turn around for you soon.
Originally posted by HBV:
My advice is to take smaller steps here, as you're doing w/ the phone calls and occasional gifts. Recognize amom's role in his life, and celebrate P's milestones. Take it a day at a time and build the relationship back up again---not for you or amom, but for P. You can't have everything the way it was, but maybe you'll get something better. You can't have everything the way it was, but maybe you'll get something better.
and
Think how many people never get an opportunity to learn about themselves with the kind of depth that amoms and bmoms do.
HBV is so right. There are so many challenges in adoption. All of us have experienced a loss of some kind. But isn't the point to focus on our gains instead? This is easy for me to say now as an amom - I gained a wonderful, amazing son, while DS's first mom lost a great deal in the transaction. And yet...if she focuses on her son, she has gained a great deal in knowing that he is in a stable family, with a very involved, loving father and mother, and has all the love and support of two families instead of just one. She and I just had this conversation recently. It can be easy to dwell on our own griefs and hurts, but if we turn our attention outward and focus on our children, and on saying and doing the right things on their behalf, we all stand to gain significant blessings in the process. It's all in perspective. It's impossible to hold peace and happiness if your fists are clenched tightly around anger and resentment. Over time, if you continue to reach out to your son's amom, my guess is that you'll find her reaching out to you in return. And when both of P.'s mothers can get to a place where they respect, honor and support each other's roles in his life, then P. will gain more than either of you could have ever hoped.