If you have decided to place your baby for adoption, you may now be thinking about what your time in the hospital will look like. How much say do you have in what happens? Where will the baby stay? Do you have to hold or feed the baby? Will you meet the adoptive parents? Who will be with you as you go through labor and delivery?
Making Your Hospital Plan
Hopefully, you have already found the best adoption consultant for you. A pregnancy counselor can make sure what happens in the hospital in your hands. Many women prepare a “birth plan” for how they want to deliver, and you can also create a “hospital plan” for how you want the entire experience to go! You can have a support person (like a friend, family member, etc) there with you, and your pregnancy counselor can be as involved as you’d like. Some women want their pregnancy counselor to be their main support person during labor and delivery.
Examples of Options You Can Request
Many women do not feel they can get too close to the baby, because of the emotional pain of caring for the baby before placing for adoption, and we respect that decision! You do not have to have any more contact than what you would like, but we want you to know that you have the option and the right to care for your baby. Here are some options you could consider making part of your plan:
- You can have the opportunity to feed and hold the baby before you’re discharged from the hospital.
- You can be a part of the adoptive parents meeting the baby for the first time.
- You can ask that the adoptive family not be present at the hospital.
- You can ask for the baby to stay with the adoptive couple.
- You can have the baby stay in your room.
Even if you plan to have no contact with the baby, but change your mind after delivery, you still have the opportunity! There really is no right or wrong decision. Your pregnancy counselor is there to support you in whatever you feel is best for you and your baby.
It’s Never too Late to Make an Adoption Plan
It does not matter if you made these decisions when you were first pregnant and considering adoption or if you are due in the next few weeks and feel like you need a last-minute adoption plan – you can still make decisions about what you want your hospital time to be.
