Story of True Love
by Haley's birthmom, Connie Bradley Everyone has an idea of what true love is to them. Here's the story of true love to me.
In the summer of 1999. I got the chance to work at our church camp. So I went thinking how cool it was going to be without mom and dad. Little did I know what was about to happen. I met a man. A very tall good looking man. He was just what I was looking for. So we started to do more and more things together, and one thing led to another. I didn't think a whole lot about it, because nothing ever happened to me.
One afternoon I went shopping with my sister and another girl that had worked out at the camp. At one of the stores that we went to my sister said, "C why don't you buy a pregnancy test for fun". So I said, "Sure, why not? It is just for kicks and giggles." Back to camp we went. The both of them kept asking me, "C don't you have to go to the bathroom?" and then they would laugh because we were around some staff members.
When I finally went to bathroom, little did I know that the next three minutes my whole life was about to change. The little test that was to be for kicks and giggles came back positive. I was pregnant!
At first it was too much information to handle. I was only 17 years old. I knew that I had to tell M (the dad). I was so scared. How was he going to handle this? What if he leaves me? What if he stays with me? But when I finally told him, all he could do was hug me and tell me everything was going to be ok.
We thought about our 3 choices. Abortion-couldn't do, NO WAY! Keeping the baby-maybe could be done. Adoption-maybe. And we thought, talked, prayed about it for some time. We finally decided that adoption would be the best choice.
Now we were faced with something else, we had to tell our parents. We drove over to M's mom's house and talked things over with them. And my parent's drove to Omaha. We got to talk to them about it. We all went out to dinner so the families could meet. Things were looking good so far. But we still had one more set of parents to tell. M's dad. When we told M's dad and step mom they were hurt but they understood. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.
We both continued to work at the camp even though we knew it was going to be hard. When the camp season had ended and we had to go home, that was what I thought was the hardest thing for me, because M lived in Omaha and I lived in Norfolk 2 hours away from the man of my dreams. As time went by, it got easier and easier.
With the pregnancy, things went just great. It was one of the most wonderful things that I have ever experienced. But the time was coming! I needed to start looking for a family for our baby to go to. So I did it the easy way. I got on the internet and looked up adoption. Many sites came and many sites went. I went to www.preciouskids.org and sent out an email that basically said, "Hi, I am 17 years old and pregnant. I am looking to place this child for adoption, would you help me?" The next day I got an email from a lady saying that she was looking to adopt a baby and would love to hear more about me. So we kept in contact with each other over several weeks. Things were looking really good.
Around Christmas time we made our decision on who our precious baby was going to go to. K & R. They were so happy to hear this wonderful news. They were going to have a baby.
The last three months went by slowly. I was beginning to look like a house and none of my clothes fit. Things started to happen inside me that made the last 3 months really hard. The baby started to move more and more. It became so much more real than it had been in the beginning.
The last month went by real fast. I remember the doctor visit that would soon be my last. My doctor told me not to worry, nothing was going to happen while he was on vacation. WRONG! It was Sunday. I got up and went to church just the way I always have. I came home and laid down like I normally did. Then something happened. So I walked really fast to the bathroom to see what it was. It turns out my water had broke. The next 22 hours are pretty much the same, laying in bed, lots of pain. At the end of all this I got to meet my precious little girl. K & R were on their way down to meet all of us.
Things really started to hit me during the next couple of hours while holding my baby. She was mine, but not really. So many thoughts were running through my head. I did not know how to deal with them, so I tuned them out and kept telling everyone that I was OK. When really on the inside I wanted to die from the pain.
Wednesday came. The day that I will never forget. M & I signed our baby over to the G's. This day was filled with so much emotion that I really can't describe it other than pain, loss, anger, but most of all love. Later that evening we had a baby dedication with R & K and my family. We got to pray, cry, laugh over our precious little girl. Then came the hardest part of all this, saying goodbye. K & R went out to the car and M & I stayed behind and said goodbye to our perfect, precious, amazing baby.
It has been 15 months now and she's still that precious, perfect, amazing little girl that I gave birth to. And she will always be the most perfect gift from God.
To me this is the most perfect love story that has ever been and will always be, because it was God's and whatever is His is perfect.
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