What is Fiona's Need? Other Than the Need to be Adopted of Course.

When searching for a child, Rob and I deliberately looked for a girl with orthopedic issues. Taking on a child with special needs is a challenge so we figured that we could make it easier on ourselves by finding a child who could share doctors with Elliot. After all, she has a pretty awesome team. Why not let another child benefit from them as well?

We were open to another child with Arthrogryposis (AMC), but we were a little leery as well. I'll be honest and admit that I wasn't sure if my back could take another kid with AMC. We even requested the file of a baby boy with AMC from one agency but agreed that his needs would be too much added stress for us and would take away too much from Elliot. Luckily, that beautiful little boy found a loving family and has already made his way to the US. I know this because I am Facebook friends with his mom. How awesome is that!?!

There was also a part of me that was scared that, if we had two kids with the same condition, one would excel more than the other at certain tasks causing self-esteem issues (Yes, I am aware that I over-analyze everything). I liked the idea of each girl having her own condition. It might sound silly, but the reality is that there are so many kids out there needing to be adopted that you just have to draw some lines to help limit your choices.

At the beginning of our process, our agency sent us the file of a little girl with suspected dwarfism and some very real abnormal brain scans. We were completely on board with dwarfism, but the brain issues scared us. We weren't ready to learn how to deal with all the new possibilities that condition might bring to our world. After a couple days and a lot of talking, we decided to pass on the little girl to the next family in line. I am happy to say that that little girl appears to be on her way to her family because her file never showed up on our agency's website.

That brings me back to Fiona, who we did find on our agency's site. This is where all the kiddos go who are hard to place, sometimes because of multiple needs, sometimes because of severe needs, sometimes because of older age. I tried to be patient and wait for another file to be sent to us, but I couldn't help checking the "Waiting Children" once in a while. In April, while Rob was traveling with Conan in Chicago, a few new girls popped up on the agency's page. This is the picture I saw:

How could you not immediately fall in love? I sent Rob a message and emailed our agency asking for a copy of her file. Rob was equally smitten but, sadly, so were a lot of other people. Since our agency will only give one family a file at a time, we were added to a waiting list just to look at it. Every day, I checked my email and checked the agency's site to see if she would be added to the "My Family Found Me" section. I'll admit I actually checked like 30 times a day. A few days later, I was told we were next on the list. TWO WEEKS LATER!!! The other family finally passed on her file, and it was ours.

My first reaction while reading over her notes and charts was, "This is it?" So many families had turned her down, and she was a perfectly healthy baby. Like Elliot, her needs are purely orthopedic. It is something that happened to her during the development of her body that was permanent but not degenerative. She would never get sick because of her condition. She would just have to learn to live with a different type of body, just like her sister. While these words are not used in her chart, it is believed that Fiona lost her right foot and some of her fingers to Amniotic Banding. Here is some info about it here:

Amniotic Band Info

Her hands, she will more than likely just learn to live with. She can already feed herself, pick up toys, hold onto things to stand. Her right leg will probably need a prosthesis, especially since there is a length discrepancy from the missing foot. Maybe one day, she will need minor surgery to help a prosthesis fit better or to relieve pressure at the banding site. That's it. To Rob and I, that seems like no big deal to get to squeeze that little face for the rest of our lives. So, we did NOT pass on Fiona's file, and we are grateful for all the families that did (because we know firsthand that it is not an easy thing to do). I am sure that they will all find their child just like we found ours.