Second-Parent Adoption: A Trip to DC

After being home with our two baby girls, Lily and Mia for almost two months, it’s hard to feel anything other than total elation. We were dreaming about this for so long, wondering how it could all work out, and now our twin baby girls are here. While a little bit tired, we are overjoyed!

The stress of our trip to D.C. and lack of sleep, and the confusion that came with our newfound motherhood are all so minor compared to the overwhelming joy that our babies have brought us. Our family is perfectly healthy and happy. Our support system of friends, family and neighbors has been more compassionate and caring than we ever could have imagined. This part of our adventure is just beginning, but the story of deciding to be lesbian parents in Virginia started long before we traveled to D.C. last month where my wife, Desiree, gave birth. 

We committed to the risks and the costs because, for us, it was a step we could take to protect our girls. When all is said and done we will have paid nearly $10,000 in travel, attorney’s fees and the two adoptions; not to mention the emotional cost of being away from our friends and family, with an unfamiliar hospital and doctor, more than two hours from home. But the return from those costs is even greater: our girls will have both of us as their legal parents.

Read more at Equality Virginia!