I think before I went through it, however, I never really thought about the birth mom and how that must feel for her. Not to mention, all the adoptions I was aware of were closed. Now my view of adoption is different

My parents told me after Katie was born that it was all over. But the truth is it was just beginning. I wish I would have known how much I needed support and counseling so I could have been better equipped to deal with my grief in healthy ways.

Twenty-two years ago, New York Times bestselling author, Patti Callahan Henry’s sister Barbi placed a baby girl for adoption. Then in April 2010, a Facebook request put an end to all the waiting and wondering. It’s time to hear the true stories that inspired Henry’s fictional novel And Then I Found You. Enjoy our series of Q&A’s with Barbi and Patti.

This year we’ve become friends with the founder of Blessings in a Basket Ashley Mitchell. Ashley spends her days loving on her children, leaning on her husband and reaching out to women who, like herself, found themselves at a crossroads and chose adoption. She is the founder of a non-profit birth mom community called Blessings in a Basket. She is a die-hard college football fan, covets anything from Tiffany, and thinks that snow is the most magical and sparkly thing in the world!

Source: This poem is a part of Dear Abby’s “Keepers” booklet, which is a collection of poems and essays that Dear Abby readers love to read and re-read.

It was a winter afternoon during Christmas break that I discovered I was pregnant. Mom and I had been Christmas shopping together but immediately when we split to do our own thing, I dashed to buy a pregnancy test. Although I was fairly confident that I was pregnant, the positive pregnancy test staring at me in the JC Penney bathroom that afternoon took me by surprise. I was 22 years old and a sophomore in college when I got pregnant with my son.

Last week, we received two open letters from one birth mother (we’ll refer to her as “Mummy”). Mummy relinquished her son Seth when he was 2 1/2 years old. She shared two letters with us: one she wrote about his placement day and the other on his 13th birthday. Her words are poignant, honest and profound. Immediately after reading, we knew her story needed to be shared for a couple of reasons...

Today you are 13… a teenager! Wow… I imagine what you’re like… What kind of young man you are becoming…

March 15, 1998 you became a part of your new family. This date holds so much more significance for me than your birthday, or mother’s day, or all the days you are in my heart and on my mind.