I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be a birthmother. I saw women placing their child on television and never once took the perspective of the woman who carried the child for nine months then placed their baby girl/boy into the hands of a hopeful couple. I like to think I am great at placing myself in other's shoes and taking perspective on situations, but I think the media had shaped me to think more about the adoptee and adoptive parents because no one really talks about birthmothers.

I chose adoption because I loved my daughter very much and I wanted her to have everything that I couldn’t provide for her. I was twenty-one when she was born. I had full family support. I could have raised her. But my daughter would not have had a father, and that was very important for me. She wouldn’t have had a two-parent home right from the beginning, and that was very important to me. I wanted her to have those things.

When I was 15 years old, I made some bad decisions and found myself pregnant. Before I became pregnant, I had already thought about what I would do if it happened. I didn’t want to have an abortion because I believe that life begins at conception, and I didn’t want to hurt my baby. Initially I didn’t even consider adoption because I felt that there was no way I was going to be able to live my life knowing my child was somewhere in the world without me. So the only choice, I assumed, was that I had to keep my child and do the best I could to raise him. 

... a first hand testimonial about a beautiful adoption, told lovingly and candidly by a birthmother, Tamra.

My pregnancy couldn’t have come at a darker and more chaotic time in my twenty-two year old life. My parents' thirty-one years together had come to an abrupt halt, and my mother moved out and became estranged.

Natalie placed her baby into a loving home in December 2006. She made this video to speak to her son and share her thoughts and love with him.