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This week has been… interesting. I’m thirty-seven weeks pregnant. (Or, really, today I turned thirty-eight weeks pregnant but spent the majority of the week counting through the thirty-seven week days.) Yesterday my (older) son celebrated his second birthday. (And, really, he’ll be celebrating it today as well at his birthday party.) So, that said, I’ve also been planning a birthday party. And working. And nesting like mad. And shopping for said birthday. And my daughter’s upcoming birthday. And Christmas presents. And. And. And!
I’m kind of worn out. But we do have another successful NaBloPoMo week here on the Birth/First Parent blog! And that’s exciting!
We covered some stuff on the blog this week. In fact, we covered a lot of information! I continued the review of post-adoption contact agreements. I hit on five more states this week that actually address the topic.
- Massachusetts – A great way to start out the week of reviews as we saw some interesting and forward-thinking things coming out of this state including a verbal difference between foster-to-adopt situations and domestic newborn adoptions.
- Minnesota – This state brought some new ideas to the table, including allowing the birth parents to be the “gatekeeper” to the rest of the birth relatives. However, there were some worrisome issues with vague wording.
- Missouri – We found out, quickly, that Missouri doesn’t offer much help to families regarding the issue. However, we got some great information from another blogger in the comments of the post.
- Montana – Another frustrating state as we’re left with more questions than when we started researching the topic in this state.
- Nebraska – Some unique ideas but much got lost in the confusion between foster-to-adopt situations and domestic newborn adoptions. Definite room for improvement!
I will be continuing in the next week to look at how other states are addressing these issues. As always, I value the input of my readers so if you have personal experience with the state’s law(s), please speak up!
I hit on two positive articles this week as well. One was about a mother experiencing an unplanned pregnancy that resulted in triplets and the other was about an adoption reunion. In both cases, the tone was very positive. It is rare that you see either situation presented in a totally positive light. Rare and somewhat encouraging.
For my normal weekly meme/themes, I talked about the faces of others in adoption on Love Thursday and about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for Creating Traditions. Frankly, they both make me smile!
I’m sure to be absolutely exhausted after Nick’s birthday party is over this afternoon. (5:00pm!) However, that’s the official time that I’ve “allowed” the child within my womb to consider his arrival. Quite frankly, I’d rather wait until Monday, after a decent night’s rest, and have him on my Grandmother’s birthday. But I think children have their own timetables, no? That’s right, folks. The waiting game is over.
Place your bets. 
