Heather Crockett Oram has known since she was about 13 that she couldn’t have children of her own. When she was only six weeks old, doctors noticed that her ᴏᴠᴀʀɪᴇs were not perfectly attached to her uterus, so they decided to remove them completely.
Heather was interested in adoption even when she was young, but she was always afraid of how her future partner would react if she told him that she couldn’t have children of her own. However, when she met Jason, a single father with two children, her fears quickly evaporated.
“Before we got engaged, I told him my biggest secret that only a few people knew about me. I sobbed as I told him. But he grabbed my face and said it doesn’t matter how our children end up with us. They will be OUR children,” the woman said.
They decided to try to adopt a baby, but not through an agency, as they are not always reliable and they cost a lot. They also created a Facebook and Instagram page and paid for targeted advertising. At the same time, they also created a profile on adoption.com and waited. Several people contacted them, but most of the messages turned out to be sᴄᴀᴍs.
Then they received a message from a young woman who wrote that one of her friends was pregnant and was looking for adoptive parents. On September 1, 2017, the woman called them and they spoke on the phone for an hour and a half. Over the next month, they began to build their relationship and became more and more excited.
However, since they had never met in person and she had not given them any official proof of her pregnancy, they were unsure. They were aware that anyone could falsify ultrasound and blood tests on the Internet. They tried to trust the woman, but just to be safe, they updated their profile on the website, and on October 2, they were contacted by another expectant mother.
Two days later, they met the young woman, who showed her the ultrasound images of her son. When the baby started kicking, she allowed Heather to touch her belly, and by the time they finished breakfast, they had agreed that the couple would adopt the baby.
“Three weeks later we stood there and watched our son Andy being born. I was the first to hold her and kiss her tiny little hands. This happened on October 30, 2017,” said Heather.
After taking Andy home, they spoke to the other expectant mother, who congratulated them and said she had found another family for her little boy. They kept in touch over the next few months, but they didn’t expect more than that. But in January, the woman called them and said she had changed her mind. He felt that the other family was not the right choice after all, and that his son belonged in Heather and Jason’s family.
“I was standing there with my 3-month-old son in my arms and this woman sent me pictures of the baby boy growing in her belly. I was at a loss for words. But I knew. I knew deep down,” Heather said .
Six weeks after the phone call, the couple flew to Missouri with Andy to meet the woman and her three children before going into labor the next day. Ellis was born the next day, and after Jason cut the umbilical cord, Heather was once again able to hold the newborn first.
“We never thought we would have two newborns just four months apart. Adoption is a wonderful thing. “I became a mother because of other women’s greatest sacrifice and selfless decision,” said Heather.
Both babies were open adoptions, so they keep in touch and see each other from time to time. Four months after Ellis’s birth, the couple learned that the biological mother and her family were in a difficult situation, and to help them, they offered to allow Ellis’ oldest brother, Sean, to visit them and at least spend some time with his younger brother.
It was originally going to be 10 days, but Sean ended up staying with them all summer, and since he made the 8th grade soccer team in the meantime, he asked if he could stay a little longer. After his mother also gave permission, Sean temporarily moved in with the Oram family.
“A year ago, we could not have imagined that within nine months we would add three more children to the two we already have (plus, they are all boys). I did not give birth to any of the five boys, but I am their mother. Family is not necessarily based on blood. There can be many different families,” said the mother.
“Only love matters. So here we are now. Our family currently consists of seven members. We love each other very much and have many adventures together. It’s not always easy, there have been many ups and downs, but we wouldn’t trade what we have for the world,” said Heather.
