My adoptive parents began trying to have children almost immediately after they got married in 1962. My mother was 22 years old, my father 27. For eight years they tried...and ultimately it was discovered that the reason for their infertility was my father. He couldn't produce enough swimmies for fertilization to occur.
In 1970, after this crushing blow, they settled (yes, settled) on adoption. Choosing an agency..working with a case worker..paying the fees. Decided that they only wanted girl babies. No boys. I suppose that makes sense though..my mother grew up with two brothers and my father grew up with three brothers. And how easy it was to check the box marked "Infant girls only" when filling out the paperwork.
My adoptive sister was born in April of 1970 and was placed in foster care for six weeks. Cue the call from the adoption agency to my parents and VOILA..instant family. Due to the agency's rules they had to wait for at least two years before putting their names in the hat again for another girl...and I'm pretty sure that two years to the day from my sister's homecoming is when they did just that.
But two years is a long time to wait...and they grew impatient. My mother's favorite story about my adoption is that she and my father were, literally, days away from calling the agency to tell them that they wanted to "cancel their order" and would have to be happy with just one child for now. But then, as luck/fate/whatever would have it, they got the call on June 25th that there was a six day old infant girl available for pick up at the agency...
