I was wondering if anyone had adopted or tried and had problems getting approved with the medical history/condition.
After seeing my OB/GYN today and talking about some things I'm thinking that adoption might be a better route for me. Plus, my whole family and my boyfriend prefers that notion since they think my body has been through enough and worry about me losing the baby or damaging things more.
No I'm not trying to have/get a baby right now, but I know these things take such a long time and I'm trying to get prepared.
I would be more interested in international adoption but didn't know if a history of UC and all my surgeries would hinder me.
Anyone have any experience?

There are a couple of women here who have experience. I know JillM has talked about it some. Good luck to you. I think adoption is wonderful

I was very much in favor of adopting and we were in the middle of our home study when we ran into a bad social worker. I've been assured by friends and other adoption professionals that the issues she raised would NOT have been issues, but it made us reconsider fertility treatments and that's the path we took.

My advice to you is to share only what you have to in the application. If you are healthy now, focus on that...I think we shared too much information and the social worker didn't understand and couldn't process that I was now perfectly healthy. She continuously told us that we might have trouble getting past this govt or that govt (when discussing international adoption) or that we might not get chosen by a birth mother for a domestic adoption.

My health struggle is so much a part of who I am, I thought it would be important to include in our adoption process. In retrospect, I would have kept it quite simple and just left it as I had some issues, I'm now fine.

All that said, we are still considering adoption if we aren't able to have a second child through fertility treatments. Be prepared, the process is very intensive, detailed and beaurocratic. You will feel as if every part of your life is exposed and that you have no privacy left. But in the end, you'll get a wonderful baby to love and care for.

Do some research for the process in your state; every state is different. Some states have more favorable laws regarding adoption from the state system and often there are benefits - i.e. in MA if you adopt a child from the Department of Social Services, that child goes to a State University or College for free. The other option is to adopt directly from the birth parent and this is very different from state to state.

If you end up matched with a baby from a state other than your own, you'll be following that states laws (especially around termination of parental rights - in some states there is a 36 hour waiting period, in other states it is as long as 2 weeks). If you are considering an international adoption, the options are extensive and each country has it's own requirements on age of parents, length of time married, whether or not you have to travel to the country or if the baby can be escorted here, etc...If you adopt from China, you'll get a girl, if you adopt from Korea or the former Soviet block you are slightly more likely to get a boy.

There is a federal $10,000 tax CREDIT if you adopt, which should help with the cost, which varies widely depending upon which path you choose. If I find any of my links about adoption, I'll pass them along.

Wow, thanks for the insite! I would probably have done the same as you, told too much.

My husband and I have been considering adoption when I am back on my feet so I will be very careful when I fill out the forms.

JillM,
Thanks for the response. What type of questions do they ask in regards to medical condition? Do they ask if you suffer from anything currently or do they ask for your history? I'm a little worried if I have to go into my history...11 surgeries would probably scare them.
Since my colon is gone, can I technically have UC? I would think I wouldn't have to say I suffer from that but I don't know. I don't want to be dishonest but I definitely don't want to be rejected for something that happened to me 8 years ago. Again, thank you for your response and the information you sharred.

You have received some good advice. After having two children we adopted a baby girl from China almost two years ago. I had my boys prior to my surgeries. However, our decision to adopt had more to do with it being something we wanted to do than anything to do with having surgery. Although I too felt like pregnancy had wreaked havoc on my body and caused major uc problems and even though the disease was gone --two pregnancies felt like enough for me.
I agree with Jill regarding not sharing too much at the outset. Each international program is different. China has recently changed some of their rules and the rules as to surgery may be different from the time we went through the process. When we went through the process we told our social worker about my surgeries. However not in response to a question about my health . We were asked to fill out written responses to certain questions and one of them had to do with expalining difficult or significant events you had experienced as a couple. One of the events both my husband and I chose to write about was the time when I was ill and had surgery and how it strengthened us as a couple. We also both had to have a physical and have a form filled out by a dr. to send to CHina. On that form it had the simple question "Any surgeries" and the dr. had to check yes or no. My dr., who was also my dr. when I was sick, said to me "how about I just write no" I was surprised when he said it but I really think he felt it was private information and shouldn't bear on our application since I am now as healthy as could be. Anyway, I told him that our agency knew but I would appreciate it if he made the surgery sound "simple"--the name of our surgery is so overwhelming. Anyway, on the advice of our social worker he wrote "In 1999 patient had Curative surgery for ulcerative colitis. No further treatment necessary." Personally, I feel this explanation is suitable whether you have a j-pouch or an ostomy and there is no need to explain it any further to your sw or on your application.
We did not run into any problems with our adoption. I suggest you check out the websites of agencies that deal in international adoption (if that is what you are interested in). Our agency Children's Hope International was wonderful and has a great website with detailed information on the programs of each of the countries they deal with. they have a stellar reputation and are honest and supportive to deal with. Holt is another good agency. I suggest you find a large agency that has a lot of experience in international adoptions because they will be familiar with what the real scoop is and won't string you along or tell you something that is not true. The last thing you want is to enter into the process and then find out that your past surgery may be a problem with the country you have chosen.
Our adoption experience was truly amazing and one of the three (the other 2 being having my boys) best things we have ever done. Our daughter is several years younger than our boys and we are all in awe of her.

Something I'm discovering is how strict the requirements are about the length of time you've been married. I'm not married yet but hope to be soon and I'm trying to gather all this information now so we can get started. But most of the really good agencies require you be married at least two-five years BEFORE you even apply. And the fact that it takes 1-2 years to process AFTER you apply, we're looking at another 5-7 years before I can have a baby. This is very discouraging. Guatemala and a few other countries have no requirements on the length of marriage but the agencies do. I'm wondering if I should apply on my own and get everything rolling. Any suggestions? I don't want to wait that long to have a baby in my house.

My husband and I have adopted (locally) and while the paperwork and amount of personal information required was a bit overwhelming and at time intrusive now that we have our daughter I can say it was all worth it!! It certainly is not a simple process. We did disclose all of our medical history in our profile and our physicians provided their own medical info. The good news is that we were matched the bad news is that it took over 2 years which may or may not be because our health concerned birthparents. Our birthmom did not seem at all concerned about my health or my ability to mother a child. As I got to know her, I shared our experience with trying to conceive, IVF and then the adoption process and did relate our inability to get pregnant to my health.

As I said earlier, it is not a simple process and at times is completely heartbreaking. We were placed with a baby for 5 days and then the birthmom changed her mind. This was after spending 4 months getting to know her and sharing our lives with her. However, we now have a 4 month baby girl who is the most wonderful miracle. The birthmother and her family are amazing and the perfect match for us. It all worked out as it was meant to in the end...but of course that is easy to see now!!

Good luck to you as you go down this very rewarding path - please email me if you have any questions.