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Wednesday, March 8, 2006 12:00 AM

Open adoption, broken heart

I knew it would be hard for my daughter's birth mother to give her up. I just didn't expect to feel so guilty for taking her.

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  • Wednesday, March 8, 2006 07:23 PM

    Johnnie Girl -- Expand your horizons -- plenty of good mothers "regret"having their children.

    I'm glad you're willing and eager to start a family by the time you're 25. But you said that you had never met a mother who regretted having her children. I suspect you haven't talked to them long enough. Of course, mothers love their children and once born, it becomes almost impossible to imagine life without them. However, I have known several women who will admit that although they love their kids they wish they had waited or had fewer kids. (This from someone with four.) It's completely unfair to expect a normal, loving mother to admit that she regrets having her kids.

    And the truth of it is that if you can't give birth to a baby, most women in their 30s or 40s can adopt. Ask those adoptive mothers if they would trade their children for "biological" offspring. I doubt any would. Do they regret not having the experience of having a biological child? Sure. Just like I regret that my milk never came in and I was unable to breastfeed. It's not the central theme of my life, though.

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