Ok, here’s my story. My name is Paul, I’m a 28 year old guy from Manchester and two years ago I married the love of my life and my best friend Kara.
Last year, we decided it was about time to buy a house and start thinking about having a baby. Having a big family has always been one of my biggest dreams since I was 18 and Kara had the same idea.
What happened then was a series of unfortunate events.
My Health Condition
Last February I was feeling incredibly sick, literally was barely able to move and that went on for a week. From a day to another then, I felt normal and everything came back to the usual routine.
To be honest, that scared me a lot and therefore I decided to go for a proper checkup. That’s where I discovered that I was suffering from a hormonal problem that was basically was leading me to liver failure.
From that, my doctor told me that I was lucky enough to still be there and, unfortunately, he also added that given the gravity of the problem, I was basically infertile. That day was probably the worst day of my life, as far as I remember.
My Family Plans
To be honest, yes, I was happy about the fact that I was still alive and the problem could have been fixed, but at the same time the ghost of me not being able to have a baby was invading my mind regularly: for example, all my work colleagues were having parties to celebrate their kids and such, and I was there answering the infamous question “When is yours coming, Paul?” with a simple and sad “Haha, soon, I guess!”
Trust me, every time was a humiliation for me. One day, after 2 weeks, I decided to tell Kara about my infertility and how bad I was feeling about it. She told me that there was nothing wrong with it and that “showed her how ready I was to become a dad” since I cared about it so much.
The Adoption Process
Since we both wanted to have a baby so badly, we decided that adoption was the right way to follow. I remember the second half of February last year was basically revolved around me and Kara going on websites (I think I went on the GOV’s website more than on Google) to see if we were up to date with all the process.
After we were approved by the adoption agency, we then started all the classes and finally, all the social workers and supervisors (who were incredibly kind and nice with us) decided that we were good enough to adopt Greg.
Our Life With Greg
Greg is a Syrian newborn whose parents died one week after he was born. Even if he’s just one year old now, he’s full of energy, enjoys watching the NBA (for whatever reason, haha!) and has a passion for Ferrari.
Right now, after all those dark times last year, I can finally say that I’m happy as a man and, most importantly, as a father.
Paul Matthews is a freelance writer and full time dad in Manchester. His aim is to inform people about the power of the internet, while he still focuses on fostering allowance. You can often find him mountain biking or at the local library.
