I'm From Driftwood is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit archive for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer stories. New stories are posted on the site every Wednesday.
Andy Miller and his partner were having a dream come true: They were about to be parents, and sooner than they realized. Andy explains:
[W]e talked to [the birth mother] on Tuesday. On Wednesday we made a plan to drive down to San Antonio to meet her for dinner, meet her and her family. It went very well. By the time we got back to Austin, we were told that she had picked us, and then on Thursday we were invited to come back down, because she was having a sonogram to figure out the sex of the child.
Within just a week their baby boy was born. While the birth mother was resting with the baby, Andy and his partner took a break from the hospital to get some food. When they returned from eating, they had a flurry of phone messages from the mother, crying and urging them to get back soon. A nurse had been questioning her about her decision to let a gay couple adopt her baby. Andy recalls:
[The nurse] said, "I don't know how you're gonna do that. Aren't you afraid he's gonna hate you for doing that?"
And she said, "Well, that's really not any of your business."
And the nurse just kept going on and on, asking questions about, "Aren't you afraid those boys are gonna hurt that baby? Aren't you afraid that he's not gonna grow up and be normal?"
Fortunately, the birth mother did not fall for the nurse's fear mongering and still chose Andy and Brian as adoptive parents. From that point on, the day was full of tears -- happy ones:
[W]e were sitting down there with my mother and being very calm, trying our best, and when our social worker came off the elevator and just kind of flashed us the [thumbs-up], all three of us just kind of broke down in tears at that point.
WATCH:
If you're a gay or bisexual man interested in becoming a father, check out The Handsome Father for assistance in navigating whatever process you choose in becoming a dad.
For more stories, visit I'm From Driftwood, the LGBTQ Story Archive.