Birth Mums' Stories

Nicola’s story

I know that not everyone has such a good experience with adoption but I have been very blessed. I placed my daughter for adoption when I was 18. She is now four and has always known she is adopted. Her name is Ellie. I was a typical 17-year old girl, I was never home, always with friends; and I was in a partying phase. I looked forward to the weekend so that I could hang out, do some drinking and have some fun. I thought life was great until I discovered that I was pregnant. To read more about Nicola's story click here.

Julie’s story – Julie was a student from China

 "I wanted to be a doctor. Unfortunately I didn't get the grades I needed in China so I decided to come to New Zealand to study. I arrived when I was 20 and I couldn't believe how lonely I was at first. It all seemed so strange. The thing that struck me most about New Zealand was the lack of people. In China it is so much busier". Julie is a quiet young woman and she felt lost until she got to know her homestay family. They were good to her and she became close with her homestay 'mother'. "One day my homestay mother asked me what was wrong. I was upset and I said I thought I was pregnant."   To read more about Julie's story click here.

Brenda's story

My name is Brenda.  I am 38 years old. I have 4 boys aged 20yrs, 16yrs, 13yrs and 17 months. What is unique about me is that my first born was adopted out almost 21 years ago. Ben was born on the 10th October 1986. I still remember the day as if it were yesterday. I was given a general anesthetic as there were complications with the birth so the whole giving birth experience never happened for me. When I woke up after he was born I thought it was a dream. To read more about Brenda's story click here.

Gayna wrote a diary of her experience as a birth mum. You can download a copy of Gayna's story

Gayna's story Adobe Acrobat Document: 1.20 MB, 2.9 minutes @ 56kbps