The Heartwarming Reason This Mom Says She 'Labored for Years'

This mom had a different type of labor pain than most. While she did not physically give birth, her journey to parenthood hurt in a different way.

Reddit user vietnamazinggg adopted her baby with her wife. And when one woman on Facebook discredited her status as a mom because she didn’t give birth, vietnamazinggg preached about exactly what made her a parent in this post.

She speaks on her unique labor pains:

“I didn’t labor for hours for this child, I labored for YEARS,” she says. I waited for years to be told that we had been chosen, that we were finally going to be allowed to be parents.”

She adds that while she did not experience contractions, she wrestled with “the incredible pain of emptiness in my heart and home as my wife and I yearned to begin our family through adoption.”

She explains the powerful reality both her and her adopted baby face:

“A child lives to depend on me—you’re right. My child has been let down by everyone else in his life. You think I am not losing sleep? He may not wake me up to feed him every couple hours, but he screams out in his sleep, no doubt reliving past traumas from the life he led before being adopted.”

Finally, she explains that just because baby didn’t physically grow inside her, that doesn’t belie her status as a mom.

“Not every child is yours or a ‘part of you’ because you grew it inside of you,” she says. “My child will always be a part of me, because we’re fighting for this life together.”

Adoptive moms often have incredibly inspiring stories about their roads to parenthood. For one mom we spoke to, the process even led to a new business and a new sense of purpose.