Sadie and Jarvis Sampson faced fertility issues for years and tried various methods to conceive without success. Eventually, they accepted that they might never become parents and thought they would remain an aunt and uncle. However, their lives changed suddenly when they received a message that altered their course.
After tying the knot in January 2018, the couple endeavored to conceive without success. As a result, they resorted to various methods, including ovulation tests, prenatal vitamins, cycle monitoring apps, and fertility monitors, as well as disregarding unsolicited advice from others.
Despite trying, praying, and waiting for 14 months, they were met with disappointment each month after receiving negative pregnancy test results. It became evident that they required medical assistance to conceive, so they consulted with doctors.
The medical professionals the couple consulted didn’t offer much help. They advised Sadie that losing weight was necessary for her to conceive. With no other options available, she opted for gastric surgery and lost 28 pounds. Sadie’s OBGYN expressed satisfaction with her weight loss and congratulated her.
“She informed me that if I wasn’t pregnant within six months, she’d refer me to a fertility expert since she couldn’t administer the fertility medicine,” Sadie explained. “I was overjoyed about it. Finally, we got anything other than a negative response! We were ecstatic when we got a ‘not right now.’”
Despite Sadie’s weight loss, the couple didn’t conceive as quickly as they had hoped, and they felt as though they were starting over again.
Sadie felt like motherhood was her destiny, and her surgeon had warned her that she would be highly fertile after the surgery. However, even after losing weight, she remained unable to conceive. Consequently, they gave up on trying to conceive and accepted that they were meant to be aunt and uncle to their nieces and godparents to their goddaughters.
One day, after the couple had given up on their attempts to conceive, a friend reached out to Sadie and asked if they would be interested in fostering a baby that a couple she knew was considering placing for adoption.
Initially, the couple was hesitant when a caseworker asked them to care for an infant while the mother received therapy. They feared becoming too attached to the child. However, their story took a turn for the better when the caseworker informed them that the birth mother had decided to place the child for adoption and wanted them to adopt the baby.
Sadie vividly recalled her reaction, exclaiming, “Holy crap!” Overnight, the couple went from having no children to the possibility of fostering one, and then suddenly being parents. Still in shock, Sadie listened as the caseworker explained the situation.
She hung up the phone and immediately called her husband to tell him the news. She exclaimed with joy that they were going to have a child. However, her husband was under the impression that they were only going to foster the child. She clarified that the birth mother had chosen them to be the child’s mother and father.
After receiving the news, the couple spent the weekend trying to come to terms with the sudden change in their lives, all the while preparing for the possibility that the birth mother might change her mind.
On Monday, they were informed that the birth mother not only wanted them to adopt the baby, but she was also willing to undergo an independent adoption and sign the necessary paperwork that very day.
Their son was born prematurely at 33 weeks and weighed only 4 pounds and 5 ounces. Sadie recalled that he was so small that he could fit in her husband’s palm.
He was wrapped in a white blanket adorned with pink and blue patterns, and he had an NG tube in his nose because he was unable to feed on his own. Nonetheless, he was absolutely adorable.
Upon announcing their engagement on social media, the couple was encouraged to create a registry, which they did, with 72 items listed. Within three days, 55 of those items had already been purchased by friends and family.
In October of 2020, the adoption of Ezra Lee was officially finalized, and the couple celebrated by taking the most adorable family photos while wearing t-shirts that read “families don’t have to match.”
In 2021, Sadie and Jarvis became the proud parents of twin girls, Journee and Destinee, through embryo donation. The couple, who are black, also have a son and two daughters who are white, but they continue to live by their family motto, “Families don’t have to match.”
The only conceivable response to this beautiful family is one of admiration and respect, as their foundation is built upon the strongest and most enduring force of all – love.
Congratulations to this beautiful family!