When I read about a surprise arrival at the local fire station, I was inspired to perform my own special rescue. By Brittany Tyler, 37
Taking a deep breath, I looked at my boyfriend Chris and the words came spilling out.
‘We’d need help to fall pregnant,’ I confessed.
I’d been told that after being diagnosed with PCOS as a teenager. Now I’d met Chris and we’d started talking about our future together, I knew I had to be honest with him.
‘It’ll be OK,’ Chris reassured me. ‘We’re in this together.’
‘There’s always adopting or fostering too,’ I said.
In time, Chris and I married and, after our first anniversary, we decided to start trying for a baby. At first I was taking medication to help trigger ovulation, but a year on, with nothing happening, we tried IVF.
We were able to get two embryos which we transferred.
‘I’m pregnant!’ I excitedly announced, after taking a test.
But shortly afterwards, I had a miscarriage.
We didn’t have the money to try again, so I said: ‘Let’s look into adoption and fostering.’
'We're both in this together'
Chris and I had so much love to give, it felt right for us and after going to a foster care information evening, we signed up right away.
Going through all the background tests, training and home study was a long and stressful process but the thought of offering a happy home to a child in need spurred us on.
Once we were approved, we were excited when we received the news that we’d got our first placement.
‘It’s a 10-month-old boy,’ I told Chris.
His name was Judah and he had blond curls and blue eyes. Although he was quiet at first, he soon settled in and within weeks he was calling us Mummy and Daddy.
We wanted to help as many kids as possible, so we opened our door to more who needed fostering.
Most of them came to us scared and unsure of what was happening, and it was a challenging yet rewarding task to love them and make them feel loved.
Each child had such a different personality and we loved watching them reach their milestones and learn new things.
A particular favourite was swimming lessons.
‘I think we’re ready for the waterpark this summer,’ I’d say afterwards and the kids would all cheer.
It wasn’t easy fostering and taking care of someone else’s child but it was rewarding to see parents do the work and change their lives to get their children back.
Still keen to start a family, Chris and I planned to adopt any of our foster kids that weren’t able to be reunited with their birth family.
So we were thrilled when after two years of foster care, we were able to adopt Judah and then a little boy called Calvin, who came to us at nine weeks old.
Calvin was a sweet baby, and Judah was besotted. If a friend was holding Calvin, Judah would make sure they knew that he was our baby.
By now, we’d fostered 15 children and when I read online about a baby that had been left at a fire station near our home, I said to Chris: ‘I hope we get the call to take him.’
And a few days later, my wish came true.
I discovered during the call that he was two days old when his mother had placed him in a shoebox with a blanket and a handwritten note explaining she wasn’t able to care for him properly.
My heart broke hearing that at the bottom of the letter she’d written: I love you.
She’d then taken him to the fire station where she knew he’d be safe and taken care of.
He weighed just three pounds, so he was now in intensive care at the hospital. Chris and I visited him there the next day.
‘Let’s call him Samuel,’ I said.
Peering down at his beautiful brown eyes, I thought: This is the next member of our family.
I was given the note, blanket and shoebox, so I took them home for safekeeping.
'Do we get to keep this baby?'
And, as Samuel got stronger, we got the house prepped for his arrival.
We’d previously fostered a baby who was only a few months older, so we were used to the whirlwind of nappy changing, feeds and sleepless nights.
I had lots of clothes I’d kept in storage too and I added some premature baby clothes to that because Samuel was so tiny.
Finally, two weeks later, I brought him home while Chris was at work.
‘Wow, a new baby!’ Judah said excitedly, as I placed Samuel gently down into his cot.
Then he and Calvin asked what they always asked me: ‘Do we get to keep this baby?’
This time I was able to give them the answer we all wanted — because Samuel had been surrendered, I knew eventually we’d be able to adopt him.
‘Yes, we get to keep this one,’ I told them.
We soon got into a routine of caring for him.
All the kids loved Samuel, especially his cuddles, and he slotted straight in.
Samuel became the apple of our eye. We felt so grateful that we were able to be his parents.
One day, I was looking at the blanket that he was found wrapped in, and I had an idea.
I used the fabric and made it into a cuddly teddy bear as a keepsake, so Samuel could always have a part of his birth mother with him.
On his first birthday, we took him back to the fire station he’d been found at and he beamed as the firefighters sat him in the engine.
By now, his personality had started to shine through. We couldn’t help but laugh when he squeaked every time he got excited.
‘OK, Squeaky,’ Chris said, giving him a new nickname.
Samuel also loved his food and would eye up other people’s snacks once he’d polished off his own.
When he was 15 months, we officially adopted him during a beautiful adoption ceremony.
We’d bought Judah and Calvin a bear after adopting them, so we took Samuel to Build-A-Bear to do the same.
‘I know which bear you should have,’ I said. ‘A fireman bear!’
Samuel’s two now and he brings us so much joy. Chris and I plan to tell him the story of how he became part of our family when he’s older. We’ll give him the note his mum left with him too.
We want him to know how much she loved him and that she left him somewhere safe because she wanted the best for him.
We’ll always be thankful to her because her heartbreaking decision brought Samuel into our lives.