An unexpected pregnancy can be challenging to navigate and may change many aspects of your life at once. You may start thinking about your future, your family, your finances, and how a baby would fit into your life. At such moments, it is normal to have many questions. Finding supportive, reliable guidance can help you understand your options and make an informed decision.
If you are a woman experiencing an unexpected pregnancy, learning about your unplanned pregnancy options can help you explore what choice may mean for you and your baby.
Understanding Your Unplanned Pregnancy Options
Every pregnant mother’s life is different. Your needs, hopes, and family situation matter when you think about what to do next.
Here are two options you can explore:
Option 1: Raising Your Child
You may want to raise your baby yourself. If so, think about the help you may have from family, friends, or people you trust.
You may also want to think about daily needs, such as food, housing, childcare, and time away from work or school. You do not need to have every part of your future planned before you learn what support is available.
Option 2: Making an Adoption Plan
You may feel that you are not ready to raise a child right now. Adoption is another option you can learn about.
Adoption plans allow birth mothers the opportunity to choose the adoptive family who will raise their baby. You can look at adoptive family profiles and learn about their lives, values, and hopes for a child. You can also ask about different types of adoption.
- Open adoption includes continued contact with the adoptive family and your child.
- Semi-open adoption may allow some contact through letters or photos, arranged by your adoption agency.
- Closed adoption offers more privacy and involves no direct contact.
Our Adoption Team will assist you in learning about each choice and how it works, helping you decide what is best for you and your child.
What Questions Can Help You Decide?
Instead of trying to find an answer right away, start with a few questions:
- What kind of future do I hope to have for myself and my baby?
- Who can help me during pregnancy and after birth?
- What worries me most right now?
- What would I like to know about parenting or adoption?
Talking with someone you trust or a qualified, nonjudgmental professional may help you explore your questions and better understand your options.
Where Can You Find Support?
AZ Pregnancy Help/ Building Arizona Families offers free and private support to women facing an unplanned pregnancy. Our Adoption Team can answer questions about your unplanned pregnancy options, adoption, explain the adoption process, and help you learn about available resources.
You can call or text 623-695-4112 anytime.
Positive Adoption Language Disclaimer:
Our blogs use language people commonly use when seeking help with their pregnancy and adoption plans. This will help reach more people looking for our services. At AZ Pregnancy Help, we use positive adoption language that may differ from commonly used terms for adoption and children. We would be honored to help serve you, so please call us today.