Questions about Baby Fuller

There have been a few questions regarding the adoption of our son and the fact that his birth mother has HIV. I will try to answer some of them. Everyone's main concern is if the baby will have HIV. From what we have read, with no treatment there is a 30% chance the baby will have HIV. If the birth mother is on special medications it reduces the chances. I'm not sure to what percentage, but much less. If she has these meds and also has a c-section it reduces the risk of HIV passing to the baby to about 1%. Currently, our birth mother, Kim, is in a place where she is receiving help and getting medication. So, we are very hopeful that this little boy is going to be born without HIV.

I also, thought some of you may like to know a bit of history on Kim. Many people ask us "what's wrong with that woman?" While I understand your feelings, I also understand a bit of why Kim is the way she is. She didn't have the benefit of growing up in a stable home. Her mother was a drug addict and died from drinking. I'm not sure, but I don't believe she really knew much about her father. She has siblings, but hasn't seen them in years and stated that she doesn't even know if they are alive.

Due to her upbringing she was introduced to drugs, and alcohol at a very young age. While one might hope she would have stayed away from them, we can't blame her for following in her mother's footsteps. Many people want to know why she keeps having kids. I'm not sure I can answer that. It seems logical to many people that if you can't raise your children then you would make it so it was not possible to get pregnant. I'm not sure why Kim chooses to continue to have children. But, I can tell you she loves her children.

We have been able to take each of the boys with us with each new adoption and spend a short time with Kim. When we went to get Daniel she hugged Derek and Nathan and cried as she held them. She chooses to place these children with adoption agencies so she can continue to see pictures and have letters about them. With one of her children she went to an agency and they parents promised pictures, but never sent them. That is when she choose LDS Family Services, and has since placed 4 boys, soon to be 5, with LDS Family Services.

Kim has a hard life, living on the streets, surviving drug and gang wars, being abused by many different men who claim to want to help her, and many things I we may never know about. I don't know if she will ever get her tubes tied or not, but I am very grateful for the boys we have and for the love she also has for them.