A mom who turned to adoption after going into kidney failure during her first childbirth has shared the emotional moment she was able to hold her adopted second baby for the first time.
During the birth of her first child, Ann Marie Carney, 33, from Florence, Alabama, suffered from kidney failure, which saw her son, Greyson, born through emergency c-section at 30 weeks.
The procedure saved Ann Marie’s life, but the recovery was very tough, she said, with her condition getting worse over the next few years.
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As a result, Ann Marie and her husband, Taylor, 33, carried out a lot of “soul searching” and settled on growing their family in a different way.
The couple had always wanted a big family, and so they began looking into adoption before taking the necessary steps.
Then, in the summer of 2019, the couple found themselves waiting in a Florida hospital for their next child to be born.
While sitting in the waiting room, Ann Marie and Taylor were called over by one of the nurses, who asked them to follow her.
The couple then entered a room, where they immediately saw a bassinet.
Having approached their newborn son, Isaiah, Ann Marie and Taylor then held him in their arms, fighting back tears from the emotion of the moment as the nurse captured the moment on video.
Since then, Ann Marie and Taylor have fostered two additional children, who they have not shared on Ann’s social media account, which she uses to raise awareness of her journey.
In 2024, having been added to the transplant list, Ann Marie received a kidney from a living donor and went through six weeks of dialysis.
She and Taylor are now in the final steps of adopting their two foster children.
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Speaking of her first meeting with Isiah, Ann Marie said: “It was like walking on water – I can’t describe it any other way.
“It was a miracle. I knew he was created by someone else and somehow all I could see was my baby.
“I went into kidney failure giving birth to our oldest son and we decided we would grow our family a different way.
“The journey to adoption includes a lot of soul searching and asking yourself questions you’ve probably never considered.
“It will test you and grow you in the best ways.
“I feel like I found God going through the adoption process and it changed everything about our lives in a more beautiful way than I could’ve ever imagined.”