Mother's Day special for adoptive mom

Jamie Carroll, of Vallecito, and her daughter, Kayla, 4, pose for a picture with one of their chickens. Maggie Beck/The Union Democrat, copyright 2009

“Being a mother has changed my life in every way,” said Carroll, 43, of Vallecito. “I’m here to make her happy and be a good mom.”
 

Motherhood was a role Carroll thought she would never play. She’s unable to have children of her own due to medical reasons.

“If I had a choice I’d have given birth to her,” Jamie Carroll said.

Carroll and her husband, Rich, 39, who have been married for 10 years, decided to adopt a baby and began the process when Kayla, now 4, was just six months old.

“Kayla was a special-needs adoption,” said Rich Carroll, who hangs drywall. “She was slow in development when we first got her.”

“When she first came to us, she couldn’t walk or crawl,” said Jamie Carroll, a nurse at Sonora Regional Medical Center. “We didn’t know how she would progress.”

When Kayla was seven months old, she began physical and occupational therapy to improve her motor skills.

At age 1, she had to have surgery to repair the soft spot on her head, which normally closes on its own, but was not healing, according to Jamie Carroll.

Once again, Kayla proved she was resilient.

From May 2005 until the adoption was finalized in September 2006, the Carrolls were put to the test.

“We worried the court would order us to return her to her birth parent,” Jamie Carroll said. “Everyday we thought she’d have to go back,

The thought frightened the couple because Kayla’s birth mother was a drug user and her history was sordid.

Just when the couple was going to give up, their adoption worker would be there to offer encouragement and keep them going.

Weathering the storm together, Rich told Jamie that if the adoption went through they should get tattoos of a cross with their daughter’s name on it.

When Kayla was 2 1/2 years old, the adoption was finalized and the Carrolls followed through.

Jamie’s tattoo is on the inside of her left leg, above her ankle, and Rich’s is on his right forearm. 

Ensuring Kayla received the therapy she needed and providing a loving home were the Carrolls’ main priorities, and their daughter began to improve quickly.

“She had to catch up with her motor skills,” Rich Carroll said. “She has caught up. She’s a wonderful little girl. She’s smart and she’s sweet. She attends preschool in Murphys.”

 “To see her run and jump is such a gift,” Jamie Carroll said.

In September, Kayla will start kindergarten, a thought which makes her mother more than a bit nervous.

“She’s just grown up so quickly,” she said.

For Kayla her days are filled with playing outdoors with her 20 chickens and collecting eggs from the chicken coop with her mother.

Her dog Lady and her overweight tortoise shell cat Squirtsy are her companions, but her four baby chicks and two baby turkeys have her heart.

“Aren’t they cute,” she coos over them.

Life is good for the soon-to-be 5-year-old and that is exactly what Jamie Carroll knew she could give her little girl.
 “I’m here to make sure Kayla gets the best childhood I can give her,” Jamie Carroll said.

In the four years since adopting Kayla, Jamie said she has learned that being a mother is less about giving birth to a child and more about loving that child with everything you have.

“I am so grateful I have her,” Jamie Carroll said. “I can’t imagine my life without her. I love being Kayla’s mom.”