I saw this article the other day and then Law Mommy posted about it, and it really got me thinking...... See for yourself.

Couple Sues Fertility Clinic for Wrong Sperm
Lawsuit Says Baby Darker Than Either Parent
AP

NEW YORK (March 23) - A couple can proceed with a lawsuit against a fertility clinic they filed after the wife gave birth to a daughter whose skin they thought was too dark to be their child, a judge has ruled.

Thomas and Nancy Andrews, of Commack, N.Y., sued New York Medical Services for Reproductive Medicine, accusing the Manhattan clinic of medical malpractice and other offenses. They claim the Park Avenue clinic used another man's sperm to inseminate Nancy Andrews' eggs. Three DNA tests - a home kit and two professional laboratory tests - confirmed that Thomas Andrews was not the baby's biological father, state Supreme Court Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam quoted the couple as saying.

The couple says that they have been forced to raise a child who is "not even the same race, nationality, color ... as they are," the judge said in the ruling.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, came to light Wednesday after the judge issued a decision that allows them to proceed with parts of the lawsuit while dismissing other parts. The judge quoted the couple as saying that after their daughter, Jessica, was born Oct. 19, 2004, they knew something was wrong because of her physical appearance. They say that "while we love Baby Jessica as our own, we are reminded of this terrible mistake each and every time we look at her; it is simply impossible to ignore," the judge's decision said.

The judge, in her ruling made public Wednesday, dismissed the claims against Dr. Martin Keltz, who had advised the procedure and had performed the embryo implantation. She allowed the case to proceed against Dr. Reginald Puckett as owner of the clinic but threw out the case against him as an individual. In trying to have the lawsuit against Puckett dismissed, his lawyer, Martin B. Adams, told the court that Puckett "did not examine, communicate with, care for or treat plaintiffs."

The judge found Carlo Acosta, the non-physician embryologist who processed the egg and sperm for creation of an embryo, also could be held liable.

The couple's lawyer, Howard J. Stern, did not immediately return a telephone call for comment.

This family needs some SERIOUS counseling.... They look at it like they are being forced to raise a child of a different race. Look at all of us who are standing in line to raise a child of a different race.

I feel so sad for this little girl, one day she will be old enough to read court transcripts and know what her parents said about her and the circumstances surrounding this "terrible mistake".

I realize that the wrong sperm was used but, the mother is no less the mother if it had been her husbands sperm.

I guess what really got me thinking was, what about my own daughter? I should hope that my daughter never views the situations surrounding her birth and the start of her life as a "terrible mistake".

Maybe when we get a referral we will know a little about her birth mother and her situation but, chances are we won't. So, I guess I have a little bit of time to mull this over.

So this is what I have been up to this weekend. Getting my house back together after painting.

I got: A new area rug, coffee table/ottoman(with storage) curtains, throw pillows, throw blanket and black picture frames.

I am really liking the new look. The husband just needs to put up the crown molding I want now....

And the 13" TV for some reason does not cut it for the husband.... We actually have a finished basement that our family room is in with a TV I feel is WAY to big!!!!

When we bought our house we had a deal that I could do what I wanted upstairs if he could make the basement his area..... His "area" is slowly getting taken over with toys and pink and it will only get worse!!!!!

The dog cage is new for Shelby. I am working on cage training her now, maybe I can teach and old dog new tricks!!!!! As you can tell the cage is huge, so I am calling it her condo. I am working on this so that when Kitten comes home Shelby will have her very own space.

I am also loving the new rug I got for the future Kitten play area. I needed some girly stuff to help block out all the Chicago Cubs and Bears stuff. I am planning on using the shelve thing for toy storage. I got the rug at Target ($99.00) I loved it and it is a really nice rug, I did not think the price was to back it is 5'x7'. The shelve and baskets are from Target also. Can you tell I love Target??????? I am now looking for a little person table and chairs to go on the rug.

I am holding off putting stuff back on the walls in the living room because I want to see what I can get when we go to Vietnam, I think it would be really neat to decorate with stuff I find over there.

Here is to a new week, the last week of March, may it bring good news to those of us on pins and needles waiting for phone calls (referrals or travel calls).

I continue to expand my parenting experiences, so by the time Kitten comes home I should know what the heck I am doing (kind of)!!!!

Miss G- whom I babysit turned 1 on Tuesday, so I have been babysitting her for almost 10 months now. Thank goodness for her because before her, I had never changed a diaper or fed a baby.... That's right you read correctly I was never around babies until her, so, she has saved me.

Now, I think, I have lots of experience from explosive diapers to food flinging!!!!!!

Tonight I did something new...... I gave G- a bath, I had never given her a bath before but, now she is self feeding, so she tends to me a bit messy. So after her dinner she needed a bath in a bad way!!!

My only concern is wet babies are SUPER slippery!!!!!! Holy smokes she was slippery. We had fun with the bath splashing around.

Once I know how old kitten is I am going to start looking into some type of smaller tub to wash kitten in or a tub safety seat. I think a wet baby will make me nervous!!!!!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated for those who know what they are doing.

We survived Las Vegas!!! I think I need new legs from all the walking we did. The wedding and reception was very nice, they were at the Monte Carlo hotel.

We have always wanted to go there, so now that we have, I doubt we will ever go back. I have never been so glad to come home from a vacation before.

I did not take my computer with me, so I have been trying to catch up on all the stuff I missed. But, it was nice to not think about the adoption to much.

I did get to enjoy an afternoon by the pool, I thought I was in the shade but, apparently not..... I ended up red as a lobster on the front half and my usual pale pasty self on the back.

Now back to reality!!!

So, I just saw on www.people.com that Angelina Jolie will get to pick up her new son soon. I am glad to see the attention it is bringing to the children of Vietnam that need families. I also am excited to see the kind of things she will do for the orphans of Vietnam like she has done for her other children's countries.

They say she is adopting a 3.5 year old little boy, and I am glad this little guy will get a family. I am a fan of Angelina Jolie, I think she does a lot of great things for people all over the world and brings light to subjects we do not hear much about here in the U.S. There is a very good article on her and the work that she does for the U.N. in this weeks Newsweek, if you can, read it.

The thing I am a bit down about is that we are 9 months and 1 week DTV and I have absolutely no idea when we will get a referral. Last time I talked to our agency I was told we are #8 and #10, how is that..... Well, she said that there are 2 families ahead of us open to a boy or a girl, so if they get boys then we are #8. (Hi K- I hope you get your referral soon)

I am just so frustrated with this whole process.... We turned in our application to the agency June of 2005, when Vietnam "re-opened" unfortunately licenses were not given out until January 2006. We waited until our agency had their license before we started our dossier (they were one of the first to get a license). It took almost 3 month to get our I-171H so our dossier did not get to Vietnam until June of 2006.

When our dosseir went over it was a 3-6 month wait, then a 6-9 month wait now it is 12+ month wait for a referral.

We requested a girl 0-18 months (with them knowing that if one comes in that is almost 2 years old to let us know) we are open to minor SN. You would think with this we would get some sort of bone thrown our way......

Will we do an International adoption again? We are not sure, if so it will not be for a few years. If we do, I am going to go with a country that is more stable and predictable (not to say Vietnam won't be by the time we want to do this again) With all the changes in China we would still qualify for their adoptions once I turn 30 (in 1 year 9months!!!!!!). So, I guess time will tell.

Today is just a crummy day for me, every place I went today there were cute little Asian girls and their adoptive mommies..... My friend was with me and said "what the hell, you are being teased".

I think the husband is letting me redo everything in the house because he is afraid I am on the verge of a breakdown and maybe shopping and keeping me busy will prevent that.

I am so glad we are going to Las Vegas on Thursday for 6 whole days. It will be nice to not be here walking past an empty baby room. I keep the door closed and don't go in there very often anymore but, I still know what is behind that door.

So off to some fun in the sun.

If I never paint again in my life it will be to soon.... I have decided that our next house I will hire someone to paint for us.

I repainted our hallway, foyer and living room a mocha color. And I repainted our eat in kitchen a dark grey, it matches the counter tops and the tile. It turned out really good, makes the dark cabinets look great and I like the look with our white appliances.

I am having the husband put up crown molding in all the above named areas. I still need to paint the trim work. I also want to put hardware on the kitchen cabinets.

And to add the cherry on top of the redecorating cake, the husband said I can buy whatever I want to go with the new look!!!!! I started with some great curtains from Target that look like Doupioni Silk, they are a pale blueish grey. I will post pictures when I get all the goodies I want. I plan on getting a new coffee table, end tables, lamps, rug, more accent pillows, kitchen curtains and towels.

Of coarse, I found almost everything I want at Target (I love that store) A lot of our stuff is hand me downs from when we bought our house 5 years ago.

I will post some pictures once everything is done.

Thursday we leave for Las Vegas. The weather is in the 80's there so I am excited to that. Hopefully everyone behaves themselves..... I did book us at a separate hotel than what everyone else is staying at so we can have some peace.

Also, we are now in our 9th month of waiting for a referral. You ask how I do it???? I drink morning, noon and night!!!!! I am kidding but, that might help. I think drinking might be a better idea than what my MIL suggested.... She said (hold tight for this one) "Once you give up all hope then you'll get a baby"!!!! Great idea......

I got tagged by Bunnies Mom KellyO, to list 10 things that make me odd!!!

#1 I am freaky about my food, I do not like different food touching each other. My husband always tells me it ends up in the same place but, I don't care I don't like food mixing.

#2 I eat pizza with a fork and a knife.

#3 I give my husband facials on a regular basis, I also pick at his face and pluck his stray eyebrow hair.

#4 Working in the dental field, I love picking at peoples teeth!

#5 I refuse to cut or paint my own toe nails. I have been getting a pedicure every 4 weeks by the same man for about 6 years. I absolutely love D- who does my pedicures!!! He is from Vietnam and he cracks me up. We always laugh that it's our date. I have NEVER been to someone who gives a better pedicure.

#6 In the summer I always walk around the house in my underwear and a tank top, my husband gets after me saying the neighbor's are going to see me. I tell him let them see my smokin' hot body!!!! Actually I figure if they see me in my underwear they won't look in my windows anymore.....

#7 I research EVERYTHING. Before I buy just about anything I research it. Cars, car seats, high chairs, strollers etc. No joke my friends who want to buy something call me up to ask what I have read about it and if it's a good product.

#8 I have a hand gun permit and know how to use all sorts of guns. I grew up in the country and was an only child, so my dad showed me everything he would have taught a son. He always said you never know when your going to need this.

#9 I am absolutely terrified of snakes but, I love to watch shows on snakes like on National Geographic and I also like to go into the reptile house in zoo's. But, if I see a snake in person out in the wild or if someone is holding one I freak out and almost start to cry.

#10 I will only swim in a pool, I am scared of lakes and the ocean. I don't like not being able to see what is going on around me.

It was hard to come up with 10 odd things about me, not that I am perfect but, to me all these things seem normal to me!!!!