The Atypical, Awesome Reason 1 Mom Chose to Adopt a Baby

Podcast host, plant-devotee, and mom Jessica Murnane has learned to embrace change. Her first cookbook, One Part Plant: A Guide to Eating Real, One Meal at a Time ($28), was inspired by the massive (like, really massive) health benefits she found through overhauling her diet. By focusing on plant-based eating, she was able to avoid the full hysterectomy her doctor recommended she have at only 33 years old to treat her stage 4 endometriosis. Food literally healed her.

Not only did eating a plant-based diet prevent Jessica from needing that surgery, but it also led her to a new career helping others live happier, healthier lifestyles through their diets — including Lena Dunham, who wrote the cookbook's foreword. Pretty awesome, right? In the middle of this big mental/diet/career switch in 2014, Jessica also became a mom, adopting her now-2-and-a-half-year-old son, Sid, with her husband and moving her young family from Chicago to Charleston less than a year later.

Because of her battle with endometriosis, people often assume Jessica adopted because she herself couldn't have children, but in truth, she never tried. Why? For one simple reason: she just never wanted to be pregnant or to give birth. "It's not something I wanted for my body," she said.

Keep reading for Jessica's open, honest, totally awesome take on adoption and motherhood.

One Part Plant: A Guide to Eating Real, One Meal at a Time ($28), Jessica Murnane's culinary love letter to plant-based eating.

POPSUGAR: Let's talk about why you wanted to adopt. It's definitely not a story you hear a lot.
Jessica Murnane: From a young age, I knew I wanted to adopt. I do have endometriosis, but contrary to what people think, that's not why I chose adoption. I never tried to get pregnant because I had this instinct that I never wanted to give birth. I thought that if I don't want that for my body, and there's also a whole bunch of babies out there who need homes, why would I put myself through that? I've talked to so many women who have a baby because their husband isn't supportive of adoption or their family thinks it's weird, but I say, if you don't want to give birth, then don't.

PS: What was your adoption process like?
JM: Nine or 10 months after we started it, we had Sid, but there were a lot of steps to get there. We definitely went through matches that fell through, and that was hard at the time, but now it's like, thank goodness because Sid is meant to be ours. A lot of times the adoption process is portrayed in the media as being this awful, scary thing, but I didn't have that experience. I actually enjoyed the process. We got the call about Sid when he was 3 weeks old. His birth mom was still going through counseling because the agency we worked with requires that. His birth mom had been with him every day. We went and met with his birth mom, and it was amazing. We had so much in common.

PS: Is it common that you would be matched with a baby that's already born?
JM: It can happen either way. Another woman we were matched with was eight months pregnant. We matched with her for six weeks, and then she ended up keeping the baby. Every adoption story is so different, but I liked this way because we had to wait less time to meet our baby.

PS: The One Part podcast was just taking off when Sid arrived, and then you moved from Chicago to Charleston before his first birthday. How did you balance new motherhood and building a brand?
JM: It was a very crazy time. When you have a baby through childbirth, even if it's unplanned, you have nine months to plan. With adoption, your baby arrives when you least expect it. But for me, it actually ended up being a good thing. It chilled me out with my work stuff. I couldn't be so stressed about work because I got to care for this new baby. It seemed like a lot at once, but it was all good stuff.

PS: How do you, or will you, talk to Sid about his adoption?
JM: We have to be aware of continuing the conversation about him being adopted, partly because he looks so much like my husband that we could probably go for 10 years and never talk about it. We have an open adoption. Every open adoption has a different scenario, but for us it means we text Sid's birth mom about every other week and see her once a year. I send her photos and she wishes me a Happy Mother's Day. We have a good relationship; we're respectful of one another's space. Some people want no contact ever. Some people see each other less, but we're in constant communication with one another.

PS: What was the biggest challenge of your adoption process, both before and after you met Sid?
JM: Definitely having no idea when you'll have a baby coming home to you! It was so hard to plan things in advance. Whenever my husband and I were invited to a wedding that was out of town, we were never sure how to RSVP. Will we have a newborn three months from now? It was impossible to know. After Sid came home, I was just so happy that I don't really feel I encountered many challenges outside of normal newborn stuff. But I think that's because of the incredible relationship I have with Sid's birth mom. She truly felt that Sid was meant to be our child. If she hadn't been so clear on that and was conflicted and in pain about her decision, I know that would have been a huge challenge for me.

PS: What has been the biggest surprise about adopting?
JM: I would get annoyed during the process when people told me that we'd be matched up with the baby that's meant to be ours. It might take time, but it would happen when it was meant to be. I wanted to scream if one more person told me that. But it actually turned out to be true!

When we found out about Sid there were so many insane coincidences that we knew he was our baby. One of the craziest is that Sid is half-Mongolian. My husband's grandmother collected books on Mongolia and was obsessed about reading about Genghis Khan. She was convinced that she had Mongolian blood, even though there was no evidence to prove it. When our counselor called and said we had been matched with Sid and he was half-Mongolian, I knew it was our baby. Dan's grandmother passed away before Sid came home to us, but I swear she had some sort of angel adoption powers that had him come into our lives.

PS: What has been the greatest joy in your adoption process?
JM: Just how much my family loves Sid. He's the first grandchild in my family and is so loved that it makes me teary-eyed thinking about it. None of my family questioned our decision to adopt, which made the process a lot less stressful. And as soon as he came home to us, my family drove, flew, got there any way they could to meet him. It was pretty special. Now, I'm crying again!