“To give up a child for adoption, to relinquish a baby to another’s care.”

Sever the bond between you and the person you carried inside you for 9 months, the being that shared your body, the creature that absorbed your nutrients, the infant that now carries 23 of your chromosomes and will spread your genetic material throughout the universe.

“Here, he is yours now.”

While I was in Switzerland with my parents, safely ensconced at the Garderie d’Enfants nursery school in Geneva, my aunt relinquished a baby. Mom’s sister. Seven years younger, so maybe eighteen or nineteen years old. She and her then boyfriend later husband had a son. Several years later they had two more sons. There are three–I only know two. Grandma sent her away to Milwaukee, Chicago? While I sang “Sur le Pont D’Avignon” and danced in a ring.

“Here, he is yours now.”

My sister has twin boys. After in vitro fertilization, three embryos implanted, became viable. Baby A, Baby B, Baby C. As her pregnancy progressed, the risks increased–for her and the three babies. All boys.

Selective reduction (or multifetal pregnancy reduction or MFPR) is the practice of reducing the number of fetuses in a multifetal pregnancy, say quadruplets, to a twin or singleton pregnancy.

My sister’s fetuses were selectively reduced to two. Baby C was selected. Baby A and Baby B filled the space vacated by Baby C. They shared the portion suddenly allotted. They grew, they thrived. Baby A and Baby B are 7 years old.

“Here, he is yours now.”