Our Simple Yes: Adopting a Son with Hypospadias

November 8, 2018 Family Stories, hypospadias, November 2018 Feature - Urogenital, Urogenital System 2 Comments

At the beginning of our adoption process we connected with a PA friend of ours to help us walk through our openness form. When it came to hypospadias, she explained that it’s generally a simple fix with a few minor exceptions. We felt confident with its simplicity so we checked yes.

In February 2016 all of our paperwork was logged in and on April 15 we were matched with the most precious, handsome boy in the entire world.



His two medical concerns were hypospadias and a sacral pit. After reviewing his file we gathered that his hypospadias had been repaired. It seemed simple enough. We said yes and took all the final steps to travel.

We traveled July 2016 to bring our son home and, given the nature of his medical need, we didn’t do very much ‘investigating’ – we chose instead to leave that up to the professionals.

Once home we saw our pediatrician and she referred us to a local urologist out of Grand Rapids, MI. We anxiously awaited this appointment to see help us determine our next steps, and the day finally came.



Beau and I went in and upon initial exam the doctor said he was just fine and that he did not have hypospadias. We were shocked! We honestly thought we were looking at a living, breathing, miracle child.

We scheduled a minor, elective surgery for him and shortly after sending our son back the doctor was ready for us to review things. The doctor sat with us and explained that Beau did in fact have hypospadias; it was the worst case he had ever seen in his medical career. He was an older doctor so we knew he’d seen a lot. He referred us to Dr. Barber within the practice stating that he handles the “complicated cases”.

After our initial appointment we learned all that was needing to be done. We were, to say the least, overwhelmed. He explained that it would be a minimum of a two stage surgery. His first surgery ended up being two hours longer than planned. When Dr. Barber came out he explained that Beau did in fact have surgery in China to repair his hypospadias, however it was done incorrectly. Because of this he had to correct it by having a much more invasive surgery than he had planned. And an additional surgery would be needed.

With hypospadias you are generally rerouting the urethra to end in the correct spot. With Beau’s complicated hypospadias he was in need of a newly created urethra. One that would start as far back as his bladder and go a distance our doctor had never taken a urethra before. A distance that none of the urologic doctors he consulted with in the greater Michigan area had either.

So he has taken it in stages. Slowly creating a new urethra with grafted skin from his foreskin and lips. Beau has had two surgeries thus far. Both have required him to be in a catheter for two weeks post surgery. These surgeries have not been easy but we have grown so much through it all.



We believe our son has learned to trust us more because of the gentle care we had to give him after each surgery. We anticipate his third and final surgery to be just before Christmas this year. We thank God for Dr. Barber!

We also are so thankful for our very blind, uneducated yes.

I won’t lie, those weeks after surgery were long, hard, painful, and ones not quickly forgotten. But the weeks in between have been sweet, loving, and filled with growth. Those are the weeks we look at. Those are the weeks that matter the most.

Beau has now been home for two years. He is an amazing kid that has learned and grown so so much!



– guest post by Melissa: email || Facebook



2 responses to “Our Simple Yes: Adopting a Son with Hypospadias”

  1. Rachel says:

    We went somewhat blindly into our son’s medical need. We knew the gist of it and as it wasn’t life-threatening, we figured we would just go over and get him and leave it up to the professionals when we got home. I’m so grateful we did! It has had some challenges and some unknowns of what his future will totally look like BUT I can’t imagine life without him and am glad we just had a blind, uneducated YES as well!

  2. Rebecca says:

    We have a Son born with Hypospadious as well. He has had five surgeries and is doing well. I would love to connect these boys. Its helpful to know someone like you. Wonderful story!

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