Kaleena Pysher became pregnant her senior year of high school. At just 18 years old, she didn't feel as though she had enough life experience to care for a baby.
"She had to make some very adult decisions," said her stepmother, Kirsten Ballard. Kaleena decided to give her daughter up for adoption.
“I know in my heart and my mind this is the best thing,” Kaleena said. She didn't want to financially struggle to take care of her baby, so she made the hardest decision of her life.
Sometimes given a child up is the best decision; in another story, Halle Burke thanked her biological mom for abandoning her under the Safe Haven Law because she was able to find parents who loved and nurtured her.
After she had her baby she tried not to grieve. "I just sucked it up and kept going,” she said. Kaleena was able to find one unique way of being a part of her daughter's life.
See how she was able to connect with the baby girl she gave away below!
When Kaleena Pysher became pregnant her senior year of high school, she knew she had to give the baby up.
"Your whole life has to be put on hold because your whole life is dedicated to that life," she said. Kaleena didn't want her parents to have to support her financially, and she didn't want to raise a child on welfare. She witnessed what that looked like firsthand: her older sister got pregnant at 14 and struggled immensely.
Kaleena heard a family friend, who used to babysit her when she was a child, wanted to adopt her daughter, and knew it was the right choice.
“I would trust her with my life. I would trust her with my baby. She will get quality love, parental guidance and a good education. She wouldn’t be able to get that with me," she said.
Kaleena delivered her happy, healthy baby but made sure that she wouldn't get too attached.
“As soon as she came out, they plopped her on my chest,” she said. “She was crying. I was just so happy.”
But immediately after that, she handed the baby off to her new parents.
“I wanted my daughter to bond with them,” Kaleena said. “They are going to be raising her.”
Kaleena's reasoning was always to give her biological daughter the best life possible. That didn't stop with adoption; in fact, adoption was only the beginning.
She has been pumping breast milk every 2 hours to keep her daughter fed. Then she ships the milk, sometimes 80 pounds of it, to the new parents.
Kaleena is still grieving the loss of her child. Providing breast milk is a way of supporting her the only way she knows how, and it's a way to feel connected to her.
“As long as I’m still giving them breast milk, they still need me for something. (The baby) still needs me,” she said. “But now that I’m tapering off, I feel like they’re not going to need me anymore.”
Kaleena and the new parents plan to keep in touch regularly. That means birthday visits, video chats, and Christmas gifts. She plans on donating the rest of her milk to breast milk banks to help other children in need.
See more of Kaleena's story in the video below.
Please SHARE if you think Kaleena made a hard decision but the right decision for her daughter's future.
