no longer trust Elizabeth

Our attorney got an email from another adoption attorney, telling her that Elizabeth had contacted him. He said he knows that she was already working with Elizabeth, but that Elizabeth had said she wanted to consult with him, too. Our attorney, I'll call her "M," called Elizabeth, who told M that she needed more more money, and that the other attorney told her that if she switched to him, he could give her $50 more a week than she is getting from us. Elizabeth told M that she really likes me, and felt bad about contacting the other attorney, but she had to think about herself.

Because her rent and bills are about $400 month less than we originally anticipated, giving Elizabeth the additional $50 a month is manageable. And because Elizabeth only has about 10 more weeks of her pregnancy, in addition to the 6 weeks of care after the birth she is promised, that extra $50 a week comes to about $800, which isn't that much money considering all of the thousands of dollars we've already invested.

Elizabeth, though, is starting to now question how much she is getting after the baby is born, even though all along she knew she gets 6 weeks of support, and that's it.

After learning that by staying with us, she can be matched with the amount bidded by the other attorney, Elizabeth canceled her meeting with the other attorney, and our attorney contacted the other attorney and confirmed this, but now we know Elizabeth is not trustworthy, and was trying to "shop around" to see if she could get more money somewhere else. This is very scary, but an adoption contract is extremely high-risk for the adoptive parents, and the birth mother has all of the rights.

Meanwhile, I spoke to Elizabeth twice over the weekend, and she didn't mention any of this to me and acted as sweet as normal. Our attorney has said that I should not bring this up with Elizabeth, and if she tries to bring it up with me that all conversations about money have to go through the attorney.

The truth is that Elizabeth could keep taking money from us and having her bills paid, in addition to the things she needs such as when we had to fix her teeth, buy her furniture, move her a few times, etc. etc. etc., and then in the end she could give birth and call other attorneys and decide to just give the baby to someone else if they will give her money than she will get from us in the end. Or she could decide to keep the baby, which seems less likely. But regardless, anything can happen, and we could wind up losing a ton of money and not having a baby in the end.

All I can do is be super sweet when I speak to Elizabeth, and tell her how excited we are about the baby, and tell her about all our plans and dreams, and tell her about how happy our family members are to have a new addition, and hope that she has a conscience and does the right thing in the end.