WAITING FOR BABY: One Couple's Journey Through Infertility to Adoption

It's the stuff of soap opera: In an attempt to have a child, a married couple scurry from one medical professional to another to no avail. At last, they opt for adoption and become the parents of the most wonderful baby ever. Screenwriter/journalist/TV producer Chase knuckled down to achieving motherhood after her 40th birthday. She went through the usual myriad tests, temperature-taking, and fertility pills as well as the relatively new intrauterine insemination procedure. This involves inserting sperm washed free of seminal fluid directly into the womb. California-style, she also consulted a psychic, an acupuncturist, and a ""rebirthing"" practitioner who aided her to ""re-experience"" her own birth. At last she and her husband agreed to go the adoption route, opting (because of their relatively advanced ages) for a private placement. Less than nine months later, they picked up ""cherub-checked"" Benjamin in a city disguised here (to protect the birth-mother and her lawyer) as Tulsa, Oklahoma. Despite much perfervid prose (""By day 34, I lay awake at night praying that this was it, but the next morning the answer. . .was clearly, redly, no""), Chase's journalist's training makes it all worthwhile. Of particular interest: detailed and up-to-date information on infertility treatments and the pros and cons of various types of adoptions.