Bryan LaBello was in the labor and delivery waiting room for any sign of his child when he heard a cry. It was almost 6 a.m., the waiting room lights were dimmed and there was only one active delivery.

“I just instantly knew it was him, and I was overwhelmed,” Bryan LaBello said. “I started tearing up, and I just, I was like, I just heard my baby boy.”

His wife Jessica LaBello, an English teacher at Kingwood Park, was in the delivery room when she first met the missing piece of their family. Their son, Matthew Deen LaBello, was born on November 9, 2025.

In that moment, the stressful 17-year journey to become parents was forgotten. All the new parents felt was joy as they focused on the baby they now called their own.

Early dreams dashed

In 2008, Bryan and Jessica LaBello got married with the hopes of starting a family. By December 2017, the couple was still childless and frustrated. Jessica LaBello had always dreamed of motherhood.

From 2018 to 2019, the two ended up in doctors’ offices at Houston Fertility Institute. They underwent testing. They discussed fertility treatments. They prayed for a child. Each time, the visits ended with the same devastating answer – they could not have a child together without medical help.

They were diagnosed with Unexplained Infertility, a condition that affects 10-30 percent of couples trying to conceive. The medical tests often draw inconclusive results, giving doctors no obvious reason for a couple’s infertility.

“It definitely put a strain on our mental health in that sometimes we would feel like we were failing somehow,” Jessica LaBello said. “It put a strain on our marriage because occasionally, we would almost feel like we were pitted against each other.”

They were conflicted for a while on whether they should listen to the doctors who urged them to do in vitro fertilization.

“What’s the point in having some doctor try to intervene when I believe that if God thinks we’re ready to be parents, then we’re gonna be parents,” Jessica LaBello said.

After thinking it over for a while, the LaBellos decided to do IUI – a type of artificial insemination where the doctor places sperm directly in the uterus during ovulation.

A week before Jessica LaBello was going to undergo the procedure, a positive pregnancy test came back and the IUI was canceled.

Seven and a half weeks later, Jessica LaBello miscarried.

Frustration builds as medical interventions fail

More than a year after her miscarriage, Jessica LaBello decided to officially have the IUI procedure done in 2020. It did not work.

Eventually, the continued bad news was too much to bear. Every conversation about Jessica LaBello’s infertility only deepened the wound in her heart. For other people, it was just a question. In her mind it was a painful reminder she couldn’t have children.

“Whose fault is it?” they’d ask. Or, “What’s wrong with you?” Each time, Jessica LaBello tried to respond politely but then left feeling uncomfortable and angry.

Jessica LaBello found comfort in the guidance of her church, often leaning on her faith to understand why she was put in this situation. For days that were harder than most, her church family sent cards or visited and encouraged her that better days were ahead.

Pursuing adoption

In 2022, the couple decided to pursue adoption.

They found a company that matched exactly what they wanted – Adoption Angels.

The only problem was it would cost the couple more than $30,000. Jessica and Bryan LaBello signed up for a popular adoption fundraising app similar to GoFundMe called Adopt Together. In a little over four months, the couple hit their goal through support from friends and family.

With the finances settled, the couple made a book about their life together. It was required so it could be shared with mothers planning to put their unborn children up for adoption.

Faith played an immense part in the book since it helped the LaBellos through their toughest times. Jessica LaBello often referenced Jeremiah 29:11, which brought her strength and reminded her that everything would play out in the way it should according to God’s plan.

Jessica LaBello’s prayers paid off when she matched with a mother. She and Bryan were overjoyed.

Anxious to meet their future child, the LaBellos first made contact with the mother two weeks before the birth was to take place.

Before they knew it, it was finally time to meet the baby – Malachi. The LaBellos traveled to San Antonio, where Malachi was to be born. They could not have been more excited. On the day Malachi was born, Bryan and Jessica were in the hospital meeting him. Everything they had wanted was so close. All they had to do was wait the state-mandated 48 hours for the birth mother to sign the papers.

Forty-eight hours proved long enough for Malachi’s mom to change her mind.

“We made it all the way to 48 hours and thought she was going to sign the papers. She did not,” Jessica LaBello said. “She chose to parent, and that was the hardest one. I was on the floor for that.”

The already prepared crib at the LaBello’s home in Kingwood remained empty. The duffle bag of baby clothes remained unused, and the hearts of the LaBellos were devastated.

It all proved to be too much for Jessica LaBello. She was ready to quit. She couldn’t take the emotional toll of adoption after having her future baby taken away right in front of her eyes.

She couldn’t get out of bed for a week. The thought of her child being raised by someone else was too much to bear. Even when she returned to teaching and church, some people treated her like she was glass  – so fragile she might break with the wrong word or phase.

“I don’t want to be different from you,” Jessica LaBello said. “Like, I don’t like that you’re treating me with kid gloves.”

Not long after, she and Bryan went through another match. It ended in the same results.

The couple guarded their hearts after that, but they continued to search for a child.

Meeting Matthew

On Sept. 27, 2024, the LaBellos got a match – a 24-year-old woman due in 41 weeks with a baby boy.

The couple was starting to regain hope when two months before the child was born they Zoomed with the woman. While they talked, they constantly scanned the mom for any sign of hesitation hoping to shield their hearts from the pain they’d previously experienced.

This was the LaBellos’  third time to get excited, get to know another mother, and hopefully come home with a baby.

On Nov. 8, 2024, the couple traveled to San Antonio yet again with their faith close to their hearts and a duffle bag of baby clothes.

When Matthew was born, Jessica was in the delivery room to see his first moments. Bryan sat nervously in the waiting room down the hall.

“As soon as he came out and he started crying, I remember saying, ‘That’s the sweetest voice I’ve ever heard,’” Jessica LaBello said.

On Nov. 9, 2024, Matthew was born, weighing 7 pounds, 6 ounces. He had brown hair and brown eyes. The LaBellos knew he was the piece of their hearts that had been missing for so long.

The couple knew he was their baby, but they watched the clock as they spent the first 48 hours caring for Matthew. In the eyes of the law, he was still someone else’s baby.

They fed Matthew and changed diapers as the hours slowly went by. While still holding on to their grief from the first match, the LaBellos finally started to relax when the adoption papers were officially signed two days after he was born.

“You just instantly feel the love,” Bryan LaBello said. “You don’t understand it until you’re a parent.”

After the LaBellos brought Matthew home, the celebrations got underway. He met family and friends. And Jessica Labello even had a baby shower, where she got to show off the son she had been waiting for.

Jessica and Bryan were happy for their adoption success, but it was also overwhelming.

While the LaBellos took care of Matthew, they still had to wait six months to officially adopt him because of Family Code Chapter 162 – where the court cannot grant an adoption until the child has resided with the petitioner for six months.

During that time, the LaBellos had multiple home visits, online quizzes and in-person classes to prove they could be good parents to Matthew.

“These aren’t the stories that you tend to hear about,” said Lori Ford, Jessica’s mother. “I think it’s because most people eventually get a yes – so you have your yes and your child and you’re excited and you go on living your life.”

On May 19, 2025, the papers were signed and Matthew was officially their son by law.

Moving forward

They found support in the overwhelming process through Adoptive Families of Houston. The LaBellos found a community of people going through similar situations.

“It’s a taboo thing that people don’t really talk about, but there are a lot of people out there who have infertility issues or just don’t want to have their own children or medically cannot,” Bryan LaBello said. “But there’s a lot more adoptive families out there and foster families. People don’t walk down the street just, you know, announcing to the world – ’I’m adopted’ or ‘I’m an adoptee parent.’”

Matthew is now 17 months old, about to get fitted for his first pair of glasses and just starting daycare. His grandma has taken care of him daily since Bryan and Jessica LaBello brought him home.

“All my friends who were already grandparents really under sold this gig,” said Ford, a retired Humble ISD teacher who subbed on campus prior to focusing on Matthew. “It’s the best gig ever and I decided it’s because there’s just no human words that accurately describe what it’s like to be a grandparent.”

Matthew is often described as a bundle of laughter and constantly being silly by making expressive faces with his eyebrows.

As alone as the LaBellos felt during much of the past 17 years, they know their story is not unique. They are grateful for those who supported them and for their answered prayers.

“Matthew is a special boy and we love him so much,” Bryan LaBello said. “And on this side of the adoption, I would tell anybody, ‘Oh, it’s totally worth it.’ The time, the money, the waiting – it’s all worth it. Once you get that beautiful boy or girl, it’s all worth it.”

This story was originally published on KP Times on April 29, 2026.