After an exhausting trip overseas, topped off by a 15-hour train ride, Margaret Schwartz, a single professional in her mid-40s, arrived at an orphanage in Ukraine, where she had 30 minutes to make one of the most important decisions of her life.

Moments later, and essentially without any formal training, Schwartz was on her way back to the U.S. with two toddlers in tow. She had just become the sole parent of two boys who had never been anywhere other than the orphanage in which they were raised. "I wasn't prepared for the enormity of it," Schwartz admits.

Let's face it: No amount of advice can fully prepare you for the life-altering event of becoming an adoptive parent. But there are some essentials that, when tackled early on, can pave the road to a smoother adoption process. We talked to a variety of experts on adoption -- many of them adoptive parents themselves -- and arrived at eight "must-dos" for anyone considering adoption.

No. 1: Ask Yourself if You're Prepared to Embrace Adoption

People often consider adoption only after exhausting all their options for becoming biological parents. "Certainly there are infertility patients who see adoption as an indication of failure, as symbolic of loss or shame," says Linda Applegarth, EdD, director of psychological services at the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility in New York City.

As long as these feelings prevail, proceeding with the adoption process may not be in the best interest of either the prospective adoptive parent or child.

"When it becomes more about becoming a parent than getting pregnant -- when couples can make that bridge -- they're in a place where it's much easier to embrace adoption," Applegarth tells WebMD.

No. 2: Consider Both Domestic and International Adoption

Most prospective parents have a mental image of the child they hope to adopt, from the age and sex right down to the color of the child's eyes. That image may dictate where they begin their search for an adopted child. But the experts remind us that, when it comes to domestic adoption, the choice isn't entirely up to the adoptive parents.

"It is still easier for a traditional couple to adopt. Birth mothers do want the stability of a two-person household that she can't provide," says Nicole Witt, executive director of The Adoption Consultancy, a Florida-based consulting group. While she says that in certain parts of the country there's more openness to nontraditional parents, the predominant preference of birth mothers is for a married couple to adopt their child.

Schwartz found this out when she began her adoption journey. "Unless you want to pay for private adoption or a baby falls out of the sky, it's very difficult to adopt an infant or child under the age of 6 domestically," says Schwartz, who wrote The Pumpkin Patch: A Single Woman's International Adoption Journey.