The most amazing thing happened. I found my birthmother over the Internet, within three months of searching! Here's the process I went through:

I went through the usual information gathering stage, including pumping my parents for any information that they could remember. They didn't have much more to tell me than I already knew from childhood.

I was also helped by a wonderful woman involved in the Volunteer Search Network, named Sandy Baumwald. She went to the courthouse, talked to people she knew, and asked the hospital I was born in about records there. She also gave me practical advice on how to search on my own.

Not only did she search various public records for me, but she also talked to people she knew, and eventually found the woman who had shared the hospital room with my birthmother! When this woman found out why I was searching, she freely gave the details she could remember, including the fact that my birthmother had long strawberry blond hair, was quite distraught over relinquishing me, but felt she must do this for her child's best interests. She assured me that the teenager she met seemed quite responsible, and had worked hard to keep herself healthy and ensure her child's health.