At 42 weeks and 3 days pregnant, my baby boy passed away in utero due to complications of Trisomy 18, a chromosomal disorder considered incompatible with life. I was only 23 years old at the time, and had only found out in my 3rd trimester that my child had this very rare condition, so the devastation that I, my husband, and our family felt was beyond words to even describe. As if that wasn't the most tragic thing we could experience, I, too, became very sick as my labor was not progressing. My heart stopped twice before I was taken to have an emergency C-section, 19 hours after that, my baby had passed. The entire situation was unimaginably painful in every way possible. But that one nurse, that one amazing nurse made the pain a little bit more bearable. She cared for me, my husband, and my family. Her compassion was so real, so pure and so true. I was falling apart, physically and emotionally, and she was there to help piece me back together. I didn't feel like a patient, or a 12 hour shift, or a job. She went above and beyond to make my nightmare a little less scary, under the circumstances. My last night there, she wheeled an empty bed in to my room and put it up against mine so that my husband could lay with me.
It doesn't end there, a year later I gave birth to a baby girl, and she was there to kiss and love on her. I could tell she was just as happy as I was, that finally, my family and I were having the moment we'd been waiting for 2 years. Then, 2 years after the birth of my daughter, I gave birth to a healthy baby boy (finally), and again, she was there to kiss and love on him, too.
I can never explain how much her presence in my life meant to me, and changed me. Because of my situation and because of Michelle, I feel like I have found my purpose in what I'm supposed to do in life. I will be graduating nursing school in May of 2017. I love you and thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for everything, and for just being you.