Some people become mothers easily and it takes almost no effort but others find that they become a mother in ways that they never imagined possible. Regardless of how it happens, it is something that has the ability to touch her heart and that is what you are likely to experience when you hear this story from Brighton, Massachusetts. It involves a nurse, a little girl and a lot of love.
Liz Smith worked as a nurse in a hospital in Brighton. A little girl, named Gisele was under the care of the hospital after being born and having nobody visit her, including her parents for five months. The little girl was now two years old and when you learn more about Liz and her life, you will see why she made the decision that not only changed the life of the little girl, it changed her life as well.
It was 2016 when Smith first saw the little girl and her life was never the same. Gisele was being treated at the hospital for neonatal abstinence syndrome.
A local newspaper reported on Smith, who was the director of nursing at the time at Franciscan Children’s Hospital in Brighton, Massachusetts. She spotted the eight-month-old child when she was walking to the elevator at work one day. The brown curls framing her face and blue eyes were too much for her to handle.
“Who’s this beautiful angel?” she recalled asking a nurse who was wheeling the girl down the hall. “Her name is Gisele,” the nurse replied.
Five months earlier, Gisele came to the Children’s Hospital and that is where she stayed. She had been born at a different hospital prematurely and weighed only 1 lb. 14 oz. At this point, she was a ward of the state and was suffering from neonatal abstinence syndrome. It happens when children must withdrawal from drugs they were exposed to inside the womb. This includes prescription drugs, heroin and opioids.
Gisele had been removed from her mother’s care when she was only three months old and moved to the Franciscan Children’s Hospital’s and put in the NICU. Her lungs needed special treatment at the time.
The little girl had also developed a common issue with babies who had never eaten, oral aversion. She was reluctant to eat but when she was at Smith’s hospital, she was given a feeding tube and ended up falling behind on her development.
“Franciscan was providing excellent care,” Smith explained, “but she had just never been outside the hospital.”
A foster family would be needed for Gisele if she was going to start getting better. After being in the hospital for five months without a visitor, however, the social workers were not quite sure what to do. They had not been successful at placing her in foster care.
“Gisele,” Smith told herself as she drove home. “I’m going to foster this baby. I’m going to be her mother.”
Smith knew that she wanted to be a mother but she wasn’t sure how it would happen.
Liz Smith, Director of Nursing, knew from a young age that she wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a pediatric nurse. What she didn’t know is that her nursing career would lead her to find her daughter. Read more via @washingtonpost: https://t.co/SbQQGmrsHJ pic.twitter.com/VKrxIcuBzb
— Franciscan Childrens (@FranciscanHFC) April 4, 2019
Her mother had inspired her to take on the nursing profession. She also wanted to have children.
“My mom was a pediatric nurse who always put others first,” she said. “So I grew up wanting to be a nurse, too.”
Unfortunately, Smith was only 19 years old when her mother died from liver cancer. She wanted to do something to honor her mother so she started living a selfless life.
She was also wondering when her family life would begin after entering her 40s. “My definition of family was always: In my 20s I’ll get married, have kids, and have a big family like the one I grew up with,” she explained to the Boston Globe. “I think a lot of women can relate to the pressure that we feel that there’s an order to do things.”
She was unsuccessful at trying to get pregnant on her own and she was not a likely candidate for IVF. After her lab results, her insurance company would not approve of it.
“I never imagined becoming a mom would be a challenge,” she said, according to Boston.com. “It’s a desire you can try to push away and fill with other distractions, but it never goes away.”
After meeting Gisele, she knew that there was something special.
“Since the moment I met her, there was something behind her striking blue eyes capturing my attention,” she said. “I felt that I needed to love this child and keep her safe.”
She didn’t waste time once she had her mind made up.
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A request to foster the baby was submitted quickly and she waited until the paperwork was processed. Smith continued to visit the baby every day when she got off work, sitting next to her and speaking softly with her so she was not alone.
She said: “She was behind developmentally, and I wanted to get her out of the hospital and get her thriving.” About three weeks later, she received the news that the little girl was hers. The State did say that they would make every effort to reunite her with her birth parents, however. But Smith was going to be happy with the moment. A baby shower was thrown by her workmates, even though it may only have been temporary.
“I was excited but nervous, realizing that I was committing everything I had to this child who might not be in my life forever,” she said.
Weekly supervised visits were granted for a while but eventually, her parents were found incapable of caring for the infant. At that point, their rights were terminated. There was no other family member to take the girl so it seems as if Smith was going to be her permanent new mom.
“The day I got the call that their parental rights were terminated was very sad,” Smith recalled. “My gain was another’s loss. It’s a feeling difficult to describe when you are experiencing this life-changing moment that someone else is as well, in the opposite way. The bottom line is: It’s devastating for another family.”
Gisele was now being cared for by Smith and was doing well developmentally. When she was 15 months old, she knew a few words and could walk. “Her first word was ‘badoon,’ for balloon,” Smith recalled. “Today, we still call it that.”
On October 18, they officially became mother and daughter.
Family and friends came together as the judge signed the adoption paper and Smith was given the legal documents that showed she was now the girl’s mother.
“When I became Gisele’s mom it really was a feeling I can’t even describe,” she told the Boston Globe. “It was this relief and stability and just so much to look forward to without all of the questions and the unknown.”
“This is the mother-daughter relationship my sister has waited a long time for,” Smith’s brother Phil told Boston.com. “It’s plain to see that they have brought a completeness to each other.”
Although Gisele still eats from a feeding tube, she is getting healthier every day. Her mother also says she is a loving and energetic little girl that loves to sing.
“Her new favorite song is ‘You Are My Sunshine,’” Smith explained. “And every time she sings it, I think to myself, ‘You have no idea.’”