Although she came into the world at just under 2 pounds, baby Gisele has proven to be an enormous gift to her adoptive mom, nurse Liz Smith.
The now active and healthy 3-year-old, had a challenging start to life when she was born to a drug-addicted mother in July of 2016. The woman’s heroin, cocaine, and methadone use resulted in baby Gisele’s premature birth, as well as a condition called neonatal abstinence syndrome.
At 3 months old, Gisele was transferred to Franciscan Children’s Hospital in Brighton, MA. “due to the specialized care needed for her lungs, as well as needing nutrition through a feeding tube.”
“Gisele had a lot of medical needs, but unfortunately, she didn’t have a lot of visitors. In fact, in the 5 months that baby Gisele was at Franciscan Children’s hospital as a ward of the state, she didn’t have a single visitor.
Until one day, an unofficial “visitor” changed everything.”1
In a perfect moment that would eventually impact both their lives, Smith happened to be in the hallway as Gisele was being wheeled by. Their eyes met and Liz felt something inside that drew her to the tiny child in a very special way.
Speaking about Gisele, Smith said,
“Since the moment I met her, there was something behind her striking blue eyes capturing my attention. I felt that I needed to love this child and keep her safe.”1
It’s easy to see how a fragile infant, who hadn’t had a visitor in months, could benefit by capturing the heart of a caring, loving nurse. But it turns out that Gisele would also fill a void in Smith’s life, in more ways than one. At the age of 19, Liz lost her mother to liver cancer, a tragedy that inspired the young girl to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a pediatric nurse. Although she dreamt often of one day being the same loving, nurturing parent that her mother had been to her, attempts at becoming pregnant proved unsuccessful.
Smith would soon learn that life had a different, yet very special plan for her.
“Deep down, however, both Smith and her loved ones knew that the longing for motherhood and a family of her own had never left, and when she had an instant connection with baby Gisele, the nurse knew she would foster her. She quickly went through the necessary legal steps and paperwork to foster Gisele and weeks later, as the infant turned 9 months, the state granted her permission. Smith was warned that she would only be fostering Gisele while every effort was made to reunite the baby with her birth family, but Smith’s coworkers still celebrated, throwing her a baby shower and helping her set up supplies in her home.”1
Visits from the birth parents became less frequent until eventually, the state deemed them unable to care for Gisele and their parental rights were terminated. In October of 2016, Smith’s wish of “officially” becoming a mom was granted when she legally adopted ‘her’ baby.
“Her new favorite song is ‘You Are My Sunshine,’ ” Smith told The Washington Post. “And every time she sings it, I think to myself, ‘You have no idea.’ “1
SOURCE:
