Things I’ve Learned Being a #MiracleMom

#MiracleMom Jennifer Edwards gave birth to twin boys, Jack and Luke. Born at 30 weeks gestation, each weighed little more than two and a half pounds. They entered the world at the same time, but with very different complications. 

Jack wasn't surrounded by amniotic fluid in utero, so his lungs didn't develop normally—a condition called pulmonary hypoplasia. He received blood transfusions, supplemental oxygen and underwent respiratory therapy. Luke's underdeveloped nervous system couldn't regulate his breathing and sometimes he would "forget" to breathe, causing his heart to stop.

Jack and Luke spent eight weeks in the NICU and in one nurse's words made "the most remarkable turnaround ever seen."

Now a mother of three, Edwards shares with us 10 things she has learned about being a #MiracleMom. 

1. Bad things really do happen to good people. Children get sick, are injured in terrible accidents and fight health battles every day.  Innocent, precious children with tenacious and beautifully naïve attitudes which enable them to inspire the adults in their lives. And not all of them will get better. BUT…

2. The ones who don’t, leave an indelible and beautifully unique scar on our hearts. They make those of us who knew them want to LIVE BETTER and BE BETTER.  And the ones that do heal and get better allow us a glimpse into a true miracle.

3. Having a sick child can define you. It can very easily become a way that you identify yourself, but so can being an advocate. You can promote an organization like CMN Hospitals wholeheartedly because you know first hand what it does and what it is capable of doing for kids like your own. You can put your enthusiasm and trust into something that matters.

4. People are good.  I can tell you that the philanthropy and compassion that lives in people’s hearts is astounding. Sure, most of us don’t want to think about a children’s hospital. If you educate a group of people about how they can help save children’s lives, they will do so enthusiastically. I have cried more in front of CMN Hospitals’ sponsors than I did at my boys’ hospital bedsides, overwhelmed with gratitude. Being a Miracle Mom allows you to see the best of humanity.

5. You can fall in love with people whom you’ve just met. Spending 10 days with our fellow Champions in 2013 was the most remarkable and amazing thing my family has experienced. No one gets you like another Miracle Family, and though the miles are many between us, so are the prayers, well wishes and thoughts.

6. The smell of hospital sanitizing foam can make your stomach turn. Like bad déjà vu.

7. Hospital food isn’t really that bad.

8. Kids are stronger than their parents. We as parents may do the driving to appointments, the mental sorting of the prescriptions, the endless discussions with doctors and the praying…but we are really just faking it. We ACT brave for our kids, but the kids are the ones LIVING brave. When you see what these Miracle Kids have survived, you know right away how brave they are. And you also see how vulnerable their parents are. 

9. Knowing where the local CMN Hospital is every time you travel becomes the norm…you know, heaven forbid, but just in case. 

10. Pediatric Doctors and Nurses are living, breathing extensions of God. And children’s hospitals are where miracles are made every single day.