It gets better

I spent most of the first days of my daughters life crying. First crying of happiness that she was here and healthy and then out of gut wrenching devastation that she actually was very sick.

Each time I walked into the NICU I tried to stay strong and every time I saw her I broke down, over and over. Tissue boxes lined my hospital bed. My eyes were almost swollen shut (as I will always remember since they never change the Boston childrens badge photo😅).

On the second day she was there, I sat staring at my daughter through tears, trying my best to pull it together when I heard a voice behind me trying to get my attention.

There was a woman that was also visiting her baby and currently using a translator to speak to her nurse.

She had paused her discussion and the translator was getting my attention. She explained that the mom had something to say to me. She translated that she was just like me when her baby first arrived there. But “it gets better”. The next day we saw the baby doing his car seat test, and then the next time we went to visit, he had gone home.

Things quickly went from bad to worse and for months it didn’t feel like it could get better, but I still held onto her words.

A year and a half later as my daughter is sleeping upstairs, I sit here grateful for that mom who didn’t let a language barrier prevent her from comforting a mom in similar shoes. I don’t think she knows how much those few words meant to me as my world was falling apart. I still think of her often and hope she and her little boy are doing well.

And if you need the reminder today; it gets better ❤️