A baby girl who had no visitors while in the intensive care unit has been adopted by a nurse.
Gisele weighed less than two pounds when she was born in Massachusetts to a mother who was addicted to drugs.
The infant experienced health problems that left her in the ICU for months. During this time, Gisele received virtually no visitors, apart from the nurses who took the time to check in on her during those crucial first few months.
One of those nurses was Liz Smith, a woman who had struggled to conceive herself.
She told CNN that Gisele needed a medical foster parent and that rather seeing the baby enter the US care system, she wanted Gisele to live with her instead.
“It was an emotional roller coaster,” she said.
“When I initially started fostering her, the goal was reunification with her birth parents.
“I always had that as a reality in the back of my mind while I was taking care of her, but in the moment I knew she needed and deserved every ounce of love I had to give her.”
Liz said that in the beginning, Gisele’s birth parents came to visit their daughter, but that over time those visits became less frequent until Liz was granted full parental rights.
“I could tell they believed they would one day be her parents and believe they wanted to be,” she said. “They were always supportive and noticed how healthy she looked when they did see her.”
“It was a very bittersweet. I was experiencing this tremendous gain and happiness in my life where others were experiencing the opposite.”
Now two-years-old, Gisele stills needs a feeding tube to get most of her nutrients, but Liz said that the toddler is “thriving.”
“They can’t believe the strides she has made and how healthy and strong she is,” she said. “Her resilience is inspiring to me and every day I’m amazed by her.”
“We talk about the power of love, but to witness how it can transform a life and to witness how it transformed her life and mine is unbelievable.
“I have never been happier or stronger and just I couldn’t imagine life without her.”
