“Not the mother who gave birth, but the one who brought up,” says popular wisdom.
Liz Smith, a 43-year-old nurse, was infertile. She could not cope with this misfortune in any way: not a single method of treatment worked. Therefore, by the age of 40, Liz had finally given up hope – and a dream – to someday become a mother. She calmed her maternal instinct by caring for the children in the hospital where she worked. Moreover, she nursed her nephews – she had 13 of them.
Liz loved children, but had to babysit nephews and nieces
But one day, Liz’s life changed dramatically. In the hospital where she worked, a woman gave birth – as they say in our country, with weak social responsibility. The woman in labor was a drug addict, she got to the hospital with a premature birth. At the 29th week, the woman had a daughter. The baby could hardly breathe and weighed only 850 grams. The young mother did not want to see the baby. I left her in the hospital. Over the next five months that little Giselle – that was the name of the girl – spent in the neonatal ward, fighting for her life, no one ever visited her. Moreover, no one asked about her condition even by phone. Yes, the daughter was absolutely uninteresting to her parents.
This story could end like hundreds of others: the baby is nursed under favorable circumstances, and then sent to an orphanage or a foster family. What awaits the child after, no one knows, but very often – nothing good. But Giselle was lucky. She was seen by Liz Smith, who instantly fell in love with a blue-eyed miracle with blond hair. It was the very day that the specialist put an end to her hopes of getting pregnant with IVF. One door closed – another opened.
Baby Giselle was nursed for more than six months
“Giselle was born with neonatal withdrawal syndrome, because her mother was, to put it mildly, not the healthiest lifestyle,” – recalls Liz. But the girl’s complex heredity did not scare her at all.
It was not easy to leave the baby. But Liz firmly decided that little Giselle deserves it, because she has been fighting for her life for five months!
“I’ve never thought about adoption before. More precisely, I thought, but abandoned this idea. It seemed to me that the adopted child was not at all the same. It’s like it’s not real motherhood, ”says Liz.
The woman began to court Giselle. Every day after work, she came to her department and did everything so that the baby would catch up with her peers in development.
“She had food aversion syndrome. This is common in children with neurological impairment. She just couldn’t eat, ”the nurse recalls. “But the fact that I could visit Giselle every day was my reward. I was happy”.
At the final hearing of the adoption court, her entire large family came to support Liz
But even when Giselle recovered completely and was ready to leave the walls of the hospital, they did not immediately manage to reunite with Liz. Despite the fact that the girl managed to become attached to her nurse and fall in love with her, Liz had to defend her right to adoption in court. After all, no one is in a hurry to hand over the custody of children to single mothers. And Liz was not married.
“All this bureaucracy took a long time. But we have finally officially become one family, ”says Liz. All this time, Giselle remained in the hospital under the care of the state. The goal of the French policy on working with abandoned children is to reunite them with their biological family. Therefore, the parents were literally forced to visit the baby. But they did not penetrate feelings for her. But Liz’s feelings did not go away.
“553 days have passed from the day we first met until the day I was able to take Giselle Catherine Smith home,” added Liz.
But now she is absolutely happy. And people note that the mother and daughter are even outwardly similar: both are blonde-haired, blue-eyed and incredibly loving.
“I didn’t think that people who are not related by consanguinity could be a real family. I was wrong, ”laughs Liz.