Mom's Story
(biological mother of Stevie, Emma & Hope)
Laura has PTSD due to a life time of trauma beginning in childhood.
In 2003 she became a widow when her husband accidentally killed himself in front of their daughter, Stevie.
In traumatic births such as Emma's and Hope's where there is catastrophic blood loss and lack of oxygen, the mother is affected too. One traumatic birth like this can be devastating for the mother but it happened to Laura twice.
Laura lost weight continually after the girls' births and in spite of having a feeding tube, dropped to a mere 60 pounds. In 2012 Laura was clinically dead 3 times and spent three weeks in a coma on life support after a near death experience left her without a detectable pulse for 17 minutes. Her survival is truly a miracle. The event happened in our home and the police took me aside and told me she was dead. They even called in a chaplain. The parmedics were packing up their gear and leaving when someone cried out, "I have a pulse!"
Her long term prognosis is poor. I remember vividly the last words I heard from the paramedics as they left our home, "We saved her but what did we save her to?" Since then Laura has had numerous surgeries. All of her major organs including her brain were damaged. Half her colon was removed and she received an ostomy.
In late 2013, things started to change. After discontinuing some of her medications she started gaining weight. She now reached 100 pounds and has regained some of her mental clarity and focus.
Mom's Story
(some of my children are adopted)
Both of my adopted daughters' fathers died when they were young, one when she was 8, the other when she was 7. Both mothers retained their parental rights through the adoptions and they and their extended families have ongoing contact with us.
