Baby Was Born Premature, Addicted to Drugs and Abandoned for Months, Then Her Nurse Made a Decision

baby was born premature addicted to drugs and abandoned for months then her nurse made a decision about her life [Music] [Applause] babies really have it made don't they no bills to pay parents to feed them around the clock and play with them and even people who are required by law to change their diapers and make sure they have clean clothes i'm sure there are a lot of us out there that would pay good money for this service however unfortunately that's not always the case fate was not on big-eyed two-year-old gisele's side she was born prematurely to a mother who was addicted to opiates and because her mother was using these substances while she was pregnant giselle was also born an addict it's called the neonatal abstinence syndrome babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome or nas are usually addicted to some kind of substance most often opiates just like poor giselle the drugs are transferred to them via the placenta while they are still in the womb opiates are a class of drugs made from opium or poppy seeds they include things like hydrocodone oxycodone tramadol codeine and even heroin even people who are taking pain medicine for a good reason can pass nas down to their fetuses so the march of dimes recommends talking to your doctor immediately if you were on any of them and might be pregnant stopping these drugs unexpectedly can be incredibly dangerous for both the fetus and the person carrying it once babies with nas are born they are in for a very rough time not only do they have to deal with the trauma of birth but they are also going through extreme withdrawal symptoms as the source of the drugs is separated from them this can cause a number of symptoms such as seizures low weight gain breathing issues and premature birth it can even lead to more extreme conditions later on in life most babies who are born with nas will need to stay in the newborn intensive care unit or the nicu for quite some time before their parents can take them home if their parents can take them home that's where gisele's story begins but first let's step away from her for a little bit and take a look at someone else liz smith the senior director of nursing at the franciscan children's hospital in boston massachusetts smith had just moved back home to boston after the end of a long-term relationship however smith was under no means struggling professionally she had a very long and successful history as a nurse she had even opened a small hospital in richmond virginia and her return to boston was not in defeat she longed to be near her family including her brother and sister who have given smith 13 nieces and nephews smith intended to be a larger part of their lives and yet there was something missing my definition of family was always in my twenties i'll get married have kids and have a big family like the one i grew up with said liz i think a lot of women can relate to the pressure that we feel that there's an order to do things smith an extremely caring person with a long history as a nurse wanted to have a child more than anything however as she neared 40 she was told that ivf would not be an open route to her and it wasn't just her age nor the fact that she would become a single mother her labs disqualified her when that door closed quickly and suddenly liz told reporters it was a bad day however on that very same day some other things changed for liz you see the day that she found out she was not a candidate for ivf was also the day that she met gisele smith first met gisele as the tiny baby girl was being walked in a stroller by another nurse giselle was born at just 29 weeks and weighed one pound 14 ounces her medical needs at birth were complex to say the very least she had spent over three months in the nicu at a different hospital on a ventilator doing so made her resistant to foods which meant that she needed a feeding tube giselle had been brought to franciscan children's hospital in boston which also happened to be where smith had taken on the role of senior director of nursing upon her return to boston smith had volunteered at the franciscan children's hospital when she first started her nursing career over 20 years earlier now it seemed that she had been led back there for a reason i went to see her every day smith told reporters it was kind of my reward for a long work day the pair seemed to bond instantly and soon everyone was taking note of their unique connection however there was something even sadder surrounding the circumstances of this little girl's birth at the time smith met gizelle no one had come to visit the baby in over five months that's right she was three months old when she was transferred to franciscan children's so as an eight-month-old she hadn't had a visit from anyone even her parents in over 150 days giselle was lucky enough to have a family of nurses who cared for her though hospital staffers were obsessed with the little girl with the big blue eyes and for those who knew both gisele and liz smith things seemed to just click perhaps it was fate perhaps it was intended by whatever forces drive the universe maybe it was just luck or maybe some very important people were looking out for both gisele and liz one nurse in particular asked smith one day if she had met little gisele i said no why she said she needs a medical foster home and you two are the perfect pair smith told cnn anchors she later told reporters that as she left the hospital that night all she could think about on her drive home was i'm going to foster this baby i'm going to be her mother liz saw that giselle was her route to becoming a mother not only was she the perfect person to care for the very sick little girl but she deeply and genuinely started caring for giselle from the moment that she had seen her however it wasn't going to be easy she required nearly full-time care when liz first brought gisele home she was being fed through a gastronomy tube 16 hours a day one night she was hooked up to the feed and the thought went into my head of losing her it made me sick to my stomach she told reporters i had to go there in my mind because it was still a reality but it made me sick to my stomach you can't just love a certain percentage you have to give it your all there was no one in the world more suited to caring for giselle during that difficult time in her life after all smith was the senior director of nursing at the franciscan children's hospital she had over 20 years of nursing under her belt and while she was single her home life was steady and secure enough for a child even one as sick as this little girl and with 13 potential cousins it's safe to say that she would go from being the infant no one visited to the absolute belle of the ball smith had a big family at home ready and waiting to take this very special little girl home however that was still a long way off while giselle's parents hadn't come in to see her in a long time they still had parental rights to the little girl just because a baby is born with drugs in her system doesn't mean that she is immediately put into foster care in fact this occurrence happens a lot more often than you'd probably think about 1 in 20 pregnant women use illicit drugs in new england where our story takes place it's uncommonly likely after all new england is the ground zero for americans heroin issues it is a very delicate subject and a little difficult to deal with from a legal standpoint the use of drugs during pregnancy is called fetal assault the law says that a woman who gives birth to an infant that has drugs in its system should be treated as a drug addict not as a criminal these mothers are seen as people with a substance abuse disorder and the hospitals in which these babies are born are encouraged to treat these mothers just as they would for any other disease or disorder hospitals are encouraged to use safe care but it is up to their discretion what that safe care should look like we don't know what happened with giselle's mother in particular but from what the franciscan children's has reported about this story it seemed like she was treated for substance abuse but not prosecuted before we judge gisele's parents too strictly it's important to remember why these laws must be lenient harsh laws may sound appealing to those of us who have never been in gisele's mother's situation after all how hard is it to go off drugs when you're pregnant however as anyone who has ever struggled with addiction knows it's a little more complex than that only a few states in the southern united states currently have harsh fetal assault laws on the books more states are looking to establish safe care plans for drug users who find themselves in this position harsh fetus assault laws can impact babies very negatively rather than the drug addicted mothers who gave birth to them pam bastin the co-founder of a consulting firm specializing in alcohol and drug abuse treatment is an advocate for safe care laws over fetal assault laws she mentions the fact that harsh laws mean people in tight and bad situations might lie to their doctors causing even more harm only 10 percent of babies born to addicted mothers are actually ever identified because not all infants display signs of nas these can include things as simple as yawning and stuffy noses all the way to much worse symptoms like tremors sleeping disorders and seizures lucky for gisele her nas was caught quickly which meant that she was able to start her treatment at the exact second she was born the commonwealth of massachusetts takes many things into account when deciding where to grant custody especially when it comes to a substance abuse situation included in this assessment is whether the child has been abandoned in the past whether the parents are sober or still using drugs and the relationship between the parents and the child so long before gisele's birth if the parents wish to reunite with her they had to get clean then they would have to establish a relationship with their daughter however the five months of abandonment still made a bad case before the judge it was something that would need a lot of work in the meantime though liz smith was permitted to provide giselle with a loving home however the end goal was always going to be reuniting gisele with her birth parents smith always kept that in mind and was always prepared for that eventuality she still remained distant from the little girl despite her fondness for her and she pictured herself as a caretaker rather than a mom soon though the birth parents started to disengage and skip meetings with smith and giselle this behavior made them ineligible for reunification with their daughter after giselle had been with smith for over nine months the state of massachusetts terminated the birth parents right to their daughter gisele was officially eligible for adoption smith actually had a rough time with this calling that day sad and emotional giselle had become such a big and important part of her life that it was very difficult to watch the two people who should have cared for her disengage completely and yet it was also a chance for both smith and giselle no one could possibly take better care for gisele than smith and smith had always wanted to be a mother it was truly beautiful to see that these two souls separated by 40 years had become so close instantly and that everything fell right into place for them to be together as mother and daughter gisele's birth parents had the right to appeal the state's ruling within 30 days however they did not whether this was due to their own personal issues or the fact that they were genuinely concerned not to be capable of caring for her and knew she was in good hands this made everything suddenly feel real for smith the day i got the phone call with the adoption date was the day that i was jumping up and down smith told msn they said october 18th and that's my grandmother's birthday and i just started crying however it still took until that very adoption day for liz smith to sink everything in when the judge referred to her as mom that's where i realized i was a parent it was easy to see that giselle couldn't wait to officially be smith's daughter wearing a giant smile beneath her big blue eyes in the courtroom she clung tightly to the woman who had always been a mother to her and everything but name as the judge said when a judge walks in the room everyone stands out of respect but today i stand in respect for you liz because you deserve the respect from this room a birthing day is a miracle but adopting a child from miles away is destiny that's what brought you two together at long last giselle catherine smith was ready to go home it was very hard to picture the sick little girl in the image below now giselle is a vibrant healthy and beautiful toddler she has appeared alongside her mom on multiple news programs ever since the news of her adoption got out and she doesn't seem at all like a baby who spent her first several weeks alone in sick she's a spitfire just like any other two-year-old with big beautiful blue eyes and furiously curly hair in an interview with franciscan children's liz said if you told me a year ago she would be asking for pizza i would not believe you she's doing remarkable it's just a slow progression but in the right direction both gisele and smith got a lot of attention in the news once the word spread about the sick little girl's adoption everyone from cnn cbs buzzfeed and even fox news wanted to have the sweet and mischievous gisele on their programs and mother and daughter were only too happy to share awareness of nas and the beautiful story of gisele's adoption they even appeared on the show today where gisele was adored by all the hosts their most recent achievement gisele has started to eat food she still relies on her feeding tube but she has developed a taste for avocados and pizza it's pretty easy to tell that these two are positively smitten with one another a caretaker her whole life liz smith was born to be a mother it might have taken a while for her to get there but she's all the richer inexperience for it and the formerly frail and tiny giselle has found a home where she will always be cared for giselle and smith are both so lucky to have found each other after 533 long intense days full of fear sickness but above all joy mother and daughter couldn't be happier they have built a family from two very deep and hurtful tragedies and because of this their family bond will always be strong