Hi there! I’m Bre.
I’m a severe preeclampsia survivor and NICU mama navigating motherhood after pregnancy and birth trauma. I decided to create Mothermade as a way to share my journey and connect with others who have walked similar paths.
What to expect from Mothermade.
Motherhood is already a beautiful, messy, wild adventure. So when you add pregnancy and birth trauma on top of it, there’s a lot to process. My hope for Mothermade is to talk openly and honestly about not just the beautiful parts of motherhood, but the messy ones, too. I’ll talk healing, health, hardships and navigating mothering and family planning after trauma.
My journey to motherhood was anything but easy.
At 25 weeks, I was hospitalized with severe preeclampsia—and subsequently diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I stayed in the perinatal special care unit for 5 weeks before our precious daughter Adeline was born 10 weeks early at just 30 weeks and 3 days. She weighed just 4lbs 5.6oz and had to fight every day to learn how to breathe and eat on her own. Adeline ended up spending 7 weeks in the NICU—and my husband and I were forever changed.
When I was admitted to the hospital, it was about 2 weeks before my baby showers and I had grand plans to finish Adeline’s nursery. I was in peak nesting mode and had just gotten back from a work trip to Los Angeles. Being hospitalized changed the entire trajectory of what was supposed to be the most joyful time in our lives—everything felt scary and uncertain. And needless to say, fighting for both of our lives in the hospital meant very little mental capacity for anything else, including nesting and finishing the nursery.
I felt lucky that we had so much support from family and friends to finish the nursery (one thing that finally felt like it was in my control even if I was having to make decisions and direct all over FaceTime). And when I finally came home, having the nursery done was such a blessing—there was no capacity or time to think about it as we were on to the next battle advocating for and fighting alongside our preemie girl.
Finding purpose in the hardship.
All of the amazing support we received while going through this 3-month battle inspired the NICU Nursery Project, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization I founded that designs and builds at-home nurseries for NICU families in need. Having experienced such loss in my journey to motherhood, I decided I wanted to use my passion for interior design to spread as much light and love as I can to as many NICU families as possible.
Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and publication archives.
Stay up-to-date
Never miss an update—every new post is sent directly to your email inbox. For a spam-free, ad-free reading experience, plus audio and community features, get the Substack app.
Join the crew
Be part of a community of people who share your interests. Participate in the comments section, or support this work with a subscription.
