From pain to joy: Mother’s Day has special new meaning for NC family

JOHNSTON COUNTY, N.C. — On Sunday, Americans will celebrate mothers and the mothers of our children. But for thousands of women, the joy of motherhood is out of reach.

“Almost surreal” is how Laura Cobb described the feeling of people wishing her a happy Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day had always been a painful day for Laura and James Cobb. The couple had prayed for a child, but they weren’t sure if they’d ever be parents.

“We experienced infertility for almost seven years,” Laura Cobb said. “We kind of started this tradition a few years ago of going off-grid for Mother’s Day weekend because it was so painful.”

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Then, days before Mother’s Day 2021, she got a lifechanging phone call. A baby girl named Evelyn Joy was born at Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital and she was looking for a forever home.

“That was on Friday, we met our daughter on the next day, Saturday,” Cobb remembered. “And I spent my very first Mother’s Day in the NICU holding my baby girl.”

One of the doctors even bought Evelyn an outfit for the occasion.

“At that very moment everything was worth it,” Cobb said. “Every wound, anxiety went out the window.”

Doctors at Atrium Health quickly updated her on Evelyn’s health. She spent 29 days in the NICU after doctors resuscitated her and treated her for kidney failure.

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But all those challenges are now in the past. Evelyn just turned one year old and is thriving.

“She’s just the happiest girl. She wakes up smiling, she goes to bed smiling, she’s just so happy,” Cobb said.

And on this Mother’s Day, there’s another reason to smile. Not just for Cobb, but for another woman who continues to love on Evelyn too.

“We’re going to celebrate her birth mom as well,” Cobb said.

And then, create new memories as a family of three.

“Just love on each other and be together as a family and cook breakfast, go to church do all the things together,” Cobb said. “And that’s the most important thing to us.”

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