Welcome to Women Who Empower, the new monthly series here at Live and Love Out Loud that celebrates women who use their online presence to empower others. The Women Who Empower series was born out of a desire to use my blog for more than just a few good laughs. I want to make a difference, effect some kind of change in our world and I want to support, encourage and celebrate women.

Everyday women like Kristine.

And her sweet little angel baby, Cora.

Breastfeeding is one of the most intimate and sacred moments a mother and child share; often regarded as the fondest of memories. The weight of a baby in her mother’s arms; her soft skin. The gentle sound as baby suckles at the breast. The intoxicating smell of a brand new babe – nothing else has the power to open the flood gates of let-down than the smell of a baby. And those sweet milky kisses. It’s the stuff that motherhood dreams are made of.

But not all dreams have a happy ending.

While nursing her daughter early one morning, Kristine realized that something had gone horribly wrong. While in Kristine’s loving and protective arms, Cora had suddenly stopped breathing. Doctors and nurses worked frantically to save Kristine’s little girl. But it was too late.

Cora was only 5 days old.

If there’s one thing I know for sure it’s that even in the midst of heartache and tragedy, a mother’s love can move mountains. Kristine’s love for Cora is doing just that. After an undetected congenital heart defect – or CHD – took Cora’s life, Kristine vowed to share Cora’s Story with the world. She’s a mother on a mission who’s fighting to spread awareness of CHD and saving lives, all in the name of Cora.

Kristine is effecting life-saving changes in her native Indiana through Cora’s Law, a law that will set protocols for screening newborns via the pulse oximetry screening test in order to detect – among other things – certain forms of CHD. Pulse oximetry screenings are non-invasive, cost less than a diaper change and above all, pulse ox screenings have the potential to save lives.

Cora was created with love, was showered with love when she came into the world and when she left, love still remained.

Kristine’s love for Cora has been a buoy in rough seas. It’s her love for Cora that keeps her moving, fighting to spread awareness of CHD and effecting change on a large scale in order to save precious lives. Cora continues to live through Kristine and together they are moving mountains.

Make no mistake about it, Kristine and her little angel Cora are women who empower.

Here’s what Kristine had to say about love, loss and effecting major change in the name of Cora:

Though Cora lived for only 5 days before taking her last breath in your arms due to an undetected congenital heart defect, I imagine that those 5 days were the most glorious days of your life. How did Cora’s presence here on earth change you and what can you share about your sweet little angel and the brief time she spent with you?

I love this question. I remember thinking that the entire world looked differently. I felt incredible love. In fact, I still feel that love. It’s why I work for her still. I was and still am a different person. She changed me. It was trans-formative beyond words. No one and nothing could have prepared me for that love.

Your post about Cora’s funeral moved me to tears. I can’t even begin to imagine a loss of that magnitude. That you held your little girl one last time before placing her back in her little Noah’s basket, walking away and leaving her there in the funeral home really rocked me to the core. The finality of it all – the walking away – must have been so incredibly overwhelming. How does one walk away, so to speak, and continue to move on and live in the face of such a devastating loss? What advice do you have for others who are grieving the loss of a child as well?

Oh that post. I cried the entire time I wrote it. Remembering those moments. I remember feeling so lost leaving the funeral home without her. I am lost. It’s not something you really get over for sure, but life goes on around you. Albeit, on a new time schedule. Time has been twisted for me. In some ways, I live every day in those five days, and in some ways those five days feel impossibly long ago. My heart breaks for other grieving mothers. I feel for them so. I feel lucky that I can write and express myself while others grieve in silence. I encourage moms to cling to that love. Cling to it and remember it. Also, to seek other grieving mothers for comfort, but to remember we’re all a bit different. For support, try groups like Faces of Loss, Faces of Hope.

Cora’s passing has certainly been a catalyst in your determination to save as many lives as possible through Cora’s Law (Indiana Senate Bill 552). Your efforts have not gone unnoticed and you and Cora are making a difference. Please tell us about Cora’s Law and the importance of performing pulse oximetry tests on newborn babies shortly after birth.

I worked with my Senator to introduce the Indiana bill. It’s passed the Senate. The law basically instructs the Indiana Department of Health to develop protocols for every newborn in the state to be screened. While pulse oximetry screening doesn’t catch every defect, it catches some of the most lethal, including possibly Cora’s. She wasn’t screened, so we won’t ever know for sure. But, there’s a good chance it would have. The screening is non-invasive and cheap. In fact, it’s really a basic vital sign used in all areas of medicine.

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Kristine is an amazing woman who’s dedicated to saving lives in the name of her little angel, Cora. Do you have an empowering woman in mind for the Women Who Empower series? I’d love to hear from you. Click on over to the Women Who Empower page and tell me all about her! And if you’d like to learn more about the women who were featured in the Women Who Empower series in the past, just click on over.

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