Connect What is the most rewarding part of being a mom?

Experiencing every milestone. After losing my first pregnancy at 17+5 weeks, I've learned to enjoy every middle-of-the-night pump, every snuggle, every milestone, and every stage my baby develops into. During the hard times, I remind myself that he is here, he is alive, and he is healthy- and that is the most rewarding part of motherhood. I can't explain the joy I feel knowing that I'm the first person in a room full of people that he would look for. My rainbow baby was the calm after a storm.

What is the biggest lesson motherhood has taught you?

I work in pediatrics and encounter other moms every day. Before I became a mom, I looked at medical documentation and would focus mainly on my patient- the child. It wasn't until after I became a mom that I truly saw all these moms. And when I mean see, I mean I could feel and understand exactly what they were feeling. With every patient, I now see the child and their mom as one. My son taught me resilience and patience in ways I never thought I could experience.

What would you do with $20,000?

I was the first in my family to pursue medical school, so I had to take on a lot of student loan debt (300K+) to get to where I am. I am still in medical training, and it's been difficult to afford childcare and expenses. The 20K would really help us pay back a small fraction of our loans as well as afford childcare for when my husband and I are at the hospital. The 20K would really help take some financial pressure off of us.