Jennifer H. is a woman in her late 30s from Edmonton, Alberta. She has a tattoo of a Klimt painting on her inner bicep. It has been customized to represent her daughter, who is a redhead, and it is located close to her chest where her daughter lay.
When her daughter was conceived, she knew immediately that “they wanted to welcome her into this world surrounded by love and peace in [the] home that they built planning for [their] family.” Everything was planned when “unexpectedly, she arrived at 24 weeks…weighing 1 lb 10 oz.” Jennifer’s dreams were shattered, and everything was uncertain. Jennifer spent the next 105 days in their local NICU, as their daughter was very sick. Jennifer shares, “The one thing that we were sure of is that she knew we were her parents and that when we held her, she did better.” Jennifer experienced a myriad of emotions. She held her daughter skin-to-skin every day while she grieved the loss of her dreams about becoming a mother, blaming her body for failing them while also loving it for producing the milk that nourished and healed their baby. She held her every day from 1 lb to 6 lbs, when she was able to go home. Jennifer says, “Feeling her heartbeat next to mine and her chest [rise] and fall as she learned to breathe on her own will never escape my mind.”
When reflecting on her experience, Jennifer says, “I went through a lot of therapy to process the trauma of having a critically ill child and traumatic birth. This tattoo is a reminder that we are strong and that we can do hard things. That love conquers all.”
STORIES FROM THE SKIN 