A little baby was able to graduate from the NICU and head home with her adoptive family just in time for Mother’s Day in 2021. Laura and James Cobb told Atrium Health that they had tried to conceive for seven years without success before deciding that they were called to adopt instead.
“We both wanted kids so bad,” James said. “Even before we got married we talked about it and we knew we wanted kids. So that was why the infertility was so hard for us, because we knew we were never going to have biological children.”
Just before Mother’s Day 2021, the couple got a call that there was a baby waiting for them in the NICU. The baby was very sick, but that didn’t deter the Cobbs. “My husband and I were like, ‘No, we’ve prayed enough! This is what we’ve been praying for! This is our daughter!'” Laura told People. “We are her parents, that is it,” she recalled. “And so, we met her the very next day.”
Baby Evelyn was born 10 days before the Cobb’s got the adoption call. She was premature and had a number of health issues, including pulmonary hypertension, kidney failure, and potential brain injury. “She was very, very sick, and required support with ecmo machines to take over her heart and lung functions,” said Dr. Jessica Clarke-Pounder, a neonatologist at Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital. “The adoption agency was actually not looking for a family for her, because we didn’t know if she was going to survive.”
Even though she didn’t have a family to visit her, the doctors treated Evelyn with the utmost care and she ended up pulling through, leading the adoption agency to call Laura and James. Laura said that when she heard there was a baby waiting for them, she was overcome with emotion — especially since she was first able to meet her daughter right before Mother’s Day.
“That little girl made me a mom,” Laura said. “And it is a title that I will never, ever, ever take for granted.”
Laura and James were full of gratitude for the fact that Evelyn’s birth mother chose life. “Her birth mom did the most incredible thing by placing her for adoption,” Laura said through tears. “And we’re so blessed to be the family that she got placed with.”
