ATLANTA — The bonds of true friendships can be hard to come by. Two Georgia moms had destiny come into play when they met at a Family Advisory Council meeting at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
Marissa Mayfield and April Means discovered that their newborn babies were born on the same day and were in the Children's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit together.
Not only that, but the two new moms also learned that they lived in the same subdivision.
The new moms found it hard to believe that their stories were so intertwined.
"There's no way like, how coincidental is that you know," said Means,
The pair later found out that they would continue their journeys together at Children’s with each of their babies undergoing tracheotomy procedures on the same day and were positioned next to each other while in the Technology-Dependent Intensive Care Unit.
"Oh, my goodness, like how you know how all of this came together and the type of experience this was. I'm just like, this has to be it has to be God, there's no other explanation for it," said Means.
Now both Brielle, Marissa’s daughter, and Corey, April’s son, who recently celebrated their first birthdays in February, are at home--happy and healthy.
Corey Means and Brielle Mayfield back home
"So coming into February, it was just such a special time to see our children and see my daughter, you know, be able to have come so far to be happy and to be developing, growing," said Mayfield.
The two moms were able to form what they call an unexpected friendship.
"So I think the unexpected friendship is what I call it but April, she's wonderful, you know, and I'm so grateful to have her as a friend," said Mayfield.
To Means, having someone going through the same experiences has made all the difference.
"There's nothing like having someone there, in the trenches with you who knows exactly what you're going through," she said.
Journey to Children's Hospital
Both mothers had come to Children's in Atlanta from other hospitals to receive specialized care for their babies.
Mayfield's baby girl, Brielle Mayfield aka Breezy was born at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital at 25 weeks and 3 days old. She only weighed one pound.
According to Mayfield, she was struggling to breath on her own.
Doctors at Wellstar decided that it was best to send her to Children's for a potential tracheostomy.
April's baby boy, Corey Means Jr.--aka CJ--was born at 37 weeks at Northside Hospital. He was born with hypotonia, meaning that he had a decreased muscle tone.
Doctors at Northside then found that CJ was unable to swallow and sent him to Children's to also consider a tracheostomy.
The new moms call each other lifelong friends and continue to stay connected.
"We're still tightly connected. We're still talking regularly about everything going on. And we're very much on a long-term journey together, which I am so grateful to God for," said Mayfield.
