My journey to becoming a mother has not been the most picture-perfect one. I can remember being in my senior year of high school and writing out my life goals. One of which was to be married by 24 and have three children. Well, let’s say I did get married at 24, but the number of times I would get pregnant did not line up with the number of children I would birth nor see living. In 2010 I experienced my first miscarriage. It was the most devastating thing, but I was able to receive comfort and to try again. In 2013, I became pregnant with my son to whom we decided to name William Jr. I was 28 years old, and I was in excellent health. However, at 21 weeks, I had a routine test that came back inconclusive. The doctors initially thought something was wrong but couldn’t figure out what. At 23 weeks, after severe dizzy spells and headaches, I was admitted to the hospital with a blood pressure of 155/106. It was determined I had preeclampsia. I was told I would remain in the hospital until full term but sadly, that day came earlier than expected. At 28 weeks, I was rushed to surgery for an emergency c-section. My son’s heart rate had stopped, and they needed to take him out. William Jr. was born on September 19, 2013, at 4:17 pm weighing in at 15.3 oz. Over the next few weeks, my husband and I would go back and forth from my house to the NICU, bringing my pumped milk, praying, and capturing moments. We lived 56 min away, so this was not an easy drive. For us, it was worth it. On Oct 31, 2013, my son got pneumonia and had to go through a series of antibiotics to clear up the infection. It was a devastating time because it was the first time he had already been taken off the ventilator. My son's lungs were so underdeveloped, and he just couldn’t get well. There were good days and bad days and some very, very devastating days. Though he was a fighter, he just couldn’t hold on. On November 8, 2013, my son William Kilgore Jr died. I didn’t think I would make it. It was so surreal. Friends tried to comfort my husband and me, and my family were at our house around the clock but the pain and grief of seeing my son die was life crushing. I never imagined anything like this ever happening. Never did I think my senior year of high school, I would be writing a reflection story like this one. After my son‘s death, I experienced another miscarriage in 2014. That pregnancy was by far the turning point for me and my faith. I told God that I was done trying, that I didn’t want this hurt or pain anymore, that for me, he was enough, and that if being a mother in the biological sense was not his will, then I trusted his judgment. My husband and I moved on and began life together as a family of two ,but in 2015 I found out I was pregnant. I was so nervous I wasn’t sure how to feel but I took all the precautions my doctors told me to take. I found myself at some doctor’s appointment every week sometimes twice. It was a trying time and I made so many sacrifices but it was all worth it. On July 15 2015 I gave birth to my daughter Harper Avery Kilgore. She was born at 35 weeks and has a hearing loss as a result of her premature birth. She is a blessing and an example of a miracle in my life. My journey towards expanding my family did not stop there as I have experienced two miscarriages even as early as 2020. My story and my life‘s journey towards becoming a mother has not been an easy one; it has been a challenging one. However, I would be remiss not to mention that though it has been difficult my journey it has been one full of faith, full of trust in God and full of hope. In 2020 during after the virtual March of Dimes Walk I shared my journey on Facebook for the first time ever. I didn’t know what would happen or who would watch I just felt God leading me to do as after the memorial walk we did. To my surprise I had hundreds of viewers and since 2000 views and counting. I hope that my story will help other women feel brave to share theirs. Not everyone’s story is the same but everyone’s story is valuable, everyone's story has hope and everyone’s story leads to testimony. As an African-American mother I understand the statistics around the devastation of pregnancy and prenatal care and the death rate of mothers and infants of color. I understand that there are inequities in accessing proper healthcare. I understand that doctors need more education as it pertains to caring for African-American mothers and women of color in particular. It is my hope that in my partnership with March of Dimes that I will be able to help bring more awareness towards these disparities and one day find out the specific reason as to why this is happening and aid in change.