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Nurse Notices No One Shows Up to Take Care of 14-Year-Old and Her Triplets - So She Adopts Them All
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Nurse Notices No One Shows Up to Take Care of 14-Year-Old and Her Triplets - So She Adopts Them All

Every once in a while we hear a story so moving that it shakes us up and reminds us how much power we really have to put pure love into the world. NICU nurse Katrina Mullen, is one of those people who reminds us how doing the right thing — no questions asked — is the bravest thing we can do.Mullen was working at Community Hospital North, Indianapolis, when life threw her for a loop.Mullen's job was straightforward but not easy: give sick premature babies expert, around-the-clock care. Under such stressful working conditions, you'd think 'how much worse could a day on the job' be?For Katrina Mullen, when one teenager walked through those hospital doors to see her sick triplets stuck in incubators behind a glass? She realized it could be much worse. A 14 Year-Old-Girl Gave Birth to Triplets — 3 Months EarlyToday ShowWhen 14-year-old Shariya Small entered the NICU at Community Hospital North, she was just that — small. She kept her head down and she didn't take up a lot of space. To Nurse Mullen's trained eye, it seemed like Shariya Small was lost and alone, but she didn't realize how right she was.Like most teenagers, Small was just a young girl trying to keep her head above water. But unlike most teenagers, she had three mouths to feed."I was speechless. I was panicking, but I had no time to panic."Shariya Small, PEOPLEYes, at only 14 years old, Shariya Small became a mother of not one, not two, but three babies. To make matters more unmanageable, Small had also gone into labor unexpectedly at 26 weeks — only 6 months in to her pregnancy.Battling the Fight of Her LifeOne thing was for certain, Shariya's three babies were definitely fighters. After surviving an incredibly dangerous birth journey, her little ones — Serenitee, Samari, and Sarayah — held on to dear life.Small's babies were immediately dispatched to the emergency unit where they would stay under observation for quite sometime. During her frequent visits, Shariya Small minded her own business, but thankfully, not everyone was "minding" theirs.After 5 months of visiting her premature triplets, NICU nurse Mullen couldn't help but notice one thing about Shariya Small.Her Triplets Were Hospitalized for 5 MonthsLooking back, it's clear to Katrina Mullen that when Small came to visit her triplets in the hospital, something was very wrong with this picture.“She’d be there alone for days at a time sitting at her babies’ bedside.”Katrina MullenRight away, Mullen wanted to step in — but she didn't know how to. She definitely had questions she wanted answered. Who was taking care of Small? Why did she spend all her time alone? She never brought snacks with her...so when was she eating?Still Mullen didn't react. She stayed patient. She could tell Small was afraid and closed off. The then-eighth grader was reluctant to share any personal information about her family or life, but thankfully this was one nurse who didn't scare easy.“I knew if I gave her time, she’d likely open up to me.”Katrina MullenLittle did Mullen know just how right she was.A Nurse Told This Teen Mom One Secret — And It Changed EverythingRobert Scheer/IndyStar/USA TODAY NETWORKDuring her routine hospital visits, Shariya Small shared how out of place she felt. “I felt like I couldn’t relate to all the other moms on the floor,” Small later told PEOPLE.But she would soon find out that there was someone who understood her situation better than she could have ever imagined.And it was the last person she expected.When the time was right, Nurse Mullen revealed to Small she too had been a teen mom, but had given her baby up for adoption."I wanted her to know that I was a teen mom, and that I knew how scary it was.” Katrina MullenAfter that, everything changed. Their shared experience made these two moms feel closer than ever. They bonded over their similar experiences, and Nurse Mullen was quick to share tips with Small when it came to taking care of her little ones.When the triplets were finally ready to leave the hospital, Mullen gave Small her phone number — little did she know how often Small would be calling.Needless to say, it caught her attention in all the right ways.A Home Visit Proved It Was Not a Place for Her to Raise BabiesIt quickly became clear Small didn't have much support at home. In fact, it's why she called so often for advice. On her day off Nurse Mullen couldn't keep her mind off of Shariya Small. So she decided to do something about it.She followed her instincts and thank goodness she did.Worried about her, Mullen visited Small, who lived an hour away with a family member. When Mullen arrived she was shocked at the living conditions Shariya Small and her three young babies were in.Mullen grew even more concerned when she noticed how underweight Small's son, Samari, was. Once again, her instincts were correct.After Mullen's visit, Samari would soon be hospitalized, leading Child Protective Services to step in. She Saved Her Family From the Foster Care SystemCourtesy Katrina MullenAfter assessing the situation, Child Protective Services decided that Small and her three infants should go into foster care. But Mullen knew Small's family would be torn apart. There was no way a foster family would take in a teenage girl and her three preemie babies. But she knew she would.Katrina Mullen was the fearless a single mother of five boys: Sevonté Sumpter-Bey, 23, Shai Sumpter-Bey, 22, SeQuayvion Sumpter-Bey, 16, ShaKovon Sumpter-Bey, 15 and JJ Mullen, 8."The caseworker said that Shariya and her babies were being removed from their home,” Mullen recalled. “And then she goes, ‘Shariya said she’d like to come live with you. Would you be willing?’”Katrina MullenAdding four more loved ones to her family was a no brainer. She took all the necessary training to become a foster parent just in time to intercept the conflict.Just Believing in Someone Can Change Their Life Even though Mullen could have easily turned her back on Small she didn't. She was already a single mom to 5 kids with an exhausting job. She could have easily said "it's out of my hands."But she did the exact opposite.“I just kept thinking, ‘I have to do this,'” Mullen explained. “I knew Shariya was intelligent and resilient and she just needed a safe place to put her roots. I knew it would be hard, but we’d figure it out.”Katrina MullenMullen didn't see this teenage mom and her premature triplets as a burden on her money and resources.She saw their predicament as an opportunity to change five lives: Shariya Smalls, the triplets, and her own.More from Goalcast:

Woman Marries the Love of Her Life - Then Finds Out She Shares a Crazier Connection With Her Mother-In-Law
Uplifting News

Woman Marries the Love of Her Life - Then Finds Out She Shares a Crazier Connection With Her Mother-In-Law

We often hear about love at first sight and couples whose destiny is to be together. Many of us dream of finding a love like that, one that seems like it was written in the stars. One young woman thought she found the love of her life when she met him at the bank. Little did she know, they had a crazier connection than they could even imagine.His Mother Was a Labor and Delivery NursePhoto by Vicki YdeWhen Kelsey Poll was born in 2001 she almost didn’t make it. Her mother Stacy had a rare condition called velamentous cord insertion, a complication that occurs when the umbilical cord from a fetus doesn’t insert into the placenta correctly. The nurse on duty during Kelsey’s birth, Mary Ann West, never forgot the delivery. It was one of the scariest and most miraculous she had ever witnessed. While Stacy writhed in pain and recovered, Mary Ann counted Kelsey’s ten fingers and ten toes. “She touched Kelsey before I did. She put her on my stomach and let me see that she had 10 fingers and 10 toes,” Stacy Poll said.A Picture Is Worth 1000 WordsKelsey met Tyler West years later and the two instantly fell in love. What they didn't know was that their connection had started the day Kelsey was born.When Kelsey met Mary Ann the first few times, she felt like she recognized her but she couldn’t place her. Then, while looking through her baby album with Tyler, she stumbled on a photo of the nurse who had helped deliver her. Stacy was with the couple, and she immediately put two and two together.“I turned to [Tyler] and said, ‘That looks like your mom. Is that your mom?'”They couldn’t believe the coincidence, so they decided to investigate further.“We looked at the certificate with the footprints and there was a signature. I asked Tyler if that was his mom’s handwriting, and he said that it was definitely his mom’s handwriting.”A Family AffairKelsey and Tyler quickly got engaged and then married -- the two had never been more sure of anything in their lives. They knew they were meant to be. Kelsey owed her life in part to Mary Ann’s care in the delivery ward, and Mary Ann had always been impacted by the resilience baby Kelsey had shown the day she was born. The two families knew right away that they were meant to morph into one big happy group. “It was one of those things that confirmed to me that Tyler was someone I wanted to be with for the rest of my life, and it also made me feel closer to his mom and his family,” Kelsey said.You truly never know who you will cross paths with in life and the impact they will have on you.More from Goalcast:Woman Leaves Her Newborn Baby Girl in a Drop Box – The Firefighter Who Found Her Just Became Her DadParents Abandon Baby at Hospital After Being “Horrified” by His Face – Then One Woman Takes Him in as Her Own

Concerned Nurse Finds Out That Teen Mom of Triplets Is All Alone So She Takes Matters Into Her Own Hands
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Concerned Nurse Finds Out That Teen Mom of Triplets Is All Alone So She Takes Matters Into Her Own Hands

They say it takes a village to raise a child but for Shariya Small, she was a village of one.In 2020, Shariya gave birth to premature triplets. Having triplets is scary in the best of circumstances but having them in the NICU, hooked up to wires and machines, takes terrifying to a whole new level. Not to mention what made it even more difficult is that at 14 years old, she was still just a child herself.And without any type of support system to help her she was facing the grim reality of having to raise three babies, all on her own.That is, until her NICU nurse, Katrina Mullen, 45, made the choice to adopt her. A decision that changed all of their lives.What Led Up To a NICU Nurse Adopting A Teen Mother of TripletsTriplets Serenitee, Samari, and Sarayah were born at just 26 weeks, weighing less than 2 pounds each. They spent more than five months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Community Hospital North in Indianapolis. It was a scary time for the young mother.Once a teen mother herself and now a seasoned nurse, Katrina understood what Shariya was going through. After noticing that the 8th grader never seemed to have anyone with her she made it her mission to do everything she could to help.She’d be there alone for days at a time sitting at her babies’ bedside,” Katrina told TODAY.com. "I immediately thought I needed to give her a shoulder to lean on."It didn't take long for a strong bond to form. Even after being discharged from the hospital and moving in with an aunt, the two remained close. Shariya would often call Katrina or FaceTime her for advice.The Call That Changed EverythingAdoption Day | Katrina Mullen FacebookAfter one of the triplets was hospitalized for "failure to thrive" the Department of Social Services (DSS) investigated Shariya's living conditions. The caseworker determined that Shariya and her three infants would need to enter foster care unless someone could take them in.That someone was Katrina.Already a single mom to five with three (ages 16, 14, and 7) still living at home, she didn't hesitate."Just from being a nurse, I knew there would not be many foster homes that would take a teen mother with three kids...I didn't want them to be separated. I wanted them to stay together," she said.Katrina enrolled in foster parent classes and Shariya, Serenitee, Samari, and Sarayah moved in.668 days later, Katrina officially adopted Shariya and became an instant grandmother to her three children.Paying It Forward(IndyStar)Today, the triplets are toddlers and they're thriving. So is their mother. The now 17-year-old has graduated from high school and has already been accepted into college with an academic scholarship.And Katrina couldn't be more proud.“I’m so proud to be Shariya’s mom," she said. “She just amazes me every day. When she’s frustrated with the babies, she never raises her voice. She’s just blossoming into this incredible woman.”Shariya hopes to pay it forward one day. She plans to pursue a career in social work, helping teen moms. Katrina has created a GoFundMe to go towards setting up Shariya and the triplets "for her future college experience and adventures this coming fall." So far it's raised nearly $42K."This is a success story and the success revolves around her. I just gave her a place to put her roots and to flourish where she needed to grow," Katrina told Today.A success story indeed.