05/05/2025
the mariposa medal 🦋✨
when we had jude, and were met with the towering waves of shock, grief, and helplessness, there were incredible people who held our hands and braved those oncoming swells alongside us.
our care team, both from jeni’s ob-gyn practice and from the staff at good samaritan hospital, were not only top-notch professionals but also wildly compassionate humans. they are a big part of why we wanted to create such an award: to honor the hard work they do and the difference they make to patients like us, especially during days that it didn’t seem like anything could.
we have found in our personal experience as well as talking with others that families that have gone through pregnancy and infant loss often feel like the world has moved on, and their child(ren) are left behind, and they struggle to find reasons to talk about their child in a present tense instead of in the heartbreaking “would have, could have, should have”.
our dream for this medal is to give these families a way to speak about their children while also celebrating the people who sat with them in the dark.
the mariposa medal is a nominated recognition of local medical professionals- physicians, nurses, medical assistants, hospital staff, OR staff, NICU staff, therapists, doulas, and more- who have made a profound impact on patient families that have gone through pregnancy or infant loss.
it is a public expression of gratitude from the families themselves to their care team for their kindness, their empathy, their compassion, and their support that exceeded past typical professional-patient relationships. our small way to reflect back the light these professionals shared with these families when they needed it the most.
we were beyond excited to launch this last year at the walk and awarded the first ones to four beautiful people:
🦋Mary Hughett, RN, our labor and delivery nurse who funnily enough wasn’t even supposed to be working that day but made such a lasting impact on our hearts in her kind care and attention to detail and the way she handled our grief with gentle loving hands. We found out later Mary is also a loss mom to Ella, and it felt even more profound to have had her there and be one of a few to meet Jude
🦋Cheyenne Brown, CNM, our midwife who was our lighthouse that night and the morning after. She was in the room with us when we found out, physically held our hands throughout everything, walked alongside Jeni to the OR; her calm kindness and wisdom helped steady us
🦋Dr Shwetha Manoharan, OB-GYN, who was not only in the OR with us and helped gently guide our sweet boy into the world, but also would make the beautiful decision to mention Jude at any follow up appointment Jeni had in the future. The awe at having a medical professional talk about him without prompting, “and Jude would have been four this summer” did so much for our healing, and to be seen as parents, and grieving still, and not just the patient at 11:45
🦋Megan Lobsinger, LPCC, our counselor who we could easily write a book of gratitude about for the past 6 years of witnessing our grief and walking with us. She continues to be a true cornerstone of healing and has not once flinched from the trauma, pain, and darkness we lay at her feet, and instead helps us unravel and understand and feel
we now invite cincinnati tri-state families to nominate your care team members that made such a difference to you.
email us at [email protected] with your stories by may 26th for this year’s mariposa medal.
