I carry your heart

I recently learned about maternal-fetal microchimerism. During pregnancy, the mother's cells transfer to the fetus and cells from the fetus transfer to the mother. These cells have been found in mothers decades after giving birth, as skin cells, liver, heart, and brain cells. There are many interesting articles theorizing the science around it and I've enjoyed reading quite a few of them. More than that, I've thought about this every day since first reading about it, as I think of Ella, and I'm just so beyond grateful and honored to know that I carry her in a way I hadn't realized before. And as I've always known, a part of me went with her when she died. Mentally, emotionally, spiritually... and physically.

I carry her heart.

Today is Bereaved Mother's Day. Every day, I am her mother.