Gabby's having a baby!

Hello friends and neighbors,

Jess and I are so honored to be supporting our lovely housecleaner, Gabby, with the birth of her first baby - a girl! (We are girl moms times 4!) Gabby has been absolutely invaluable to us. She has been with us for several years and has always gone above and beyond, is so accountable, and quickly became an indispensable part of our lives. At the age of 18, she moved to the U.S. alone and started her career cleaning houses, ours being among them. She was fortunately granted a Visa as a refugee, and with that, she quickly built a thriving, but small business. This past year, with the news of having a baby, also came the challenge of staying home post-partum and not earning an income while she cares for her infant. She will be home with her baby girl for just 40 days (!!) during which time she has no family to support her, and no income. And, her 40-day-old will go into childcare so she can return to work as she needs income to support them. Her partner is a loving man and so excited to be a dad, but he is also working, and needs to, and will not be able to take much time to help Gabby and the baby. Both Jess and I were with very little family support when we became moms, and we know how hard that can be. That said, we had the means to hire help by way of a Doula, baby nurse, and babysitters. We were able to take at least 3 months of maternity leave. We had the access to resources and friends who helped when our babies didn't latch, didn't sleep and were colicky. We want to help Gabby through one of the most profound, yet most challenging experiences in a woman's life, and gift her access to a Doula to be with her in the hospital, and for a few hours of care for the weeks following her birth. We also want to set up a "meal train" to essentially offer her clean healthy meals for a few weeks (Like The Home Cook CT offers!) so that she can stay healthy and fit and be able to return to a very physically demanding job when she is ready. So, that's our story and we would welcome any little bit of support financially you are willing to share. We are so blessed to live in our community where we have so much support to ask for this gift. We also have a small Amazon wish list we created. She has very little living space, but we added some things that were absolute luxuries when we had babies (but also the essentials). Thank you so much for considering donating to help Gabby in this incredible but as we all know intense adventure of motherhood! xoxo Sara and Jess.