“I never really knew love until I became a mom.” These were the words of the 30-year old pediatric nurse, Jess Hamm, in an interview with Inside Edition. Jess adopted twin 14-month old babies she’s seen at Wolfson Children’s Hospital, the hospital she’s working in in Jacksonville, Florida.
In March 2017, Jess saw Delilah, an abused baby admitted to the hospital. Delilah was severely malnourished, had broken bones, had a fractured skull, and bleeding in her brain. The poor baby was just skin and bones.
Jess said that Delilah was very weak, but still held her hand when she walked over to see the baby. That’s when the pediatric nurse realized that she wanted to take Delilah home. She wanted to be more than just the baby’s nurse, Jess wanted to be her mom.
“I just said, ‘Oh my gosh, I want to take you home. I already love you,'” Jess said.
Later that day, Jess found out that Delilah has a twin sister named Caroline, who was also being treated at the children’s hospital. Caroline was abused too, and had some healed fractures on her body.
According to Jess, she couldn’t stop thinking about the girls, and she made the ultimate decision to adopt both of them. The very next day, she got in touch with the case worker at the Florida Department of Children and Families.
She provided all the necessary information to the case worker, who wasted no time and visited her on the same day. Jess remembered that it was a Friday when that happened, and the following Monday, she got the approval to take Caroline home — and she did. That was actually the first time Jess met Caroline.
The pediatric nurse said that when her co-workers at the hospital heard that she were adopting the twins, they got together and donated toys, clothes, and other things for the babies.
Jess immediately bought two car seats and two cribs for the twins.
Despite all the preparations, though, Delilah’s condition still worried Jess. The baby had to undergo a surgery to have a drain placed in her brain and Jess wasn’t certain if Delilah would make it.
Jess said, “To be honest I didn’t know what kind of state she was gonna come out in,” Hamm said.
“If she was developmentally delayed, If she was even going to survive the injury. So that first month was very stressful. She wasn’t eating. She wasn’t really responsive. I mean she would smile a little bit. She would hold your hand but she was so weak.”
But, thankfully, everything went well. Jess was finally able to take the baby home to live with her and Caroline after a month.
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Months after she took care of Delilah and Caroline, the adoption was finalized. Now, a year after Jess first met the twins, they have made amazing progress.
And, in celebration of a year of being together, Jess will take the twins to Disney World.
Jess said that she hopes their story would inspire other people to adopt other children as well.
Watch this new family’s heartwarming story below.