MISS Facilitator, Alexandria, MN

   My name is Heidi Ciepielinski, and to describe myself in a sentence a single paragraph is impossible. There are far too many important pieces of my puzzle to be summed up so easily (hence the reason that this bio has taken me so long to write!).
  Most importantly, I am a wife and mother. Mike and I have been married for the past 18 years. After a 12-year stretch of city life in a Minneapolis suburb, we opted to return to the same quiet rural Minnesota town where I was born and raised. Austin was 3 when we moved here in 1997. He has grown into an active 9 1/2yr old, loving all that this little town has to offer. Except maybe the smell of manure in the fall….
  Then June 18th, 2000, our sweet little daughter Natalie was born. Life was as perfect as we ever imagined it could be, we had a beautiful little baby girl and our son was a proud and loving big brother. But life changed when Natalie was diagnosed with a severe heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome on her 2nd day of life. She was transferred to the Minneapolis Children’s Hospital where her condition was stabilized and where we had the opportunity to hold, rock, love, and appreciate her until her 6th day of life, when she underwent open-heart surgery. Although her surgery went well, her little body couldn’t recover from the trauma. We were shocked and devastated by her death, just 5 hours after her surgery had ended.
  In Sept. 2002, we were blessed with another son. I like to believe that Adam knew his big sister in heaven before he came to us, maybe even that she might have helped with God’s selection. Adam is an adorable, good-natured, happy little boy who has brought so much joy back into our lives and our home. I kiss him a million times a day and think about how very lucky we are.
  After Natalie died, I found little or no support in our area. Like Joanne, I called many disconnected numbers and left messages that would never be returned. I was desperately seeking help, I needed to talk to other mothers who were enduring the pain and sorrow of losing their babies, and I needed to know that others had survived. Then I found my way to the MISS website, I met other mothers like myself, and realized that I wasn’t alone anymore. The MISS Foundation was a big part of the reason that I survived.
  Today, I am the facilitator for the MISS Infant Loss Support Group in Alexandria, MN (serving a 60 mile radius including more than 25 towns). It is my goal that bereaved parents in our area know that they do not have to suffer alone, that there is comfort and support for them. I am also working to make the horrific experience of having a child die a bit better for those who are newly grieving than it was for me 3 years ago. It’s simply what I feel in my heart that I must do.
  I am also a part-time RN who has taken care of everyone from the elderly in the past 20 years, and has a special place in her heart for both extremes. I’m also very active in my community, often volunteering for way too many projects. Like most volunteers, I seem to have trouble saying “no”.
“A simple act of kindness can change the course of a lifetime”….