Michelle Valiukenas

Michelle is a mom of three--two angel babies and one living child who will be 3 in July 2023. Her journey to parenthood was not easy. She and her husband dealt with unexplained infertility and went through IVF. She got pregnant on her first round of IVF and then miscarried. While pregnant for the second time, after their third round of IVF, she was hospitalized at 21 weeks after a standard OB appointment revealed a blood pressure reading of 188/110. Michelle spent a little over three weeks in the hospital before the doctors recommended delivery. Michelle gave birth via emergency c-section to Colette at 24 weeks, 5 days, and measuring small for her gestational age. Colette was whisked off to the NICU where she spent her short life of nine days before gaining her angel wings.

In the aftermath of her daughter's death and inspired by her journey and the desire to create a legacy for Colette, she and her husband founded The Colette Louise Tisdahl Foundation. The mission is to improve outcomes of pregnancy, childbirth, prematurity, and infancy, as well as aid in the grieving process through financial assistance, education, and advocacy.

Michelle still wanted a living child and searched high and low for a reason as to why she had developed preeclampsia and a solution for avoiding it happening in a future pregnancy. With no answers and no real plan, they tried again with no success until Michelle finally admitted how terrified she was to be pregnant again. They used a gestational carrier to bring home their son, Elliott, in July 2020.

Michelle will speak about her journey of loss, how it is to parent after loss and raise a surviving sibling, running a nonprofit, and anything else.