Today I'm thinking of two mothers, both of whom I have written recent articles about.

The most recent is Tammy Mundell, a mother of five, killed in an ambulance crash April 28 in Coolidge, Ariz. She was driving the ambulance and was 8 1/2 months pregnant. This Mother's Day must be pure hell for the family. My heart is with them. Article link here.

Tammy's husband, Robert Mundell, was there but stood away and watched the activity going on around him. In response to the many messages left at an online message board at the Southwest Ambulance Web site, Mundell posted a reply Saturday evening, which read in part:

"I can't believe the responses here from co-workers to family friends to people we never knew," he wrote. "We are doing our best to deal with this tragedy. Our Southwest Ambulance and IAFF family have helped so much in everything and let me focus on myself and children. I can never say enough how much I appreciate it. We always saw her as a hero and are glad to see that so many others view Tammy as such."

According to one of his closest friends, Jeremy Boesl of Mesa, a flood of emotion has enveloped his friend since his wife died Wednesday afternoon in Coolidge while on a transport call. Her ambulance collided with a gravel truck after another vehicle failed to yield.

Friends for seven years, since they worked at Circuit City together, Boesl calls Robert "one of the best people I've ever known."

"The biggest thing is the kids," Boesl said. "That's what's been going through my mind. Now that I have a kid, I know I couldn't look after him by myself, let alone five."

I also wrote about Nikki Zimmerman, who gave birth to Chloe Zimmerman last September, three months premature. Chloe weighed 1 lb, 2 oz. My heart is with them also. Article Link here.

Quite simply, her parents thought their newborn would die.

Born prematurely at 26 weeks, Chloe Isabele Zimmerman really wasn't ready - or supposed to be ready - for the outside world.

She had no choice. No one did.

Her name weighed more than she did at birth - a slight 1 pound, 2 ounces.

On Sept. 9, Nikki Zimmerman went in for what she thought was a routine maternity check-up. Instead, her nurse said Nikki's blood pressure was off the charts and she had to go to the hospital immediately to give birth or likely die herself.

::: Blogcritics note: This isn't meant as self-promotion. I posted it at my site and then thought - well, it might be well-received at Blogcritics, and I haven't contributed much of anytihing lately, so yeah, I'll post this.