Day of Hope

Bittersweet day. As I prepared for this day since I first found out-gosh-weeks ago, I found it healing and uplifting to help another babyloss family hold onto the precious memories of their baby. I bought a box and painted it myself, got a candle and added my own embellishment, found a frame that was perfect for the theme I was pulling together. I remembered fondly how many things the hospital and various members of the community provided us. Some wonderful ladies from a church, crochet or knit blankets, booties and hats and supply the hospital with handmade outfits in various sizes. Besides the hat, booties and gown, we got a blanket to keep and one that she was wrapped in for burial. We were given a handmade quilted envelope to keep papers in, a personalized bracelet the nurses made, hand and foot mold and prints a memory box and a memory book. We were also given a stack of papers which included a list of local resources and a book called This Little While. My hospital is good at this.

I had a hard time figuring out what I could do to beyond all of that. So, I came up with the items that were missing for us. I included a disposable camera and some pampering products (of course being the salon girl I am) Shea butter and lavender bath salts and a room/linen/body spray of calming essential oils and as you can see a teddy bear. I found a really cool sympathy card at our farmers market that was made of recycled paper and flower seeds that you plant! I forgot to take a picture of it, but you literally plant the card in the ground and up pop butterfly and hummingbird attracting flowers!

So I was feeling a lot of hope leading up to this day. Now that it's here I'm just weepy. I feel so bad for this family I don't even know. My heart is just broken that someone else out there will need this box. I approached this as a ritualistic way of honoring Christian and Hope , Audrey and all our babies that have already died. Today the reality of this pain dropping the floor out from under another couple hit me. But it feels good to be a part of something bigger than me and to honor so many babies memories. Like I said, a bittersweet day.