When Life Hurts- baby loss gift idea

Eight years ago today, I gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby boy.  Ian.  Sounds like the typical beginning to the average blog post of a mom remembering the birth of her now big boy.  But this isn’t one of those posts.

Two months after our little guy was born, he left this earth to go home with his Heavenly Father.  This was an unexpected departure.  Something we never thought we would have to deal with.

He was found in bed “sleeping”, but his big brother knew instantly that something was wrong and immediately came running with him to us.  He was whisked away by ambulance to the emergency room, and the doctors confirmed what we already dreadfully knew to be true.  Weeks later we were left with a paper that said: Cause of Death- unknown.  

Fortunately we had lots of pictures of him.  There were special photos of our little guy with each sibling.  And pics from various outings we had done in those first few months.  We had a lock of hair, some little clothes, fingerprints, handprints, and a blanket that had been lovingly prayed over while a sweet woman in our church put the quilt blocks together. I even had some friends help me put together a beautiful scrapbook to commemorate and celebrate the time that we did have with him.  We displayed all these items so that others could see how cherished he was.

Loss isn’t easy.  But we did grow and we felt a strong measure of comfort and grace from God on a level that we had never experienced before.

That blanket is still something I treasure.  I have it tucked away in my room.  Because today is his birthday I decided to find something I could post that would be appropriate to give in a situation like we experienced.  A keepsake box would be nice, and there are many pieces of beautiful jewelry you can find by searching the internet.  Many of which would also be appropriate to give for a baby lost in miscarriage as well.  But, I found a tutorial for a monogrammed baby blanket that made me smile.  It is so sweet and precious and looks like it could be assembled in a short time.    

If you have a friend who has lost an infant, I think this would be a gift that would be cherished by a grieving mother’s heart.  Wash it in some Dreft baby laundry detergent, sprinkle it with some baby powder and give her something tangible she can rock in the middle of the night when the house is quiet, and she feels free to shed tears unseen by the rest of the world.  

All life is fragile, even when you don’t expect it be.  Make the most of the moments you have.