|
|
|
|
|
The financial assistance we offer parents is only possible with your generous donation. These parents are "silent mourners" in communities across the U.S. |
|
On Sunday, August 27, 2000 at 10:36 pm I held my first angel…. Then I had to let her go…….
Silence, the sound of emptiness, envelops all in the labor and delivery room of a stillborn baby or as I like to think of it – a baby born asleep. Teardrops are silent. A broken heart may be screaming at you from the inside, but is silent on the outside for it can only be heard by you. Parents holding their breath as they listen in anticipation for that long awaited wail or whimper of a newborn’s first breath, hoping and praying the ultrasound tech was wrong. The old cliché’ – dead silence takes on a whole new meaning when you have experienced the delivery of a stillborn.
On that tragic day, we lost Alicia just two days before her due date I would never have believed I would have come this far. I wouldn’t leave the house for months in fear of seeing another mother with a newborn and wondering why can’t that be me? I kept thinking I will never smile again; nor will I ever laugh. My heart was heavy. It was shattered with no hope of repair. Only with the support and love of my husband and family did I pull out of my “haze” of mourning.
Later we learned I had a rare blood clotting disorder; a blood clot tried to flow through the umbilical cord and when it couldn’t it pulled Alicia's cord loose. That incident could have taken both of our lives.
I found the reason for my survival while chatting with a friend. She had also suffered a loss and was a RN in labor and delivery. She was telling me about her day at work; a couple lost their newborn and had no financial means for cremation or burial. She told me how sad it was to watch them leave without their baby like others of us who have suffered a loss, and knowing their little one would be stored until they could come up with the money to give their angel a proper goodbye.
I knew then I could help these families through a non-profit organization - Alicia Renee' Foundation..
Silence, the sound of emptiness, envelops all in the labor and delivery room of a stillborn baby or as I like to think of it – a baby born asleep. Teardrops are silent. A broken heart may be screaming at you from the inside, but is silent on the outside for it can only be heard by you. Parents holding their breath as they listen in anticipation for that long awaited wail or whimper of a newborn’s first breath, hoping and praying the ultrasound tech was wrong. The old cliché’ – dead silence takes on a whole new meaning when you have experienced the delivery of a stillborn.
On that tragic day, we lost Alicia just two days before her due date I would never have believed I would have come this far. I wouldn’t leave the house for months in fear of seeing another mother with a newborn and wondering why can’t that be me? I kept thinking I will never smile again; nor will I ever laugh. My heart was heavy. It was shattered with no hope of repair. Only with the support and love of my husband and family did I pull out of my “haze” of mourning.
Later we learned I had a rare blood clotting disorder; a blood clot tried to flow through the umbilical cord and when it couldn’t it pulled Alicia's cord loose. That incident could have taken both of our lives.
I found the reason for my survival while chatting with a friend. She had also suffered a loss and was a RN in labor and delivery. She was telling me about her day at work; a couple lost their newborn and had no financial means for cremation or burial. She told me how sad it was to watch them leave without their baby like others of us who have suffered a loss, and knowing their little one would be stored until they could come up with the money to give their angel a proper goodbye.
I knew then I could help these families through a non-profit organization - Alicia Renee' Foundation..
|
Alicia Renee' Foundation is recognized as a
non-profit organization per Internal Revenue Code 501 (c)(3) |
Your donation is tax deductible. |