Heather Michelle was born on March 21, 2003. After 25 days of life, she passed away on April 15, 2003. She died of SIDS, also known as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. It is basically a way of saying that a baby, between newborn and one year, died and there is no cause of death. When there are no deformities, abnormalities, illnesses, or other causes of death, but a baby just dies, it is classified as SIDS. There are risk factors that increase the chances that a SIDS death will occur, but no official causes or preventions. Perhaps that's enough of that for now.
Today is the day that she came in to the world. This is the day to celebrate life, right?
Heather was born at 12:25 in the afternoon. Twenty-six hours after labor was induced. My labor was induced on my due date - and still took 26 hours. I guess she was comfy! I was exhausted after all of that. On day two, Heather was also a little jaundiced. I needed a little rest, and she needed a little treatment for that. We went home on day four. We had three beautiful weeks together. My mom and dad came to visit. My sister came down a few times, as well. There are nearly as many pictures of Heather in 3 1/2 weeks of life as there are of my in the first five years of my life! For three weeks, she was loved, and we were blessed. She was both an angel and a peanut. Absolutely beautiful, absolutely perfect.
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| Giving birth is hard . . . and it looks like being born is traumatizing, too! |
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| SO tiny . . . And yes, that's me eight years ago with the huge hands. They had the IV in my wrist, and I couldn't move that hand for two and a half days. |
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| Taking a nap. Again. |
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| A nap with grandpa. This is why we started calling her "peanut". |
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| Hanging out in the boppy. It was a little big for her, but Auntie Megan wanted the pictures. |
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| Angel sleeping. |
There's more things I could talk about . . . I have other posts waiting in my head to be written . . . and I could make a post about Heather three times as long. I know I haven't said very much about her or what happened, so don't be afraid. If you have questions, ask. I'll answer them.
Tonight, though, It's time for sleep.
Goodnight, angel baby.
Goodnight, world.
:-( I can't even imagine the pain of losing an infant. You are an amazing mother and a strong woman.
ReplyDeleteJanis, my heart breaks for you. If you ever need to talk, I'm here. There are no words to ease the heartache, but I know for me, talking helps. I'm sending a HUGE hug to you! Love you!
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine losing a baby, especially when it seems like there is no reason and it is so sudden. Glad you have lots of pictures though and those memories.
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