I know words aren't enough, but I want to say thank you to all of the friends and family who commented here on my blog and on facebook giving us support last week for Sydney's birthday. This year has been harder for me for some reason and it really helped to know people were thinking and praying for us and helping us get through yet another milestone in our road to recovery. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!
It is hard to believe that Sydney would have been three years old today! I can't even imagine what my life would have been like if she were still here! She would be running around, getting in to everything, I'm sure. She would be sassy, like her daddy! (Of course, he has informed me that he is defiant; I am sassy.) She would have made my life a lot easier as she entertained Austin. She would have brought joy to my life every day, just like he does.
Happy Birthday, Sydney!
I miss you so much! This year has been harder for me for some reason. I find myself tearing up at the strangest times, thinking of you. I talk to Austin about you. I tell him when he is playing with something that was yours. I show him your picture.
I don't go by the cemetery very much. I feel guilty about that, but it is just hard to imagine you being there under the ground...even though I know you are not really there. I have a hard time thinking about your beautiful body decaying in the ground. But, I go there if I can when I miss you the most. When I am really having a bad day with it. Your Grandma Nancy and Papa Don keep it looking really nice. And cousin Gavin takes flowers to you occasionally. It really is sweet. He takes so much time to pick out just the right flower for you.
Today, we all came together at the cemetery to bring you balloons and flowers. Grandma Nancy made you a Ladybug flower "cake" that was really cute! Grandpa Ed and Grandma Jean brought you balloons. Aunt Brook and Uncle Geoff brought you balloons and Gavin brought you a little plant. Cameron gave you a pinwheel, but he kept playing with it, too! :) Just before we left, we released several balloons in your memory.
One thing you taught me was how important it is to spend time with family. That is why we all get together each year on your birthday. We went to Aunt Brook's for dinner last night so we could all visit. You would have had so much fun playing with your cousins!
I miss you so much and I wish I could have spent more time with you! I wish I would have spent more time with you when I had the chance. I just didn't know that was going to be all of the time I would have with you! I thought that after you had come through so much, we would have you for so much longer! I am sorry we sent everyone home. I am sorry you spent so much time without us there. I am sorry I did not hold you more. I am so proud of how you fought! You were so brave and strong!
I love you little Ladybug! Mommy will always love and think of you! I will never forget!
Love,
Mommy
Well, it is that time of year again! Team Sydney is gearing up for our participation in the March of Dimes March for Babies event. The walk is on April 18th at Stephens Lake Park and will be 1.7 miles. Not only are we walking this year, but we are also sponsoring one of the spirit stations where we plan to pass out bottles of water, snacks, and balloons, and hopefully play some music! We are really looking forward to this day. It is always a great day to remember Sydney and honor her fight for life!
This year, we will be joined by our newest team member, Austin Wyatt! During my pregnancy, I saw a high-risk specialist to decrease the chances of pre-term delivery and birth defects. Thankfully, Austin was born healthy at one day shy of 38 weeks. Because of research that the March of Dimes funds and conducts, doctors have access to more information and treatment methods than ever before in their effort to bring healthy babies safely into this world.
Please help us support the March of Dimes as they raise money for research to prevent birth defects, premature births and infant death. There are a number of ways to help. If you are available and would like, you can join us in the walk here, or participate in one in your community. Or you can help by sponsoring our team.
Please help by donating today!
Yesterday was Sydney's birthday. I can't believe that she would have been 2 years old. I wonder what she would have been like. What she would have looked like. Life would have been so different had she lived.
Andrew took the day off so we could spend it together. While it was not exactly what we had anticipated (complete with a flat tire and then getting stranded on the side of the road and having to have the Jeep towed to AJ's) we still had a good day. We went by the cemetery and put a pinwheel at the grave and spent some time thinking about Sydney. I feel like I have really healed a lot in the past year. While I still miss her, I don't feel the sharp pain as much any more. Instead, when I think of Sydney, I can enjoy her memory. I think having Austin has done a great deal to help my healing process. I am no longer a Mom with empty arms. We are continually moving on with our lives, but we will never stop missing Sydney or forget her.
We will always love you Sydney! Happy Birthday!
The March for Babies on Saturday was a great success! Thank you to all who supported us through donations, encouragement and by walking! It meant so much to us.
Friday, we got together and made matching T-shirts for the walk. They are really cute.
While the weather was cold for the walk and it drizzled a good bit of the time, we still had a good time visiting as we walked. What you can't see in the picture above is that Andrew did not have long sleeves on. He got a little chilly!
In addition, we were the third highest family team in amount of money raised. Thanks to our amazing friends and family, Team Sydney raised $2,330! We were awarded a plaque for this accomplishment. I will try to get a picture of it up soon. Several of us also one prizes from a drawing!
For the event as a whole, there were 300 walkers at the event and they were able to raise $90,000!
Thank you again for remembering Sydney during this time. We look forward to participating again next year. We have also decided to go ahead and walk in the 1 mile Tiger Walk on May 4 as well, so if you wanted to donate money, but did not get around to it, you still have time.
I realize that some of you are having trouble seeing the March for Babies button at the top of my blog. I have heard that it is covered up by the pictures. Well, it does not do that on my screen. I figured out a couple of things.
First, I use Mozilla Firefox as my browser. There is very little that goes wrong with Mozilla Firefox. So, I highly recommend that everyone download Mozilla Firefox and use it as your browser! Seriously! It is free. It is proven. All of the cool kids do it... Wait. You get my point. So, go to Mozilla and download it today! At least check it out! It is very easy to use and has a lot of great features.
Ok. Enough about Firefox.
The other thing I learned is that older versions of IE do not view my blog correctly. So, if you plan on keeping IE as your browser (but I know none of you are going to do that because you were so convinced by my argument above) you should probably look into upgrading to a newer version. Not only will that help you with my blog, but it will also probably help you on other websites as well.
For those of you who don't want to do either of those things, but still want to help support the March of Dimes with a donation to help prevent other premature deaths, here is the link where you can donate through my husband, Andrew. (He does not have as much raised as me, so I thought I would share his link instead of mine.)
I can not say enough to thank everyone for the kind words, cards, acts, and gifts that were given to us over the past week! It meant so much to us to know that other people were thinking about Sydney besides us. While it was a difficult week, we made it through. We tried to focus on celebrating Sydney's short life instead of focusing on how sad we are that she is gone (even though we miss her terribly!). This week was definitely a reminder of what amazing friends we have- both in the blogging world and those we know personally. Thank you so much!
Today would have been Sydney's 1 year birthday. While I had a difficult time this morning, the rest of the day went pretty well. I wrote her a letter this morning in a journal that I have been keeping off and on since being in the hospital. I had planned on posting it here, but then changed my mind. Instead, I have decided to post this poem that was given to us on a plaque on Sunday from a friend who has also lost a daughter. It really says exactly what I feel. The author is unknown. Warning: you may need a tissue handy- I did!
Happy Birthday, Sydney! We love you and miss you very much!Little I knew that morning,
God was going to call your name.
In life we loved you dearly.
In death we do the same.
It broke our hearts to lose you.
You did not go alone.
For part of me when with you
The day God called you home.
You left us beautiful memories.
Your love is still our guide.
And though we cannot see you,
You are always by our side.
Our family chain is broken,
And nothing seems the same.
But as God calls us one by one,
The chain will link again.
Last week, one of my PT professors, Karen, called me and asked me to speak to the third year PT class at Mizzou. The topic? My experience with pregnancy complications and being in the hospital. Huh? You want me to talk? She thought that they could learn more from me, who had been through it, than from her, who had studied it.
I was pretty nervous going in to it. Was I going to forget everything? Was I going to break down in tears? Would I be able to talk through those tears? Would they all look at me as if they saw the third arm growing out of my head? Would they sit there and wonder, "Why is she telling us all this?" My hear was racing, my breathing short, and my palms sweaty. (And I never get sweaty palms!)
Well, as you have probably figured out since I am writing this after the fact...I survived! Not without tears, mind you. But, I made it through. It was another step on my road to recovery. I shared our story, what I learned about being in the hospital and how a PT can affect that, what I learned about grief, and what a PT can do for someone who has been on bed rest. I also made a handout of last week's Thursday 13 post.
Hopefully, sharing my experience will help others in similar situations. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to pass on what I have learned. Thank you Karen! It does not make it worth losing Sydney, but I am glad something good can come out of my grief and loss.
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2. Don't try to fix things. Nothing you or anyone else can do will fix the situation. You can't "make it better." Trying to fix it is just patronizing and upsetting. 3. Hugs. It is amazing how much a hug can heal! Friends could reduce me to tears with a hug and yet, at the same time, make me feel so much better. It was like they were taking part of my burden upon themselves; trying to lighten my load. 4. Let them cry. I really don't like to cry in front of people. But when you have lost your child, you just get used to it. God gave us the ability to cry for a reason. There is something healing about it. So, let them cry when they feel like it. Don't feel like you did something wrong when they cry. The smallest things can set them off. It is not your fault. 5. Listen. I think part of what helped me deal with my grief was to just be able to talk through it out loud to someone else. When I started thinking to myself, I would always stop myself before I got too far down a thought process. But, when talking out loud, it was like I was figuring things out. This kind of goes back to point 2. Don't feel like you have to respond when they start talking about it. Give them time to think through what they want to say and get it all out before you respond. 6. Be willing to sit in silence. When you don't know what to say, it is ok just to sit there. Again, your presence is a comfort even more than words can be some times. It lets them know you care. 7. Prepare food. I know this sounds silly and overly simple, but when you have just gone through a tragedy...and are still going through it...the last thing you think about is feeding yourself. And, when there are family members coming in from out of town for a funeral, the last thing you want to think about is how you are going to feed them. The day after Sydney died, my parents came home to a porch full of food- sandwich things, veggie trays, bread, cheese- everything they would need to feed our family for a couple of days. None of my family, who was also grieving, had to worry about food that entire week. People brought dinner to three different homes (our house, my parents' house, and my in-law's house) for a week! It was a relief! 8. Understand that they may have seemingly irrational thoughts- and that's o.k. I never would have thought I would say, feel, or do some of the things I did after losing Sydney- until I was there. Grief will cause a person to feel things that are abnormal for them. Don't criticize them for those feelings or thoughts. If you do, they may not share them with anyone any more. Holding those things in is not healthy. Talking through those feelings is healthy. Don't deny them of that. For example, I made the statement that I could now understand why a grieving mother would take someone else's baby; or run the car off the road. I meant that without support, grief can make you go crazy. Did that mean that I was considering doing that? NO! Did that mean that I thought it was right to do that? NO! I was just talking through my feelings. 9. Try to avoid saying those "stupid things" that fly out of people's mouths without thinking. For example, we heard things like..."Well, you are still young. You still have time to have more kids." Helpful? NO! That is like saying, "Oh, you spilled a drink? Let me get you another one to replace it." Don't start down the paths of "What ifs?" and help them avoid that path as well. People can "what if" themselves to death, but it won't change anything. A friend came to my house the week of the funeral and asked, "What if they had gotten to her sooner?" and started blaming the hospital. This did not help at all. We also heard, "It was all in God's plan." While it sounds like it should be comforting, it really is not. We did not understand why God's plan would deny us of our child; would cause us so much pain; would tear us apart inside. I don't think God wanted us to suffer like that, but for some reason, he chose not to interfere. Which brings me to another one, "You will understand it one day." That may be so, (though I doubt it) but that does not make it any easier at the time. Don't say you know how they feel unless you have been through the same thing before. Basically, these statements are all made in the attempt to fix the situation, which as discussed previously, can't be done. 10. Don't be afraid to talk about the child. One of my biggest fears was that people would forget Sydney. For the first few weeks after the funeral, no one, including our family, mentioned going by the cemetery. This made me feel like they had all just moved on and she was not important. In reality, they had been going frequently, but had not said anything because they were afraid to upset me. Once they started talking about her freely, I would cry, yes, but I felt so much better about it. Crying is just a part of life when you have lost a child. 11. It is o.k. to leave pictures of them up. Taking the pictures down again seems as if they are out of sight, out of mind. Leaving them up says that you still love them and they are still important. 12. Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty. Being around someone who is grieving is not an easy or fun thing. If your heart is not completely in it, let someone else be there for them. They can tell when you are just going through the motions and that does not help anyone. Sharing in someone's suffering means that when you ask how they are doing, or offer to let them talk, you are prepared to be there as long as it takes. Don't judge them. Don't tell them they should not feel the way they do. Be ready to take anything they may throw out without correcting. As much as you want to, you need to just let them vent. Put yourself into them, or get out of their way. 13. Pray. Pray with them, pray over them, pray for them on your own. This may be uncomfortable at times, but the most comfort can be obtained from God. When I first lost Sydney, I could not pray on my own. I felt like I had prayed for God to save her with everything that was in me, and when he did not, I didn't have anything left to pray about. That is when the prayers of others carried me. I knew that I needed it, I just couldn't do it for myself, yet. |
When we were sitting down to pick out the marker for Sydney's grave, we decided on a bench. We wanted something nice and did not want to look back on it down the road and wish we had gone ahead and spent the money for what we really wanted. Also, we thought that since we would be visiting this grave for many years to come, it was well worth the extra cost. Plus, when we have more children, it will be nice to have a place to say, "Here...sit here and color," while I take my time.
We had ordered the bench back in May or June and because of problems with the manufacturer, it had not come in until a few weeks ago...just in time for the snow and the holidays. Needless to say, they could not install it until the weather cleared up.
I was so worried that they would not get it installed by her birthday- in which case they would have had one hysterical momma on their hands!
We have been checking in every few days to see if they had gotten it in yet. On our way back from the doctor's office today, we decided to go by the cemetery to check on the status of the bench. As we pulled up, there were two men working on setting the base. They told us it should be completely installed this evening. So, even though we are sick, and even though it is freezing outside, we went back into town this evening to catch our first glimpse of the bench. Both of our parents met us there.
We are really pleased with the way it turned out. Is it weird that I am actually excited about getting the bench that is to mark my daughter's grave? Nothing makes any sense in this entire ordeal. Things that I think will upset me, or should upset me, don't. And, the things that I think I will be fine with kick me in the gut. I just have to roll with it.
We put ladybugs on the top corners of the bench. We were decorating her nursery in a ladybug theme. Now, they have come to symbolize Sydney in our lives. Every time I see one, I think of her. It is like she is visiting me, or saying hi. Odd, I know, but it is the little things that comfort.
We also put one of the main verses that comforted us during the first few weeks/months after we lost her. It is John 16:33 and can be read below.
No matter what we go through, God has overcome it. It does not say that life will be a cake walk for Christians. It does not say that if you do things the right way, everything will be ok. It says that we are going to have trouble. Plain and simple. But, God has over come all of those things. We struggle to keep that in perspective as we drown in our longing for Sydney.
We love you and miss you Sydney, and we only want the best for you. We know in our hears that you already have that- even without this bench. We will never forget you!
Tomorrow is Father's Day. While this day may not be as hard for me as Mother's Day was, I know it will be hard on Drew. Having seen him with many different children over the years, I know he would have been adored by Sydney, and I'm sure he was already wrapped around her finger. He had already been singing her songs and reading her his favorite book from his childhood. So, I want to wish Andrew a Happy Father's Day because I know that he is an amazing Dad.
Amy sent us a newsletter yesterday for a support group at University Hospital. In it was the following "wish list" meant to help others understand our grief and how to relate to us. I have heard many people say that they don't know what to say, or what not to say. This might help. I know I feel this way. I don't want Sydney to be forgotten, and when people don't talk about her to me, I feel like she has been...even though logically, I know that is not true. I have learned through casual conversation that some family members go by the grave, when I had previously thought they never did. While sometimes it makes me cry to talk about it, it makes me feel good to know that other people miss her, too. So, here it is:
1. I wish you would not be afraid to speak my child’s name. She lived and was important and I need and want to hear her name.
2. If I cry or get emotional if we talk about my child, I wish you knew that it isn’t because you have hurt me; the fact that she died has caused my tears. You have allowed me to cry and I thank you. Crying and emotional outbursts are healing.
3. I will have emotional highs and lows, ups and downs. I wish you wouldn’t think that if I have a good day my grief is over, or that if I have a bad day I need psychiatric counseling.
4. I wish you knew that the death of a child is different from other losses and must be viewed separately. It is the ultimate tragedy and I wish you wouldn’t compare it to your loss of a parent, a spouse or a pet.
5. Being a bereaved parent is not contagious, so I wish you wouldn’t stay away from me.
6. I wish you knew all the crazy grief reactions that I am having are in fact very normal. Depression, anger, frustration, and hopelessness and the questioning of values and beliefs are to be expecting following death.
7. I wish you wouldn’t expect my grief to be over in six months, a year, or in five years. The first few years are going to be exceedingly traumatic for me. As with alcoholics, I will never be “cured” or a “formerly bereaved”, but will FOREVER be “recovering” from my bereavement.
8. I wish you understood the physical reaction to grief. I may gain weight, loose weight, sleep all the time or not at all, develop a lot of illness or be accident prone, all of which are related to my grief.
9. My child’s birthday, the anniversary of her passing and the holidays are terrible times for me. I wish you could tell me that you are thinking about her on those days and if I get quiet or withdrawn, just know that I am thinking about her and don’t try to coerce me into being cheerful.
10. I wish you understood that the only way I can feel better is to experience my pain and grief. I have to hurt before I can heal.
11. I wish you understood that grief changes people. I am not the same person I was before my child went to heaven and I will never be that person again. If you keep waiting for me to get back to my old self, you will stay frustrated. I am a new creature with new thoughts, dreams, aspirations, values and beliefs. Please try to get to know the new me…maybe you will still like me.
Thanks to all of the people who have been there for us over the past two months since we lost Sydney. You have made this easier for us.
Andrew and I have decided to join his Aunt Judy and Uncle Eric in participating in the March of Dimes WalkAmerica walk this Saturday morning in memory of Sydney. The March of Dimes raises money for research on premature births and the effects that has on children. The funds raised in WalkAmerica support research that saves babies' lives. It is in honor of Sydney's fight for life that we are doing this walk. I know this is short notice, but we just found out about the event. If you would be interested in sponsoring us in any way that you can, or would like to join us, you can do so at http://www.walkamerica.org
If you know of anyone else who might want to help, please feel free to tell them our story and share this information with them. Each year, 500,000 babies are born premature. Your donations, thoughts and prayers are coveted to help save and improve these 500,000 lives.
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