November 30th

On November 30th 2006, our precious son came into this world. This year he would have been two years old. How in the world has it been two years since I've seen my sweet boy and held him in my arms? When I close my eyes, I only see a newborn baby boy. I don't see a two year old running around, nor can I imagine what he'd look like today. All I have is the memories of 2 years ago. The closer his birthday comes, the more I remember about this time of year and the events leading up to his birth and death. On Charlie's first birthday, we decided to be proactive and do something that would help others. We donated coloring books, crayons, and children's books to the Children's Hospital of Michigan where Charlie spent his short life. We will do the same every year to commemorate his birthday and have begun stockpiling children's books, coloring books and crayons. We also visited the NICU last year on his birthday. We wanted to see the rocking chairs that were donated in his honor. After Charlie passed away many people donated money to the hospital in his memory. We were lucky enough to work with the hospital to make sure the donations went towards a cause we believed to be crucial to parent/infant bonding. We wanted there to be rocking chairs in the NICU since there were none available to us during our stay. During our short stay in the NICU there were no comfortable chairs for parents to sit in, only chairs that were easy to move out of the way in case of emergency. We worked with the people at children's and found a rocking chair that passed the health and fire codes, and was easily moved if need be. It was so hard to go back into the room where Charlie had lived his life and died, but it was nice to see the rocking chairs being used by parents of babies in the NICU.
On November 30th this year, we will celebrate Charlie's life. We will do our donation drop at the Children's hospital in his memory. I will also eat birthday cake, and remember what it was like to meet my sweet Charlie for the first time. I will celebrate my child's life because it was important and continues to be important. He made me the person I am today, and I am PROUD to be his mama!