Smelling my baby

We first met Danny the first Sunday in our new ward in Vegas.

I was 8 months pregnant at the time and were preparing ourselves for what lay ahead with Ruby.

We were introduced specifically to Danny because he and his wife also have a child that was delivered at Sunrise Hospital who had complications.

As we heard their story, I thought to myself I hope  and pray our situation isn’t as serious as theirs.

Their precious (and very handsome) baby boy passed away one week after birth.

We didn’t meet BreighAn, Danny’s wife, until a couple weeks later.

They came to the hospital to meet Ruby on the day their son would have turned 3 years old.

I am sure it wasn’t easy for them to be there that day.

It meant a lot to me.

I didn’t realize after meeting Danny that first day how much we would rely on him during those weeks in the hospital with Ruby.

He gave us information that no one else would have known had they not been through the same experience.

We talked about things no parent would want to talk about, but I think it also prepared us for what was to come.

BreighAn and I have became great friends.

We have a lot in common.

Our babies were both born in the month of October in the same hospital via c-section by the same doctor.

Our babies both spent their lives in the same NICU.

Not only do we have a lot in common with our babies, we are very similar in personality.

She is also a big Ellen fan which says a lot right there.

We don’t talk a lot about our babies, our grief, our pain because I think we just have an understanding.

We get it.

A couple of weeks ago BreighAn stopped by to give me a little gift:

 

All she said was, I know the 4 month mark can be rough so I brought you this.

It is a bottle of hand sanitizer.

But it’s not just any sanitizer.

It is the same sanitizer that is used at Sunrise Hospital.

It is the sanitizer that I (and everyone else there) doused my hands in multiple times a day as I visited Ruby.

Even though Ruby smelled like the sweet smell of baby she also smelled like sanitizer.

BreighAn knew that what I needed at that time was to smell my baby again.

What a sweet, sweet smell it was (and still is).

Happy 5 months to Miss Ruby.