My name is Chelcy AuBuchon. My husband, Reggie, and I have been married since June 19, 2010. Like many families, we decided to start trying for children shortly after we were married. In 2013, our first daughter, Brynlee was born. She was perfect in every way. In 2015, another daughter, Malia, was born. She was also everything we could have hoped for. We felt our family still had room for more and in 2017, Geva, another sweet girl, was welcomed. All three girls were healthy, happy and thriving. However, we still felt there was more to our story. We became pregnant again in 2019. Little did we know our lives would soon never know the normal, happy life we lived again.
At our routine thirty-six-week checkup, we were shocked to learn that our unborn baby’s heart had stopped beating. The words, “I’m sorry, but sometime between your last appointment and now, your baby passed” will forever be one of the worst phrases I’ve ever had to hear.
On August 13, 2019, I was induced and our fourth precious girl, Eastyn, was born sleeping. The heartache and emotions of that time are nothing I want to relive or would ever wish upon anybody else. No parent should ever have to lose a child.
The hospital where we delivered was wonderful and very accommodating. One accommodation I will forever be grateful for was the caring cot we were given just shortly after her birth. This special device kept Eastyn cool and allowed us to have as much precious time with our daughter as we wanted. We were never rushed to say our final goodbye and were allowed to spend that time grieving and loving her as much as we could. There should never be a time constraint on saying goodbye to your child and I am so thankful our hospital had a caring cot for us to use.
Once home, I joined various loss communities on social media. It was there that I learned that caring cots were not a device every hospital had access to. It was heartbreaking to hear that some parents were only able to spend minutes, maybe an hour with their dead child before they were forced to say goodbye. This was something I wanted to change.
I feel every hospital should be equipped with a device like the one we were allowed to use.
Through social media and another loss parent, I was introduced to Michael with Cenotaph Products. Michael helped walk me through the process and with his help, the help of my family and friends, and our hospital’s foundation, we were able to donate one of their beautiful cradles in Eastyn’s honor to our local hospital. My hopes and dreams would be that this gorgeous piece of equipment sit in a storage closet unused, but the reality is, it will, unfortunately, get its fair share of use.
Finding a way to help the loss community and honor my daughter in the only way I know how, was very healing for my broken heart. Giving the gift of time to those families going through their darkest moments is something I will cherish. I’m looking forward to working with Michael in the future to help make this happen for other hospitals as well.
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