Lucy Love Project 2013

After receiving such a great number of generous donations to support the Lucy Love Project again this year, our timeline was slightly derailed by the arrival of our incredible new baby boy. Austin is an amazing joy in our lives and reminds us once again how precious life truly is. He also reminds me daily of all of the little things I missed with Lucy, and I have been savoring the moments with him in a way I am more acutely aware of now that I have experienced the loss. It's just different. But let's face it - babies are just ridiculously scrumptious to be around no matter what your experience is. He's just...mmmmm. I struggle to find the right words. So sweet. Love him.

So, I can't believe it's October already. Time is flying. But, hey, I assume it just will from now on. Life is such a fine balancing act and I'm trying not to get ahead of myself too much. October is a time for several other major awareness campaigns that I care about and support (like Breast Cancer Awareness for one), but it is also Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. It's a time when bereaved parents create awareness for a topic that is at times considered taboo or at the very least awkward to talk about.

Infant loss. Excuse my lack of finding a better sentiment for it, but it sucks. Who wants to talk about that?! Yet, I am in this "group" forever and I want to be a voice for other mothers. I'm living a legacy for my baby and part of that is being about to speak about my grief process. This month I'm taking part in CarlyMarie's #CaptureYourGrief project (on Instagram and Twitter) and it's a journey of healing for me. A personal journey, but one that will hopefully be eye-opening and maybe even bring some light to others in the process. Maybe I'll share my images on the blog at the end of the month.

All this said, I guess it's fitting we delivered the Lucy Love Project items close to October. We finally were able to deliver the items last Saturday to the NICU at Levine Children's Hospital, so I will share some photos with you...

Avery was excited to load the car up with the blankets and onesies.
We raised enough money to donate 200 blankets, 100 onesies. Awesome!

Avery understands more about why we are doing the Lucy Love Project this year and it's special to share this with her.

This year we also were able to donate some other additional items to the NICU that were on their wish list, including some things to give to bereaved parents as mementos - stationery, stamps, ink and stickers. While we were in the NICU after Lucy passed we made her footprints and used some similar items to create pieces we could take home.

Austin had no idea what was going on this year, but I'm excited to tell him more and more about our efforts as we continue some sort of tribute each year. This year he was busy blowing bubbles as he slept.

 

Drop off complete!

This week we received a hand written thank you note from the hospital. They were able to distribute the items between all of the nurseries so each will have the tools and items they need 24/7.
I will share part of the letter I received:
"These items are in great demand and will help us be able to give families
memories to treasure. Thank you isn't enough to tell you how grateful we are. It was like Christmas. Thank you, thank you, thank you for letting Lucy's light shine."

 Additionally, I was touched to hear from a friend and sorority sister from Elon whose son Finn was in the NICU at Levine's last fall after being delivered prematurely around 29 weeks. At the time, another friend of mine who works at the hospital delivered her a blanket in Lucy's honor. I was able to see first hand how this project bring memories - no matter how difficult - to families. These blankets and other items are things to hold on. In our case the blanket we received is all we got to bring home. But, man do we celebrate the babies who do come home with their families like sweet Finn for example. The blanket in their case if still full of memories of a time they felt like they lived at that NICU, fearing the worst and praying for each step of their journey. Finn's sweet mama Michelle told me she pulls out the blanket and remembers our family and their time there at Levine Children's Hospital. :)

Thank you to everyone who helped us raise the funds to give back in Lucy's honor and memory this year. I just know she was smiling down on all of us. I'm so thrilled and proud of what we have been able to accomplish.