Last March in honor of Gabriel's due date we decided to do a book drive for CMC (where we delivered Gabriel) in his memory. For those that don't know the meaning behind it, basically we loved reading to Gabriel. I'm a teacher and always wanted the routine of reading to my children before bed. We started that routine while Gabriel was still in the womb. It was "our thing" and our way of bonding with him in the womb. After Gabriel was born it seemed only natural to want to read to him, but we weren't prepared to lose him when we went to the hospital so we didn't have any books with us. We looked up stories on our phones to read. We felt the best way to honor Gabriel and give back to those who experience similar losses was to do a book drive. We selected the book "Wherever you are my love will find you". Our goal was to raise enough books so that every baby loss family at CMC Main would get one. We wanted them to have a book to be able to share a special moment with their child and also a keepsake to take home with them. Keepsakes from the hospital are all we have so everyone is so precious to us.
Thankfully last year we raised over 130 books...enough books to last over a year. They had approximately 110 fetal losses in 2013. The hospital was so greatful for the books and told us how much it meant to the families. They are willing to purchase additional books that we are unable to raise with our drive so I hope that we are able to raise at least half of their yearly need and more is even better. So our goal this year is 50 books in hopes that we come even closer to their yearly need of over a hundred.
You can purchase a book through the amazon link below that will ship directly to us or you can deliver them to me in person if you live close. My Patriots family was so generous last year and I will leave a bin again this year in Brittany Keith's room for those that want to drop them off at the school.
Last year we received numerous books through Amazon with no names so please leave a gift note letting us know who the book is from. Also, we chose this book instead of the board book so that we can place an inscription in front of the book. If anyone finds a Spanish version the hospital would be interested in those as well!
We should be celebrating our son's birthday around this time, but we are thankful to have a way to show him how much we and everyone else cares about him and all of the babies lost too soon!
http://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3M0Y47I2MC7PD/ref=cm_wl_rlist_go_o_C-1
