Stories of Other Loss
My Beautiful Niece
by Stephanie, Lyman, U.S.A.
My sister and I are so close ( best friends). I shared every possible moment of her pregnancy with her that I could. I was SOOOO happy for her and her husband. For 9 months we planned and joked about life after the baby was here. After a very short time of knowing that she was going to be a girl we spent an afternoon laughing and joking trying to come up with names. I decided on Ashley, the only name I came up with that she didn't " veto" so from that point on I called her Ashley as a loving joke (not knowing what her name would be). Nine months into the pregnancy my sister is going to her regular appointment for that week. I asked her to call me AS SOON as she talked to the doc. We planned for me to be in the delivery room with her and I was 2 hrs away, so if she was dialated at all I was on my way! I did not hear from her after several hours so I finaly called later in the evening. I was driving on my way to my daughters basketball game. Long story short I get my brother inlaw, I ask "is everything ok" he says " are you driving?" I said "yes' he says" pull over" I thought he was about to tell me that she was in labor and I am missing everything.No! next thing I know I am on a frantic 2hr drive to get to my sister. There was no heartbeat, the baby was dead.How can that be? I spent the next 15 hrs by my sister's side while she was in labor knowing that her baby was going to be born without a chance to live.I can't put into words my emotions, and I am only the Aunt. Cecilia Ashley was borne 6lb 2oz o February 11, 2005. One day before my sister's 36th birthday. We lost our dad in 1992 and we don't have anyone but each other (the 4 sisters) there is one song that reminds all of us of our dad, Whitney Houston's version of" I Will Always Love You" when Ashley was born I went in to the waiting room to collect my thoughts and that song was playing. I did not know until the Priest came to bless her that she had actually given her the name Ashley as her middle name. I can not describe that moment. My dad was watching over us, but why was she taken before now. I am still trying to find a way to deal with life after Ashley, and help to console my sister. Will life ever be a happy afternoon of picking out baby names again? I can't even begin to imagine that pain that my sister and her husband are feeling. I am only the Aunt and I feel like my heart has been ripped out. Stephanie
South Carolina
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