Tuesday, June 23, 2009

In Memory Of Baby Ria



Today Josephine and I did something very special and today, I am finally able to write this post.

One of the cardiology fellows that I call on at Rush turned into my pregnancy partner in the fall of 2007 when we realized we were both pregnant and due in May of the following year just 3 days apart. It was early in our pregnancies, but we were sitting next to each other at dinner at Japanais and being pregnant, both of us refused the raw sushi, so we just knew....and she was just glowing. In the months that followed, all we talked about was being pregnant...test results, morning sickness, comparing our expanding waistlines, ultrasounds, etc!! I still remember when both of us found out we were having girls...then of course the name discussions started. The name Ria was always a front runner.

Now she's someone who will forever be in my heart. The last time I saw her before going on maternity leave, we vowed to get together after our girls were born and we emailed a couple times the week before their due dates to check in...nope, no baby girls yet! Those of you who know me well know this heartbreaking story. When Josie was a couple weeks old I found out that her baby Ria didn't survive. Tragically, this perfectly healthy baby experienced severe trauma during delivery and only lived for a few short days. I eventually saw pictures of her...and she was the most beautiful baby.

Months later, some of her closest friends dedicated a tree at the Chicago Botanic Gardens in Ria's name as a tribute to her little life. And today Josie and I visited it for the first time.



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2 comments:

Kimmy said...

My heart aches thinking about her. The family will be in my prayers. I'd glad you and Josie went to visit the tree.

Kim - The TomKat Studio said...

That is so awful. I can't imagine what your friend went through. My heart goes out to her.