We were invited to this Butterfly Release in memory of Seth. Actually, it was a memorial type service for a lot of families who had lost babies or children over the years. We received the invitation from the hospital where Seth was born. The service was actually sponsored by the children's hospital in town. It was the 4th annual. Mostly it was for families who had stillborn babies, early infant deaths (premature babies or babies with major complications), or young children who died after a long struggle since birth.
It was a beautiful service. It was outdoors at a park where the bricks in the courtyard area had some names of some of these children or children from years past. The weather was gorgeous. (We were actually overdressed.) When we left home in SC (around 12:45 pm), it was chilly & windy & spitting rain. When we arrived in Charlotte (1 hour north), it was sunny and warm. It wasn't too hot, but we definitely could have worn short sleeves!
I was surprised at how Christian the service was. They had several parents speak who all mentioned their faith. They had a doctor speak (not sure if he was an MD or another kind of doctor), but when he prayed and spoke it included a lot of scripture (mostly from the New Testament). They also had at least 4 people sing beautiful Christian songs.
Then as we all stood in a circle around the courtyard, we were given the opportunity to say who we were there in memory of and we could add anything we wanted. Some people shared a story... most, like us, just shared our baby's name and the age he/she died.
There were lots of kids there, including ours. There were babies and pregnant women, too. There were lots of tears shed that day by many, but not that many by us. It was a celebration of life... even if the lives were very short. I was thankful to have been invited. They said we would be invited every year if we wanted to stay on the mailing list. We chose to stay on the list. Maybe we'll go again next year.
After we left, we stopped by the hospital to drop off notes to the two nurses who meant so much to us during Seth's birth (we had hoped they were going to be at the Butterfly Release). It was upon arriving at the hospital that my tears began to flow. I was kind of shocked at how much emotion flooded me upon approaching the birthing center at the hospital. I had driven by the hospital several times since April 30th, but I had never driven back to the birthing center area. It took me several minutes to calm down enough to walk in to drop off the notes. Unfortunately the nurses were not there, so I left them at the desk.
From there, oddly enough, we went to Babies R Us (since we were "in the city") to look at a couple of items we'll be needing for our new baby's arrival in the spring! We even actually registered so we wouldn't have to try to remember the stuff! ha! After that, we ran a couple of other errands "in the city" before heading home.
So, all in all, it was a good day. It was emotional... happy & sad... but it is nice to know there are others who understand our pain. It is also nice to know there are people who want to remember our children we only had for a moment. While they were only here on earth for a glimpse of time... we'll be in eternity with them forever... our family will be complete.
Below are some pix from the day...
Love,
Melinda =0)
The three big kids during the service. Wesley was in his stroller. No, the kids did not stay this way the entire time (unfortunately). It was an informal service, and there were lots of "city noises" so thankfully it was kid friendly. 
This was the triangular shaped cardstock box our butterfly was in. When you opened it, the butterfly was folded up in the box. 
If you look carefully just above the white canopy, you can see a Monarch Butterfly. (No that isn't Dano in the picture. Dano still has a thick head of hair. hee hee)
Our photographer, Olivia, took the picture of the two of us, and I took the picture of the kids. (Yes, Wesley had on shoes when we arrived... but part of his entertainment during the service was removing his socks & shoes. This also happens to be one of his favorite past times in the car whenever we go anywhere! Ugh!)
These beautiful murals were painted on the walls of a pedestrian tunnel that passes under an overpass at the park.
If you are thinking I'm HUGE... I am. Remember, I started out this pregnancy with a lot of weight from Seth's pregnancy that I hadn't lost yet. So if you're wondering twins... there has been no sign of them yet... but we'll let you know if that changes! ha!
PS If you want to see larger versions of these pictures, I think if you just click or double click on them, they will enlarge. =0)
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