Blanket of Love
July 16, 2012
Posted By: Shaunescy
We are bombarded daily with media stories, messages, plugs, spins, events, campaigns, blitzes and every now and then, we are hit with an urban legend. Oftentimes, we simply tune it all out. We lose focus on important and relevant versus the flood of idiocy.
We become numb.
We cannot process and identify a worthy item amongst the masses of confusion and upheaval.
Yet, every now and again, something seeps in.
Some tiny nugget avoids the glitterati of mayhem and finds its way into the cortex.
Something important.
Something worth our undivided attention.
I heard about an organization today that got my attention. In fact, it struck a serious chord.
A familial chord.
I only wish this organization was available to help several decades ago.
May 27, 1966 At a hospital in San Francisco, California, a baby boy was born, the firstborn son to a young couple, married less than a year. At first appearance, this was like any other birth. The baby was slight, weighing less than 6 pounds. Fingers and toes were accounted for, yet something was missing? Missing was the hiccupy, high-pitched sound of an infant crying out with air bursting into his lungs for the first time. Instead of ear-piercing screams, was the tiny sound reminiscent of a purring kitten. The newborn's lung strength was simply too weak, without ample power to force out his new world announcement. After quick monitoring and accessing, it was realized, something was wrong. Testing began immediately. Frantically. Ultimately the newborn baby was whisked into surgery to try and repair his miniature lung that accompanied him into this world, undeveloped and incomplete. Little Georgie, named after his father, and grandfather, didn't live to witness a second day. He died the same day he was born. The young mother, barely out of her teens, was sent home from the hospital broken-hearted and empty-handed. Numb .
May 27, 1966
At a hospital in San Francisco, California, a baby boy was born, the firstborn son to a young couple, married less than a year.
At first appearance, this was like any other birth. The baby was slight, weighing less than 6 pounds. Fingers and toes were accounted for, yet something was missing?
Missing was the hiccupy, high-pitched sound of an infant crying out with air bursting into his lungs for the first time. Instead of ear-piercing screams, was the tiny sound reminiscent of a purring kitten. The newborn's lung strength was simply too weak, without ample power to force out his new world announcement.
After quick monitoring and accessing, it was realized, something was wrong.
Testing began immediately. Frantically. Ultimately the newborn baby was whisked into surgery to try and repair his miniature lung that accompanied him into this world, undeveloped and incomplete.
Little Georgie, named after his father, and grandfather, didn't live to witness a second day.
He died the same day he was born.
The young mother, barely out of her teens, was sent home from the hospital broken-hearted and empty-handed. Numb .
Today, I heard about the Sweet Pea Project. And since we celebrate the Sweet Pea Festival annually here in Bozeman, Montana - it seemed kismet that I come to know about this organization.
Created by Stephanie Cole after the death of her daughter, Madeline, the Sweet Pea Project supports fellow grieving parents, and is Stephanie's public tribute to her daughter's legacy. This special grass-roots project brings together donors - who offer blankets - and the hospitals and birthing centers of grieving parents. The blankets are used to swaddle the newborns and then given to grieving parents as a single memento of a lost child.
The Sweet Pea Project offers parents something they can take home with them. Something they can hold onto - a blanket of love.
Since being founded in 2008, the Sweet Pea Project has donated over 700 blankets to bereaved parents.
I hope you will help me in my effort to send more.
It's the least I can do in honor of my brother.
The one I never knew.
To donate a blanket, please mail to:
Sweet Pea Project - PO Box 10351 - Lancaster, PA 17605-0351
For more details, CLICK HERE to visit their website.
Mother of three, Katie Walters is the author of An Authentic Life , a member of BlogHer.com and is proudly invited to share within the pages of Montana Parent Magazine's website.
