She Wrote A Letter To The Baby Across The Hall. And Now I Can Picture The Tiny Angel's Wings Thru My Tears!

Bless Their Baby

It’s hard enough to lose a loved one but to lose a child is a pain I can only imagine. That must feel heavier and darker than anything else. And this mom knows that pain – first hand – almost. As she was in the hospital, she realized the patient next door is now in heaven and she wrote a tearful letter to this new baby angel.

This mom, was in a room next to a sweet baby that lost the fight and is now in heaven. She wrote this beautiful letter to this child and we wanted to share it with you, word for word. Thank you, mom, for your love and concern for those around you. And may God bless you and your daughter as she continues to grow and mend. Blessings!

“The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace.” Psalm 29:11

Dear baby,

I don’t know your name.

I don’t know why you were here in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). I don’t know how long you were there.

I know only that today you became an angel.

Your room is dark now. Your beautiful pictures and the decorations on your door are gone.

I hope you’re running and laughing and playing up in heaven tonight, free of tubes and wires and beeps and pokes and all the things hooked up to you in your tiny crib.

Yesterday morning you started having troubles. Your room was a hive of activity, and that red code light was lit up above your door as doctors and x-ray machines and surgical teams moved efficiently in and out. My eye caught that of your nurse, and my tears welled up. Because she’s our nurse, too. And I knew that look on her face. I knew the look on your momma’s face too, as she leaned against the nurses desk watching and feeling helpless. All I could do was pray.

When I left to go home, you seemed stable. I knew our nurse/your nurse was busy in your room doing the amazing work only she can do to keep chaotic little bodies as stable as possible. Last night when she got off her shift, she texted me that it’d been a rough day and that she missed coming to our room. I texted her back that it was ‘OK.’ I knew she was right where she needed to be — taking care of you. And I know she gave it her all. I know she poured every last ounce of anything she had left into you all day.

I hope you’re able to look down now and see her and know what an amazing person you had taking care of you. I saw your beautiful pictures. You were a smiling, happy baby. Surely you knew the love this staff gave you. I hope you watch over all of them as they continue having hard days and continue coming in and doing what they do with smiles on their faces, even if those smiles are hiding tears.

Today I came back and realized your room was clean.

You were gone.

I don’t know why today was your time. I don’t know why two years ago, when my own daughter was in the room right next to yours and her code light was going off and going off and going off for so many long hours…it just wasn’t her time. I don’t understand why some babies make it and some babies don’t.

I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that here in the ICU, as much as it sometimes feels like a weird microcosm of “home,” it also feels like the hardest place in the world to live. Because while many miracles and successes happen here, just as often there isn’t a happy ending.

What I want to tell you is that you earning your angel wings was not in vain.

You made an impact with your little life.

You made an impact on me, and I didn’t even know you. I hope I can at least find out your name.

Because of that dark room, with its absence of a teeny crib and beautiful pictures of your adorable smile, I will hug my babies tighter tonight. I will grab onto life a little harder. I will complain a lot less. I will smile more often. I will forgive more easily, and I will not take one single minute of life for granted.

I wanted to be sad today, but not quite like this. I was feeling sorry for myself, sorry for my own girl who was lying in the room across the hall from you. I dropped her sisters off at school, and I was sad that I had to say goodbye to them and couldn’t tell them when I’d see them again. Maybe in two days or maybe a week. I passed my little girl’s classroom, and I started to cry as I realized she should have been sitting there at the yellow table, brow furrowed in concentration as she worked on her letters and numbers. She should be going on her first field trip tomorrow to the horse farm. She’s been so excited for that trip. It hurts to think of how devastated she will be when she finds out she missed it.

But now I think of all the firsts you will miss. So I will try my best to not focus on the things my daughter’s missed and instead be overjoyed for the things she has coming.

Dear baby, you weren’t here long, but you made a difference.

Your smile was beautiful and I will likely never forget it.

Fly high, sweet baby girl.