Stories of Hope

Introducing Stories from Others

We’ve included in this area stories of hope from families who have been through the loss of a baby and their experience in completing a remembrance album, as well as testimonials from professionals in the field of loss. We hope that you will see through their eyes the value of doing such a labor of love for you and for your baby. Our prayer is that their experience will inspire you to create a lasting legacy for your little one.

  • We would love to hear your story

    Your stories would be of great value to us. If you would like to share with us your experience in completing a remembrance album for your baby, please give us your contact information in our mailing list area and tell us your story.

Dear Mr.& Mrs. Gordon,

I am writing to express my sincere thanks for my album that arrived today.

After losing my baby at five-months pregnant, it has been so hard for me to move forward. I have all of the cards that I received, flowers that I kept, and all of the memories that I never ever want to fade. Most importantly, have my baby’s ultrasound picture that I will forever cherish; and that I know I am so lucky to have. This just happened September 11, my birthday of all days, so I did not know what I was going to do with all of these raw emotions, until came across your album. I wasn’t even looking for it. I was actually researching the type of miscarriage that I had. I feel that it was a gift to me from God.

Having the album has brought me more comfort than I can ever explain to you in a letter. I will always hold this sacred, as it contains the tangible evidence of my baby’s life. And while I may not be able to hold my baby in my arms~it was my baby, it was real, and I always want it to be close to me. With your album, I now have that.

Thank you for sharing your experiences and thank you for giving me comfort.

God bless you, as you have blessed me. L. J. | Evansville, Indiana

Dear Russ & June,

Thank you for sharing your beautiful album-journal with me. As Russ knows how I still feel about the baby I lost to a miscarriage, it helps a great deal that other people are wanting to share their sympathy & concern. I have written in my journal things I never verbalized before & feel a lot better. It’s been eleven years since my miscarriage and it is amazing how much it still affects me.

I truly admire what you two are doing and thankful that God has touched you in this way.

Thank you again,

Yours in Christ, J.S. | Colorado Springs.

“…when you lose that life (the baby), where do you put it? I remember the day that I got that bag in my hand (with the album) and I remember looking through there…and for the first time thinking, “hello Christopher, welcome back- you’re a part of our family…the permission and the freedom that that gave me as a mother…this album has freed me…why is it that we are not teaching women or giving them tools and resources to cherish what we’ve been given? This album provides a tangible way to do that.S.N. | Colorado Springs
Two close friends gave me my album. I can’t tell you how much it meant to me. It meant so much because all of the sonograms, pictures, mementos, footprints and other things I had were in a manila envelope tucked deep inside a chest. Anytime I wanted or needed to look at the items, I had to dig through the envelope. To have a place where all of her “things” were was very meaningful.

Receiving the album was also important because I could now show people my baby. Many were surprised that I even had anything to fill it with. It also readily made my little girl real to me. At times when you go through a tragedy like losing a baby you tend to feel as if it were all a dream, but having the album helped me make her “real” to me.

As I completed the album, by adding photos, bracelet, footprints, a piece of hair, healing began. It was a therapeutic process and every time I would look at it the healing continued.

I am so grateful that I had friends who thought of me and gave me this precious gift. I scrapbook and I knew that I wanted to eventually put her pictures in an album, but I just didn’t know how to really do it. With this gift, everything was ready for me. I didn’t have to think about what to do, I just had to add the items I already had. I will never be able to express my thanks to those who made this wonderful healing ministry a part of my life.K. S. | Denver, CO

When a couple loses a baby, healing comes not from the forgetting, but remembering. When a baby dies at birth or shortly after, nobody has known that baby so there are no communal memories.

Mementos play an important part in the grieving process by allowing parents to create memories of their child and bring reality to the life of their child.

As bereavement coordinator at Memorial Hospital’s NICU for over 10 years, I realized there was a profound need for grieving parents to have a way of remembering their baby. Baby albums are an intrinsic part of most new parents’ memories of their child’s birth and early childhood but the usual baby book does not apply. Because of this, the bereaved parents are left without their precious baby and without a way of remembering them.

Since June and Russ Gordon’s development of the memories album, the parents of infants that have died in the NICU now have a way to remember. The album provides statements to encourage journaling which is very therapeutic in dealing with loss. Our families have expressed such gratitude in having an album available for their very special baby and the healing that came from it.

Every bereaved parent, in my opinion, would benefit from the caring and gentle manner in which the album supports families through their grief journey.Sue Stack, RN | NICU Clinical Coordinator | NICU Bereavement Coordinator | Memorial Hospital NICU