I recently gave birth to a still born baby and the hospital staff, especially the nurses were great. They gave me a cute little box and made a little keepsake book for me, they made hand and foot molds of my son for me, took professional pictures for free, and of course let me spend as much time with my baby as I wanted. So I was wondering what other hospitals do for mothers, and family, and their stillborn babies.
Well, mine weren’t still born. But my twins were born 4 months early and our smaller baby passed away within a few hours of birth. They let us hold him for as long as we wanted, which was heart wrenching! He made a few last gasps for air as we held him but there was nothing they could do because he was too small for them to put tubes in him to assist his breathing. He was only 14oz. Our bigger baby passed away at 8 months old. With both babies they gave us a box with their hospital bracelets, pictures (which I didn’t like much), Crystal necklace, a poem and a few other things. I am very grateful they did that. They said that the boxes were actually made from parents who have lost a child and decided to make them for every parent who losses a child.
I would love to do something like that but Im not sure what I would do. I think it would be therapeutic to help other families that have been in the same situation.
July 12th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
I don’t have any experience with this, but I just wanted to tell you I am very sorry for your loss. God Bless.
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July 12th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
hey, i feel for you. I delivered my baby too early, and she was born alive but died a few minutes later..we also got to hold her and got a keepsake box..they did hand and feet plastercasts and pics…etc….at the time i was distraught like "why r they taking pics of my dead child" but i was in shock..later that week i showed my pics to everyone because i was so proud of her
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July 12th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
im so sorry for your loss i really am! my best friend had a still born in november, they gave her some pictures, little socks, a small keepsake book,and his hospital band! it was her first child, her and her husband were so depressed it was horrible, i look up to you women that can handle such heart breaking things i don’t think i could do it! i hope things get better for you and i hope you have many healthy children
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July 12th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Well, mine weren’t still born. But my twins were born 4 months early and our smaller baby passed away within a few hours of birth. They let us hold him for as long as we wanted, which was heart wrenching! He made a few last gasps for air as we held him but there was nothing they could do because he was too small for them to put tubes in him to assist his breathing. He was only 14oz. Our bigger baby passed away at 8 months old. With both babies they gave us a box with their hospital bracelets, pictures (which I didn’t like much), Crystal necklace, a poem and a few other things. I am very grateful they did that. They said that the boxes were actually made from parents who have lost a child and decided to make them for every parent who losses a child.
I would love to do something like that but Im not sure what I would do. I think it would be therapeutic to help other families that have been in the same situation.
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July 12th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
I’m sorry for your loss. My sister Sarah was a stillborn. The hospital did pretty much the same thing as yours did….gave my parents a keepsake box with some pictures of her, the hat she wore…I think they took foot and hand prints too.
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July 12th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
i had a miscarriage so my baby was not even born but i just wanted to say how sorry i am and that i’m glad that the hospital staff looked after you. they could not do any think for me but give me my scan pic and send me home. i really hope you go on to have a healthy baby when your ready. good luck and take care
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July 13th, 2009 at 12:07 am
My baby was born prematurely and died when he was 3 days old. He was given a beautiful white gown made by one of the hospital volunteers. We were given one (not very good) polaroid picture. We were given a small keepsake box with his hospital bracelet. I was able to hold him for several hours while he died.
However, I do feel that the care I received was quite inadequate. After my son died at about 3 am, I was allowed to just walk home out into the winter night. No nurse or chaplain asked me if I wanted to stay for the rest of the night or offered to call someone for me. I was pretty well stunned at the time and still feel that I might have jumped off of a bridge if I hadn’t had another child at home waiting for me. There was no follow up call or care offered. There was no explanation of what to do next - ie. how to get a death certificate, how long they would keep him until I made funeral arrangements, grief counselling, etc.
This was in a quite "good" well staffed big city NICU.
It still bothers me.
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