Emily Ann was born on July 11th, 2001 weighing in at one pound, two ounces and she was tweleve inches long. Emily is daughter to Chrissy and Mitchell. Emily's Mommy is the sister to Jeremy, Emily's Uncle. That would be us, Uncle & Aunt to Emily.

Emily was flown to a Children's Hospital in Gainesville, Florida after being born too early.

Emily was between 23 and 24 weeks gestation. The NICU was not sure due to Chrissy and Mitchell being on vacation at the time when Emily was born.

Emily's first few days went really well. We talked to Chrissy every day, sometimes three times a day to see how Emily and her were doing. Chrissy stayed at the Ronald McDonald House near the hospital. Mitchell drove home after Emily was in the NICU. Emily was about four days old when he left to come home to find a new home for their baby girl that was born too early.


That day~

Emily seemed to be doing so good for those first few days. Then we got that phone call from Chrissy that Tuesday morning. Emily had a infection from something and they were not sure what was happening to her.

The NICU doctors told Chrissy Emily had NEC (Necrotizing Enterocolitis) and she would need to have surgery as soon as possible. Then later that afternoon Chrissy was told by the NICU Emily would not be able to have surgery since the NEC took over her bowels and were dead inside. Emily also had Intraventricular Hemorrhage Grade IV. Emily had only a few hours to be with her Mommy before she grew her wings.

Since Mitchell and his Mom were flying down to be with Emily they did not know the condition that Emily was in. We talked to Chrissy every hour to see how Emily was doing. In the meantime, we prayed, we cried and we were hopeful that Emily was going to be okay.

We received the last call from Chrissy that night, 7:55 p.m. Emily passed away. Mitchell and his Mom have not arrived at the hospital yet so they did not know. Jeremy called Mitchell on his cell phone to tell him that his daughter grew her angel wings. Mitchell was able to see his daughter after she died and hold her first the very first and last time.

After Emily grew her wings~

After a few days being in Florida and after Emily was cremated Chrissy, Mitchell and Mitchell's Mom flew back home to Pennsylvania. Before they came home Jeremy and me went to their place we cleaned so they would not have to come home and worry about things.

A few weeks later after they came home, Jeremy and me helped set up memorial service for Emily at my daughter's church/daycare. It was so beautiful but so sad. Then we went to Mitchell's Moms house for a small family gathering in Memory of Emily.

After a year~

One year later the pain is still there but with tears in our eyes we have survived with only the memory of Emily. She is greatly missed and very loved.

We decided to have our own private birthday celebration for Emily at the park. We mentioned this to Chrissy and Mitchell and they joined us on Emily's first birthday. It was such a beautiful day, the clouds were so white and puffy the sun was shining down. Chrissy and Mitch were the first ones to let go of the balloons for Emily. I think we let go of about fourteen balloons for Emily and I tied my poem I wrote for Emily on two of the balloons. I took some pictures of everyone, while Mitch video taped Emily's first birthday in heaven.