I wanted to post about our March for Babies walk that took place last weekend. Yeah, it rained a little bit (I mean A LOT!) but nothing can rain on this parade! It was so much fun. We had about 15 people from our team that weathered the rain with us and had a great time. It was great to see all the stories of babies that came too early, but were able to fight through and are healthy and happy today. At the same time, it was sad to see all the families that had to wear the silver beads (the color to signify a loss). I just wish that no one had to go through this and every person could bring home a healthy baby.
The actual walk started about 10am and although there were lots of people there, only the bravest of the brave went out into the rain. But let me tell you that it was so worth it. First of all, our local March for Babies has something called the "Baby Boulevard" where they have posters to show all the babies that have passed (as a memorial) as well as for those babies that were in the NICU for awhile and are now home and happy. Below is Ava's sign. It was so bittersweet to see this. It was truly amazing to think that every time someone passed by her sign, they would be thinking of her even for just a second. To any mom that has had a baby pass away, it really means the world to us when we know that other people are thinking about our little babies. The last thing we want is for the world to forget that they existed (and Ava did exist!). The bitter part was seeing the butterfly on her poster, which is the sign of a baby that has passed. I so wanted to be one of the posters showing a happy baby on it. My husband and I got very emotional when we saw this and I am very thankful for the people that walked with us because they gave us the time to be alone when we first saw it. I also want to give a big shout out to Vanessa and Kristi (2 of my sorority sisters) for braving the rain and walking with us! You girls are the best and I am so thankful to have friends like you.
Our little Ava raised right around $3500 for March of Dimes!! I am so very proud of her and I can't wait to do this walk year after year in her honor. Ava; Mommy and Daddy miss you so much and we are unbelievably proud of you every single day. I hope you had fun watching us walk in the rain for you and other babies (and maybe had a good laugh at how soaked we were because we forgot umbrellas). Love you lots baby girl!
