International Babylost Mother's Day 2010

How did you spend Sunday May 2nd?

This year, women who have lost their children came together in their own special ways to celebrate International Babylost Mother's Day, a day created by Carly Dudley to honor the never-ending bond between a babylost mother and her child.

IBMD was an incredible experience for me, and I was fortunate to spend it with two amazing fellow babylost blog mommas.

With me were Malory, mother to Janessa Marie, who writes the blogs  Every Life Has A Story and Mommy of An Angel

And Stephanie, mother to Amelia Rose, who writes the blogs Carried Through Grief  and Beyond Words Designs.

(Stephanie, Me, Malory)          

Our day started over brunch, where we met and exchanged Mother's Day gifts. The irony was that this wasn't discussed ahead of time, and yet we each felt compelled to bring something to the celebration that would honor our roles as babylost mommas, as well as to brighten each other's day.

Stephanie brought gift cards with personalized tags, and a beautiful mix CD of songs that were helping her through her grief. Malory honored each little girl with an angel bearing their birthstone. She also created the "beautiful mother" cards that you see on the table. I brought a candle with each girls' initials on them, to illuminate their pictures as we talked.

These beautiful little girls are Janessa to the left, Peyton in the center, and Amelia to the right. They remained the central focus of our table,  and our day, and  it was truly beautiful to see them there together.

After lunch, we headed to a secluded reservoir for our balloon release. We brought 5 balloons and 1 butterfly balloon for the release. The 5 balloons were sent to heaven, 1 for each of our daughters, 1 for all the other babies lost who had touched our hearts, and 1 sent to heaven in prayer to watch over all the other babylost mommas. Here are some pictures from our balloon release.

(Malory and Stephanie pick out their balloons.)

(Me working on the Momma's Balloon)

 

(Malory writing a balloon message to all of the babies that have touched our hearts.)

We walked down to the edge of the water and said a few words to honor the significance of the day.

The skies were clear and blue, and the sun was shining as we prepared to let the balloons go.

 

And when the moment felt right, we watched them float above us.

 

The balloons lingered for a while, dancing above us in a pack, before beginning their graceful journey into the heavens and out of sight. 

After our balloon release, we stayed together the remainder of the day, walking along the nearby river. We talked about our lives, our children, and our grief. We may have just met that day, but our connection was like that of three girls who had known each other their whole lives. We had so much fun in fact, that it wasn't until after 8PM that we finally said our goodbyes!


Child loss can feel so isolating at times, but yesterday there was none of that. There was no feeling left out or alone. Yesterday we were three mommas, in love with our daughters, celebrating International Babylost Mother's Day together. It was a day filled with laughter and tears and understanding.

Yesterday was beautiful.