Our first care packages

September 15 will always be a hard day for me. It's Camille's birthday, and this year she would have turned three.

I wish I were planning a birthday party. I wish I were watching her grow up alongside Jack and Claire. Instead, I'm figuring out how to keep her memory alive and find ways to include her in a world she should still be part of.

This year, I wanted to do something in her honor that might help another family going through what we've been through.

The idea was to put together one care box for families experiencing pregnancy loss or stillbirth and donate it to the hospital. Something with items that might offer a little comfort during one of the worst moments of someone's life.

I honestly thought we'd be making one box.

Then people started donating.

Friends, family, and members of our community came together to contribute items, and what started as one box turned into three full care boxes. I can't tell you how much it meant to see people show up for something so personal to me. Every donation helped make this possible, and because of everyone's generosity, we were able to do more than I'd originally planned.

We delivered all three boxes to Rex hospital in Raleigh, NC on September 15, Camille's third birthday.

It was bittersweet, as you can imagine. I would give anything to have her here celebrating with us. But being able to do something in her honor, knowing that other families might receive a little comfort because of it, meant a lot to me.

Then, on October 15, exactly one month after we delivered them, we got an update: all three boxes had been used.

All three. In one month.

I don't know who received the items or what those families were going through, and I may never know. But I do know that the boxes made it into the hands of families who needed them. And that's the whole point.

A care box can't fix what happened. It can't take away the heartbreak of losing a baby. I know that better than I'd like to. But sometimes it's the little things that remind you that someone cares, that someone is thinking about you, and that your baby hasn't been forgotten.

That's what I wanted these boxes to do.

To everyone who donated, shared the project, or helped in any way: thank you. Truly. What started as my idea to fill one box for Camille's birthday became three because people cared enough to help. You helped me do something meaningful for her birthday, and you helped provide comfort to families we'll probably never meet.

I wish Camille were here. I wish all of my babies were here. Nothing will ever change that.

But I'm grateful that her third birthday could be marked by something that reached beyond our family and touched other families who needed a little extra care.

— Catherine 💜