Sixty-five babies were remembered Sunday through words, tears and in the thoughts of parents and families recalling their "precious angels" who died as a result of a miscarriage or stillbirth in the past year.
About 130 people gathered at Tucson Botanical Gardens for "The Fourth Annual University of Arizona Medical Center Labor & Delivery Remembrance Service." The memorial was hosted by "Healing Hands," comprising nurses in the labor and delivery unit.
They help the families during their grief by creating molds of their babies' hands and feet, dressing the babies in gowns and wrapping them in blankets for photographs. The clothing, blanket and a photo album of each child is presented to the parents when they leave the hospital.
For Sherri and James Wakefield, the loss of their twin boys James and Andrew, will always be a part of their lives.
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"We made a pact between us to move and breathe," Sherri Wakefield said during the ceremony. "We don't want to forget or sons," said the mother who became pregnant through in vitro fertilization.
The couple lost their sons at a little over five months when Sherri's placenta pulled away from the uterine wall, causing her to go into labor.
"When we walked out of the hospital, we were devastated and numb," said James Wakefield, after the ceremony. "We got home and saw the mementos the nurses made for us. It helped us so much. These mementos helped us, in time, to move forward and begin to heal."
As she looked at the other parents, Sherri Wakefield said that all the sons and daughters who passed "are up on high doing wondrous things. Our children are God's most precious human beings ... if they can't be with us, they are with Him."
For Marcia and Luke Goddard, the memorial was a time to remember their daughter, Ava, who was stillborn at 36 weeks. The couple work at UAMC - Marcia is an emergency room nurse and Luke is a medical resident.
"I came home from work and she (the baby) was not moving around," Marcia Goddard recalled. "I went in the next morning to the hospital, and there was no heartbeat ... she was stillborn," said Goddard. The couple buried Ava in a white gown that was sewn from someone's old wedding dress that Healing Hands provided for the child.
During the memorial and through tears Marcia Goddard found comfort in hugging her son, Ian, 2.
"He is helping us move forward and live," she said.
The Wakefields presented Savana Price, an obstetrical technician, with the James and Andrew Wakefield Memorial Award for her exemplary work with Healing Hands.
The award, which was given for the first time, will be presented each year to a nurse or staff member who has gone beyond duty to help families through their trying times.
Nurse Raquel Castro said it is the families that are inspiring and give the nurses and staff courage to continue their work because "through all their difficulty, they have the strength to move forward."
Healing Hands accepts donations and can be found on Facebook at The Healing Hands at The University of Arizona Medical Center or by calling 444-5428.
Contact reporter Carmen Duarte at 573-4104 or cduarte@azstarnet.com
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