Remembering the Babies

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. For some of you, this is the day. I was with a few bereaved parents over the weekend. Some years ago, one couple lost a pair of twins during the pregnancy. The mom and dad described their twins this way: “unknown, unseen, but nevertheless loved.”  Loved. God says He has each human baby in His sights right from the beginning of our development in our mother’s wombs. He does know and see each one, including my friend’s babies. He knows the length of each life as it is planned. He knew these babies would live through 26 weeks of pregnancy. And that is all for their earthly lives. Those lives are not wasted in His plans. I don’t know each person or each life, but I know each one is precious in His sight and matters in the whole universe of being. If you lost a baby before you could “know or see” him or her, God knows and sees. He knows the significance of your baby and of your loss.   

Here is how His relationship with your baby is described in the Bible:

For you created my inmost being;     you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;…  My frame was not hidden from you…     When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,      your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me     were written in your book     before one of them came to be. From Psalm 139: 13-16

There is a website for this day: www.October15th.com for recognizing that you and others have lost someone unique and precious. Here I quote from the site about the declaration Pres. Reagan made about loss, about your loss.

“In October 1988, President Ronald Regan proclaimed October as National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. ‘When a child loses his parent, they are called an orphan. When a spouse loses her or his partner, they are called a widow or widower. When parents lose their children, there isn’t a word to describe them. This month recognizes the loss so many parents experience across the United States and around the world. It is also meant to inform and provide resources for parents who have lost children due to miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, stillbirths, birth defects, SIDS, and other causes.’”

May God, who sees and knows both you and the baby, be with you, comforting your heart as much as you need on this day of remembering.