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Rayna Sunset - a story of love & heartache

On June 30th I became a grandma or Gigi as I like to be called. It was a day of great joy for our family. Then almost a month later I received an email from our church that described a different outcome of a day that should have been the same joyfilled day as we had. For whatever reason God called this little girl home. We know that God's way is perfect but, that doesn't do anything to ease the pain we experience. My heart goes out to this family. I am sharing the mother's post (with permission) about her sweet angel in the hopes that it will help others dealing with the same heartache.

Our lives forever changed two weeks ago. On July 25th, while visiting my family in Iowa, I wasn't feeling our normally very active baby moving. We then went into the hospital as a precaution, where we found out our baby of 33 weeks did not have a heartbeat. After being induced into labor, we delivered Rayna Harlan Lindberg on July 27th at 9:26 am. She was 4 lbs 7 oz and 17 ¾” long... tall like her daddy and as beautiful as her mommy (according to Nick).

She is named Rayna because she was a ray of sunshine in our lives. Before we went to the hospital, there was an amazing sunset on the farm. Looking back, we think this was Rayna saying goodbye to us. Now, every time we see the sunset, we think of our Rayna. She was born in Harlan, IA, at the same hospital I was born in. We were blessed to have so many family members nearby, and many small town (and small world) touches made it clear that if our little girl had to die, we were in the right place... hence her middle name.

The past couple weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions, each day bringing its own set of challenges. Nick and I are parents now, and we will always treasure the time we had with Rayna, and we want to talk about our daughter. We are also aware we are not alone in having lost our baby before she could take her first breath, that 1 in every 160 pregnancies ends in stillbirth. We hope sharing our story can be of help to others.

Our ask of you is:
1) Pray for the two of us and our families so we may find comfort in the midst of our grief
2) If you know someone who also has gone through this, give them a hug, send them an email, say a prayer for them... you never know how much you might be helping
3) Take pictures of sunsets and send them to us or post them using ‪#‎raynasunset‬ to help us remember Rayna's brightness.

A mutual friend posted this on the mother's FB wall and it was so touching I had to share 

(with permission, of course)

There were swaths of bended colored sky

The day baby Rayna said goodbye.

Clutch your heart and look up high

And warm your face til your tears are dry.

‪#‎RaynaSunset‬ From Toronto Island. From our hearts to yours.