Every Life Has A Story

I'm excited to share another spotlight with you about Malory the author of Every Life Has a Story.  I think I was originally drawn to her blog because of it's beautiful title.  That title really touched me and rang true.  Malory is another one of these AMAZING angel mom's that does SO MUCH to give back to grieving parents.

This is what Malory wrote about losing her child, Janessa Marie, and why she started Every Life Has a Story.........

I started Every Life Has A Story in July of 2009. That month we should have welcomed our beautiful baby girl Janessa Marie into the world. Unfortunately she arrived in May 2009 when I was 31 ½ weeks pregnant. She passed away on May 13^th due to a placenta abruption and was delivered the next morning at 4:24 am. She was 2lbs 14 oz and measured 16 inches. She was perfect. Beautiful. So sweet and so small. She looked a lot like her big brother. We miss her so much.

 The doctors believe that I developed PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension) sometime after my last appointment which was a month prior. I delivered her on the day I had my next doctor visit scheduled. They think my blood pressure rose so high it caused the placenta to detach from the wall of the uterus. I had not had any recorded blood pressure issues prior to that day. These are not definite answers and we will never know if this was in fact the cause. The not knowing adds to the pain. I now suffer from chronic hypertension as my BP never regulated itself after delivering her. I was lucky that I did not get preeclampsia.

 We were devastated by Janessa's death. We still are. I do not feel the word “devastated” does our feelings justice. The pain of losing your child could never be put into words.

 As I left the hospital 2 days after empty handed, leaving our baby girl behind, I also knew I was leaving myself behind. I would never be that same person who entered the hospital with her baby girl wrapped up her womb. We left our old life behind that day as well. We had now entered a whole new world. I wasn't sure what laid ahead of us as grieving parents. I had no idea how I would continue on living.

 I quickly turned to the computer looking for answers. One of the first things I came upon was tribute videos to lost babies on you tube. I sat for hours & hours watching each video and sobbing. Sobbing for their families, sobbing for my daughter. I then stumbled upon child loss support sites. I later discovered the world of blogging and started to read some of the stories from others parents who had lost babies. I finally knew there were others out there who understand our pain. I no longer felt so alone.

 During this time I had started working on a video to tell my daughter’s story. It helped me focus my mourning and grief. I had created a video in memory of my father about 5 years prior and it brought me an immense amount of healing. I hoped I would find some in creating one for Janessa as well.

 As I ventured further into blog reading I was overwhelmed with the amount of support, understanding and compassion that I found there. I was also taken back by the way these parents gave back to the “baby loss community”. I knew I had to find a way to give back for all the understanding and support I had found there. I also wanted a way to help keep Janessa’s memory alive. The idea of Every Life Has A Story began and I quickly got to work to make it happen.

 I realized that not everyone is familiar with video making programs. I also knew firsthand that when you lose a newborn or young baby you do not have a lot of keepsakes and you cling to the few you have. The memorial video gives them one more piece of their child and every piece gives comfort. 

ELHAS allows me to help grieving families keep their child’s memory alive. It allows me to bring a small amount of comfort to them during an excruciating time in their lives. Each story breaks my heart but I take solace in being able to bring them some comfort. As I do each video I feel as though I get to know each family. I feel honored that they chose to share their story with me and ultimately through the Every Life Has A Story website, others as well.

Janessa's Story from Every Life Has A Story on Vimeo.

Not only does Malory author the blog Every Life Has a Story but she also has 3 others, Keeping Their Memory Alive, Butterfly Footprints, and her personal blog Mommy of an Angel.  This is what she has said about her other blogs....

I also started Keeping Their Memory Alive for those who have made or already have a video/slideshow of their child. There they can share their child' story.

Butterfly Footprints was started this past August as well. It was inspired by the tiny footprints of my sweet Janessa and the symbolic meaning the butterfly holds for us.  

Thank you Malory for sharing your sweet Janessa with us and for all you do to give back to other angel parents!