Noah Watts arrived in this world with 10 fingers and 10 toes, a beautiful baby boy. But his birth was heartbreaking for his mom Valerie.
As a baby in utero nears delivery, its movements tend to slow a bit, especially considering how crowded it gets in the ninth month. Valerie noticed that Noah’s kicks had stopped altogether a few days before her due date.
At first, she didn’t think anything about it. Then realized that it was a sign that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
“All week I knew he wasn’t moving as much. I was very nervous.”
Noah’s motionlessness was because he had passed away in the womb mere days before his due date. His umbilical cord had been pinched off in the womb.
No one should ever have to experience what Valerie did.
Delivering a stillborn baby is heartbreaking. Knowing that the infant car seat won’t be needed. The painstakingly chosen “coming home” outfit left hanging up in the closet.
The crib sitting empty in the nursery.
For more than a year, Valerie left Noah’s room just as she had it set up while pregnant. She just couldn’t bear to get rid of any of his belongings or pack up his things.
Finally, Valerie was ready.
The Minnesota mom parted ways with many of her baby items, including Noah’s crib, at a garage sale. It hurt her to her very core to know that her sweet angel baby never spent a single second in it.
Valerie would never watch Noah grow up. Never hear his first word. Never watch him take his first steps. Never send him off to his first day of kindergarten.
Having his crib sitting in the nursery, empty, was a harsh reminder of what would never be. A mother’s love for her baby boy that would never blossom and grow.
Valerie ended up selling the crib to a man named Gerald Kumpula and his wife. She thought he might need it for a grandbaby perhaps.
The handyman imagined all of the things he could do with the crib. He’s been creatively converting headboards and other pieces into stunning benches.
But he sensed some hesitation on Valerie’s behalf to sell him the crib.
“I thought maybe she didn’t want to sell, but yet she did.”
Gerald’s wife had chatted briefly with Valerie during the garage sale and when she inquired about the age of her child whose crib they were buying, they learned that Valerie had lost her baby.
Instead of keeping it for themselves, Gerald and his wife decided to return it to the still-grieving mom … but not in its original form.
“We decided on our way home that this [crib] was going back.”
The Minnesota man didn’t share with Valerie that he’s a carpenter. He was inspired by Valerie’s pain to turn the crib into something positive and meaningful that might ease the ache in her heart.
Gerald secluded himself in his workshop and for a week, threw himself into this project. Imagine Valerie’s surprise when Gerald arrived on her doorstep and presented her with the crib – that he had converted into a memorial chair.
She burst into tears.
“I started crying instantly. It’s amazing. There’s good people out there. He’s proof.”
The once empty crib that broke her heart every time she looked at it had become a beautiful chair that she could keep in her home as a less painful reminder of her baby boy, a breathtaking piece of furniture that brought a sense of peace to her nursery still left intact in honor of Noah.
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