Those who are expecting a child have to make countless preparations.
First, they have to get a crash course in parenting and how to care for a baby.
But they also have to make their home comfortable for when the baby arrives. This means they have to prepare the baby’s room with a crib.
But when a mother has a stillborn, there’s no baby to sleep in the crib.
The baby’s room remains prepared but unoccupied.
Having to dismantle this room can cause terrible pain to parents who are grieving.
It was extremely difficult for Valarie Watts to part with her son’s crib after he was delivered as a stillborn.
Everything went well for the majority of her pregnancy.
However, things went terribly wrong within the few days before she was about to give birth.
“All week, I knew,” Watts told Minneapolis-based station KMSP. “He wasn’t moving as much. I was very nervous.”
His umbilical cord had become pinched in the womb causing him to be stillborn.
Eventually, Watts had to dismantle the baby’s room and part with the items she bought for the baby.
She decided to have a garage sale to get rid of some of these things.
She found she was able to more easily part with some of the items she bought for Noah.
But his crib was something that she couldn’t bear to get rid of.
When someone asked about the crib, she hesitated.
Retiree Gerald Kumpula was the one who inquired about the crib.
“She was kind of hesitant,” Kumpula told Fox 9. “I knew that maybe she didn’t want to sell it, but yet, she did.”
After learning that Kumpula was a craftsman, Watts finally agreed to sell the crib for $2.
“I was a little bit at peace with it because he’d be making something nice,” Watts told TODAY.
Kumpula had attended the garage sale with his wife.
During their ride home, she told him about Watts’ story.
“His wife was there looking through my garage sale — at some of the baby clothes — and asked how old my son was since I don’t use the crib anymore, and I told her that he had passed in July,” Watts explained.
Kumpula decided he would turn the crib into a beautiful bench that he would give back to Watts.
“An unused crib is a sad reminder,” Kumpula said.
“A bench is more of a memorial. It’s part of that sad happening, yet it’s not a reminder like a crib would be, an empty crib.”
Watts said she was she was moved to tears when she saw the bench.
“I started crying instantly,” Watts said.
Now that bench sits in her living room and serves as a place where she can remember her son Noah.
“It’s amazing, and there’s good people out there,” Watts said. “There’s proof.”
Kumpula said he was beyond happy to make Watts’ day and help ease her pain, even if only a little bit.
“It’s just nice to be able to do something for someone,” he said. “It’s nice to help people.”
Watts, who has a 7-year-old, says the bench has helped her to cope with grief.
She placed it next to a bookcase that his photos of Noah, his handprints, footprints, and ashes.
“In a way, when I’m sitting in it, I feel comforted by his presence, even though he’s not here,” said Watts. “It’s like a peaceful, it’s-OK type feeling.
“When I feel down, I can sit on the bench and I feel OK, everything’s going to be OK.”
Learn more about Watts’ story below
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