Remembering Amelia Rae
We’re honoured to share Amelia Rae’s story, a beautiful little girl who was so deeply loved long before she was born.
Her story is a testament to just how deeply a connection with a baby can exist from the earliest days of pregnancy. Thank you to Jen and Tom for sharing Amelia with us, and for allowing us to celebrate the love that continues to surround her.
Amelia was born on a Tuesday evening on 29th August 2023 at 41 weeks 5 days. She was barely a winter baby. I'd like to think she stayed in utero for as long as she could because she also wasn't a fan of winter like her parents. She lived for 4 days, and we held her until she took her final breaths on a Saturday night on the 2nd September 2023. It was the 2nd day of Spring.
She should've been turning 3 years old this month, and it's hard to comprehend that it's almost been 3 years without her. While the grief remains heavy this time of year, I'd like to focus on the joy she brought to our lives the moment we found out about her, as well as the love we have for her, by telling you all about my favourite moments while I was pregnant with her and during the brief time we had with her after she was born.
She had the strongest heartbeat and the biggest yawn at every scan, but she was extremely camera shy and loved to hide behind her little hands. Her dad jokingly suggested the name 'Lemon' when we were thinking of baby names, and my little sister loved it so much it's now a nickname of hers and a symbol we associate with her. We honour and celebrate her on the 29th of every month by enjoying a lemon cake or a lemon tart and every year on her birthday, we bake her a lemon themed dessert.
She enjoyed playing with her dad before bed every night. She loved moving around to the songs 'Coffee' by Sylvan Esso and 'Sweet Disposition' by the Temper Trap. She also loved listening to songs by a duo named Purity Ring.
She travelled with us to Victoria where we drove along the Great Ocean Road and spent new years in Melbourne CBD. She attended her first and last concert to see The 1975 in the city. She was fond of watermelons, pringles and lemonade but wasn't a fan of sweet treats (I now enjoy eating watermelons because of her).
She's a mini version of her dad but she did inherit my bent pinky, which continues to make me smile because her baby brother also has the same bent pinky. She had a head full of hair and got her dad's full bottom lip. We got to have brief skin to skin in NICU. Tom got to give her a bed bath. She managed to breathe on her own and gave us 24 hours as a family of 3 after she was taken off her ventilator on the day her MRI confirmed our worst fears. We tried to squeeze in as many kisses and cuddles as we possibly could.
She was absolutely perfect and we absolutely adore everything about her. She will always be the sweetest little girl who made me a mama, who made Tom and I parents. Amelia will forever be our firstborn and the first niece and grandchild on both sides of the family. Her baby brother Arlo will grow up knowing all about his big sister Amelia. We miss her every single day, and we carry the treasured memories we have of her always. We will always be grateful to the people who remember her with us, who continue to acknowledge her especially on the significant dates, who light a candle for her on her death anniversary and during wave of light, and who continue to speak her name.
Thank you Evergreen Three for allowing us to share her story once again.
With love,
Jen and Tom (Amelia Rae's Mum and Dad)
