As life goes on, you experience circumstances that mold you into the person you will be or eventually become.
Experiencing any sort of loss can be one of the most heartbreaking situations that you can encounter, especially the loss of a child at birth.
A beautiful overwhelming moment can turn into the most devastating time when a mother gives birth to a stillborn baby.
Being pregnant myself at the moment, it was a true eye opener being exposed to a possible situation that can happen to anyone.
Many asked me how I had the strength to go do an interview about stillborn babies while I'm be pregnant. My answer -- it can happen to any of us women.
Experiencing losses of my own, it was easier to set my emotional stance aside and tell the story of the Cuddlecot usage developing in Phoenix.
A group of Valley women called the Midnight Mammacitas want to give parents a few more hours with their child.The Midnight Mammacitas are a group of moms that connect and support each other through the trials and tribulations of motherhood.
They say a chilled bassinet called a Cuddlecot can provide that time. The Cuddlecot will allow parents to be with their child for up to three days. It allows the baby to remain in the room with the parents, slowing down decomposition by keeping the child’s body at a cooler temperature.
The Mammacitas want Cuddlecots to be placed in several hospitals around the Valley for grieving parents.
"We are actually looking into all level three facilities in the Phoenix area in the Valley have at least two on hand," said Abigail Spahich, an advocate of Midnight Mammacita. "The reason why we want to have two is so one can be in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) and one down in labor and delivery."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year about 24,000 babies are stillborn in the United States. The cause of many stillborn deaths goes undetermined.
Right now, Banner Desert Health Medical Center in Mesa is one of the few hospitals in the Valley to provide a Cuddlecot for parents.
Recently, a Cuddlecot was donated by the Wurster Family on Aug. 18, 2016. In honor of their baby girl Emerson Janes Wurster, the family donated a Cuddlecot to the hospital so that other families could have time with their babies.
"Probably since we received this wonderful donation in August, maybe around eight families they have been very pleased with the opportunity to be able to have and keep their baby with them a little bit longer," said Jennifer Reisner, a nurse and certified prenatal loss counselor for Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa.
Banner also is home to Sable's Wings Room. It is a room filled with butterflies to remember babies who lost their lives too soon.
Sable's Room was named after Sable Marie, a baby girl who lived for two days. The room was donated by Sable’s mother Gia Chapman and the room is meant for families and parents to have a private place to spend time with their babies.
"This loss occurs, this loss is real and this loss is tangible you can see it on people's faces, you can feel it when they walk in the room, when you see that type of grief, you want to try anything you can to make it just a little bit better," said Abigail Spahich.
The Midnight Mammacita have started a GoFundMe to raise enough funds for Cuddlecots to be placed in hospitals all around Phoenix.