Emily Jaceks
September 24, 2018 08:23 AM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - “Everything was perfect. It was a perfect pregnancy, no complications,” Cristelle Gagne said.
To this day doctors still don't know what led to the passing of little Andromeda Rose.
She was born at just 22 weeks and was alive for a short two hours.
“Just two hours before my daughter passed, they said you're good to go, everything's fine, they sent me home. Two hours later, I was back at the hospital because I was in so much pain and before I got to put on the gown, my water broke and my daughter was delivered,” Gagne said.
The two hours the family got to spend with her was long enough for a snuggle with her big sister and one last family picture, but not long enough to say goodbye.
“Because you never think that oh, I’m not going to have that much time, but when you’re actually in the situation, you don't want to let go,” Gagne said.
The Gagnes are hoping other families going through similar heartache won't have to so soon and that's why they're teaming up with an organization called Madison's Miracles to place CuddleCots in hospitals around the metro.
“It's a cooling system that goes in a Moses bassinet and it can stay in a hospital with family so they can have time to have family come down, family can see the baby, say their goodbyes, make memories, have pictures,” Gagne said.
It's a concept that, for some, can be difficult to understand. But for a parent that's lost a child, it makes perfect sense.
“It gives you more time to so that you can understand and you can come to terms with what happened,” Gagne said.
Gagne hopes she can help turn her grief into the perfect present on what would be her daughter's first birthday, January 13.
“Lovelace is my first hospital, just because that was where my daughter was born and where she passed,” Gagne said.
Right now, Presbyterian Rust is the only hospital in the metro that has a CuddleCot. If you'd like to donate to the cause, click here.