Being pregnant must be one of the greatest feelings in the universe. The anticipation of the joyous times that will follow the birth of this bundle of delight excites the expecting parents.
Valerie Watts anticipated seeing her baby’s face, but her joy and emotions were crushed when she gave birth to a stillborn boy.
Her pregnancy was progressing well throughout the entire duration, but that abruptly changed.
Watts reflected, “I had known all week.” “He was less active than before. “I was extremely tense.”
In the womb, the umbilical cord of baby Noah becomes compressed, resulting in his death.
Watts was incapable of overcoming his sorrow. Although her child did not survive, she was unwilling to give up the crib she had purchased for him; retaining it at home served as a reminder of the tragedy that had befallen her.
Gerald Kumpula recalls her “being somewhat hesitant.” She may not have wanted to sell it, but she did nonetheless, as I had suspected.
Kumpula had a workshop outside of Cokato, near where he lived. He was looking for a crib and found one at the Watts family garage sale, but he couldn’t afford to buy it even if it wasn’t marked down.
“When he asked me if I was selling that, that he made benches, I hesitated,” Watts said.
Kumpulas was unaware of the history of that crib at the time.
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,” Watts said.
Since Kumpulas understood the crib had belonged to the Watts family, he gave it back to them after giving it a makeover.
Watts admitted, “I started crying instantly.”
Kumpulas’s bench, fashioned from the infant’s cot, serves as both a memento of happier times and a source of solace for the grieving parents.
