Our daughter Bridget

Our daughter Bridget led a very happy, vibrant life and living with her was like Christmas every day because she was so unexpected and she was a true gift! She brought tens of thousands of people together in love and prayer when she was born (people praying for her) and has been changing lives ever since with her unconditional love.

We will always love and miss our precious baby girl. Most of all though, we feel so blessed and grateful for the time we had with her. 95% of babies with Trisomy 18 don't make it to birth and the average life span of those that do live is 10 days.

Bridget lived 5 incredible months. She smiled, played, started rolling over, and so many other things. She was truly triumphant. She had 3 holes in her heart that had grown so small that they were no longer a big issue. She did truly miraculous things in her young life. We experienced the miracle of her every day and feel like we got several lifetimes of love from her -- each day was like months. We will keep Bridget in our hearts always.   

 
A few of the many things we'll always remember about Bridget:

 
-- How she was always full of surprises. You could never predict Miss Bridget, as my 4-year-old daughter liked to call her. That's one of the things we loved about her.

-- Her quiet determination. She had her own mind and let you know. She was the most determined girl I ever met.

-- Her cheerful personality. She rarely cried.

-- How full of life she was!

-- Her tremendous patience.

-- The clicking noise she made when she was hungry.

-- How she let us know right away when she had potties.

-- How she hated socks and bibs -- wouldn't keep them on at all!

-- How she loved to listen to Mama tell stories on the tape recorder.

-- How she loved to have her special morning "sister" time with Aria.

-- How she loved her caterpillar music toy and her mobile.

-- How she didn't like to be on her tummy and would roll over to get off of her tummy.

-- How she loved to watch ceiling lights.

-- How she loved to cross her ankles.

-- How she loved to sleep next to us.

-- How she was so smart! We couldn't believe how smart she was.

-- How she had a strong desire to nurse and managed to nurse some despite the breathing problems.

-- How much she loved all of us.

-- How she loved to be held by many different people.

-- How she loved to play doctor and Candyland with us.

-- How she loved to lay on Daddy's chest while he watched TV.

-- How she loved a warm bath.

-- How she loved to pull at (and would try to pull out) her feeding tube.

-- How she loved to dance.

-- How she loved to play "so big" and patty cake

-- How she smelled. It's hard to describe -- a combination of vanilla and a fresh spring rain.

-- How she had the biggest, brightest smile you ever saw.

-- And of course, her blueberry eyes that melted our hearts!

 

Much love,
Deanne, Erik, and Aria Repich