CUDDLE COT DONATION

Zachary James Kropp was born sleeping on March 23rd, 2020 at 36 weeks to Francesca and Alexander Kropp. He has 4 siblings Dustin, Angelina, Lucian, and Luna. 

Zachary James was unfortunately lost due to a True Knot in his umbilical cord. A True Knot in an infant’s umbilical cord is just as its name suggests. The cord becomes tangled into a loose knot, believed to have occurred between 9 and 12 weeks of gestation. True Knots are not a rare occurrence during pregnancy, however, for the knot to be pulled enough in utero to cause fetal death is a rare occurrence. Zachary James was unfortunately one of those rare occurrences. 

The hospital Zachary James was born had a Cuddle Cot that allowed Francesca and Alex to have 16 hours with him once he was born. With covid having just started in the country, the importance and impact of those 16 hours with Zachary James was unimaginable, especially over the coming months after he had passed and the country went on lockdown.

Within a few weeks after losing him, Francesca discovered that these Cuddle Cots are not provided to many hospitals for grieving families. To obtain a Cuddle Cot, hospital can try to get grants but most are placed through private donations from other families that suffer pregnancy or infant loss. This was heartbreaking to Francesca. Stillbirth affects about 1 and 160 births, about 24,000 babies in the United States each year. This meant thousands of parents went through loss without having any real extra time with their infant due to the lack of Cuddle Cots in hospitals. 

Francesca has been through a lot of traumas in her life and wants to make sure Zachary James will always be remembered. So, she began her mission to find a way to help other parents out, in hopes they could have some kind of knowledge that they were not alone in their loss. And that is how she found Our Baby's Legacy. Through Francesca and Alex’s family and friends, they were able to save and receive enough donations to fully fund and donate the first Cuddle Cot dedicated to Zachary James’ Honor on October 15th, 2020, just about 6 months after Zachary James was born.  Surely the impact of this Cuddle Cot will be immeasurable for other grieving families.

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There is no foot

To small

That it cannot leave an imprint 

On this World 

Faith does not mean trusting 

God to stop the storm, but trusting him to 

Strengthen us as we walk through the storm