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Mallory and Collin Weatherford with the gift boxes she made for newborns at UAMS.
Local Mother Donates Gift Baskets for UAMS’ Newborns in Honor of Her Stillborn Son
| For Mallory Weatherford, there was never a doubt where the gift baskets she created in honor of her son, Carson, were going.
She has a soft spot for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) as it is where she gave birth to three healthy girls — Abigail, Isabelle and Sadie — and one son, Carson, who was stillborn on April 26, 2017.
“Because my children were born at UAMS, it is really special to me,” Weatherford said, adding she is so grateful for the nurses who took care of her when Carson was stillborn.
Mallory Weatherford holds a Molly Bear that was created in honor of her stillborn son, Carson.
“I’m so thankful because UAMS knows what to do, and they do it,” she said, describing the way the nurses and other medical staff knew how to give her the space and support she needed.
When she wasn’t immediately ready to hold Carson, Weatherford said, her nurse didn’t miss a beat. Instead, the nurse picked up the baby and got his handprints and footprints. When Weatherford said she didn’t want any photos of Carson, the nurse took a few, just in case the grieving mother changed her mind.
“Bless her. I was probably in shock and not thinking. Looking back, if I did not have pictures of him, I would be so devastated.”
In the eight years since Carson’s stillbirth, Weatherford has found ways to help other moms. After receiving a Molly Bear, a special remembrance teddy bear that was filled with sand to weigh the same as Carson, she volunteered with the organization to make 300 bears for other grieving moms. She has offered counsel to other women who have lost a child in pregnancy and has celebrated when those same women gave birth to their rainbow babies, a term used to describe a child born to parents who have experienced a stillbirth or miscarriage. In 2018, she gave birth to her own rainbow baby, Sadie.
Through it all, she has found ways to remember her sweet baby boy.
All of the gift boxes carried a tag that read, “In memory of Carson, 4-26-2017.”
In late April, Weatherford and her husband, Collin, carried in about 20 boxes filled with baby blankets, swaddles, crocheted animals, notebooks and eye masks for mom, and more. Each of the boxes featured a tag with a blue dinosaur and the words, “In Memory of Carson, 4-26-2017.”
At Weatherford’s request, some of the boxes were given out on April 26, with the others being reserved for families in need throughout the year.
“It makes me so happy to give something with his name on it,” she said. “I think the biggest thing when you lose a child is that you remember that child, but no one else does. So, I get to put his name on something, and I get to give it to someone.”