(Joyful) Tears.
Last Friday morning, I was finally able to talk with the people that will be supplying the CuddleCot. They are located in Florida, and have been without internet for a while due to the hurricane. But we finally connected, and the ball is rolling, people!! We have paid for the CuddleCot, and the order was placed yesterday! Generally, the cots take about two weeks to arrive (given that Florida doesn't get slammed with another hurricane), so it should be to us around October 15th. I spoke with the hospital we are planning to donate it to that day as well, and the woman I spoke with said they were happy to accept the donation, but that I'd want to speak with the labor and delivery manager to confirm.
I talked to the manager yesterday, and she said that someone else is already planning to donate a CuddleCot to them. I did a quick Google search that led me to a Facebook group, in which there was a post from September 9th that said they were also planning to donate to Riverton, but had been told the same thing. So someone has told Riverton they want to donate the CuddleCot to them, but apparently don't have the cot yet? Who knows. I'm waiting to hear back from the manager.
When I hung up with the hospital, I went outside and cried for a little bit. I knew that donating the CuddleCot to them wouldn't bring us any sort of closure, but it was something that we really wanted to do, and would kind of bring everything full circle. I'm disappointed, even though I know that we can still donate the cot to a different hospital that will be just as grateful.
But last week, when I hung up the phone with the CuddleCot distributor, I kind of just wanted to stay my little room and cry. I wanted to cry for our babies, cry for ourselves, and cry for the families that will potentially be using the cot. But I also found myself feeling light, and my heart was so full. I'm so grateful that some goodness is coming from our grief. This whole process has made me so emotional, and I constantly find myself crying tears of grief and joy at the same time. That's just how this past week has been.
We are still blown away by how quickly we were able to raise money for the first CuddleCot, and are so grateful that orders continue to roll in. The new inventory has been a hit, and we should be getting more of the same things in stock so we can send out all the necklaces that have been ordered in the last two weeks. If you haven't received yours yet, thank you for your patience! I promise it is coming!
You guys rock. Thank you so much for helping make this possible and allowing us to help other families.