After spending months preparing the room, Valarie Watts longed to hear her newborn son’s coos.However, the distraught mother had to sell the things she had meticulously chosen for little Noah after he was stillborn.
She eventually consented to sell the crib to a retiree for just $2 because she didn’t want to leave with it. When he brought back Noah’s crib a week later, Watts broke down in tears. To find out more about this touching tale, continue reading!
Valarie Watts (now Hamblin) misses her stillborn son Noah every single day. He was born on July 22, 2013.
“I knew all week,” Watts of Minnesota tells FOX 9. She goes on to say, “He wasn’t moving as much,” adding that she just stopped feeling Noah kick a few weeks prior to his birth. I was somewhat anxious.
A mother’s instincts are always correct.
The newborn brother of seven-year-old Neveah, Noah, was stillborn due to a constricted umbilical chord in the womb.
Sale at the garage
Watts, who was 28 at the time, finally found the resolve to give up the things she had purchased for Noah over a year later.
Everything except his white crib, which she didn’t include in her garage sale the following May.
The distraught mother says, “I don’t know,” when asked why she wanted to keep the baby’s crib.
She hesitated when a retiree called Gerald Kumpula offered to buy the particular piece of furniture because she was emotionally tied to it and it served as a sad reminder of her loss.
Gerald and his wife Lorene, with whom he has 15 children and numerous grandchildren, attended the sale.
Since I no longer use the crib, Watts’ wife questioned how old his son was while perusing some of the baby clothing at my garage sale. I informed her that he had passed away in July.
Then she learned that 75-year-old Gerald was an artisan who repurposes footboards and headboards to create benches. “He would be making something nice, so I was a little at peace with it,” Watts said after selling the crib to the Kumpulas for $2.
Lorene told her husband the backstory of the crib he recently bought on the way home.
“She was a little hesitant, and I thought she might not want to sell it,” Kumpula said to FOX 9. “We made the decision to return this bench on the way home.”
A memorial bench
Gerald brought a priceless gift back to Watt’s house a week later.
The man made a bench out of the wood fragments from Noah’s abandoned crib.
“I started crying right away,” a tearful mother Watts revealed.
In a later interview with Today, she describes the bench as “beautiful.” “There are still good people out there,” I thought.
Gerald tells Today, “A crib that isn’t being used is a sad reminder.” “A bench functions more as a monument. It’s a part of that awful event, but it’s not a reminder like an empty crib would be.
The seat still rests next to a corner bookcase that contains pictures of Noah, his footprints and handprints, and his ashes, all of which help her cope with her loss.
Watts explains that the bench gives her a range of feelings, saying, “I’m so happy that it’s not just sitting there unutilized.” I may now sit in it, hold his teddy, and, if necessary, think about him.
“In a sense, even though he’s not here, his presence comforts me when I’m sitting in it,” she continues. It’s a calm, everything is fine kind of sensation. I can sit on the bench and feel fine when I’m feeling low; everything will work out.
In 2014, Watts wed Jimi Hamblin, Noah’s father. She posts a heartfelt remembrance of Noah on her Facebook page each year following the death of her son.
How do you feel about this tale? In order for us to hear from others, kindly share this tale and then let us know what you think!
