2020 Team 20 - Team Jack
We were newlyweds with the most exciting news to share with our families; we were going to have a baby! We have a big crazy family that could not wait for this little being to arrive. This would be the first baby of the next generation in our family. We decided to wait to find out the gender of our babe, because there just are not enough surprises left in life. The next 9 months were filled with a pretty boring pregnancy, and as we watched the baby grow on screen, we just could not wait for him or her to arrive.
Fast forward to February 24th, 2019 when the women in our family gathered for a baby shower in celebration of this baby about to arrive in a few weeks, and it started to occur to me when a relative asked, “let us know when we can feel some kicks!” I really did not think much of it, and the busy day came and went, and I never offered for anyone to feel the baby kick. The next morning, I woke up and had a glass of juice and waited, still no notable movements to follow. I told my husband I would make a stop at the hospital before heading to work just to rest my mind assured, but truly I was not even worried.
He ended up bringing me to our local hospital where a nurse in labour and delivery searched for a heartbeat with a fetal monitor… there was a second of relief when we heard a heartbeat (later to be discovered it was my heartbeat that we had heard). A second nurse came in to do the same search and that is when the mood in the room began to shift. Our baby was 37 weeks to the day, and a portable ultrasound was brought in to confirm there was in fact no heartbeat.
It was that day that we found out our sweet baby-to-be was a boy! We were sent home to wait and hear how the next few days would go. We went to visit our OB the following day and found out our options for induction. It was 4 days later that we headed into the hospital to begin the induction process, and it was completely nerve wracking as we had never had a baby before and had no idea what to expect.
Later that afternoon we welcomed our love, Jack Justin Robitaille to the world. It may sound morbid to someone who has not experienced this type of loss before...but we truly had a wonderful day the day we got to meet Jack. We had waited so long to see what he would look like, and we spent as much time with him as we could. Our lives will never be the same since we did not get to take our boy home, but I can confidently say we absolutely loved the short time we had with our son.
Thank you so much for listening to our story and allowing us to share our son with you! Your participation in Hockey for Grace is helping the lives of these children matter and be remembered, and as a parent I am so grateful for that. Go Team Jack!
So much Love,
Marina & Justin Robitaille (Jack’s Parents)