Mikaila was with us for 9 months - I carried her within my body for 9 months. I felt her grow. I felt her move. I heard her heart beating and watched her wriggle during ultrasounds. I have ultrasound images of her as she grew. I have photographs of her just after her birth. I have her special blanket knitted for her by her grandmother and a 'treasure chest' of other keepsakes and memories.
The physical legacies left include all these things... as well as the changed body I now have - also a legacy of my other babies I have carried and nurtured and grown... and something that I am unashamedly proud of... It is a miracle to grow children within you and to bear the daily reminders of such a miracle is something we should all be proud of.
Mikaila made a big impact in such a short time for so many of my family and friends. Her legacy to them has been something that cannot be captured in a photograph. It has been a connection to what is most precious in life - which is different for all of us. Her legacy has been an awareness that life is valuable and fleeting, and should be grasped with both hands and lived fully, because there is never any way to tell when and how it will be changed forever!
Perhaps the MOST IMPORTANT legacy that has been left by Mikaila has been a result of her leaving us... for had she stayed, life would have played out very differently and her brothers and sisters probably would not have arrived when they did or become the people they are... They each have their own special connection with the big sister they never met here on earth or in this lifetime... but the connection is there. Mikaila is talked about by each of them, she has been included in drawings of their family and she is very much alive to all of us!
Thank you for your brothers and sisters Mikaila... without you, they may not be here... and I cannot imagine a life without any of you.
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