Stella's Secret Stash

Stella spent the first six months of her life in the NICU and we decided we were not going to miss special moments with her. We were going to bring the special moments to her. We received so many cute outfits and bows for Stella once she was born. We decided that once Stella could wear clothes we were bringing them all to the NICU. We set up shop at her bedside and quickly Stella built a beautiful stash of clothes and bows!

No bow was ever too small or too big to put in Stella’s hair. Stella quickly became known for her beautiful smile and bows! Once we brought Stella home, in the five months we had her here, we enjoyed every minute with her. We loved dressing her up. After all, what girl doesn’t love to look their best! We always had people visiting…doctors, nurses, therapists, friends and family. Everyone looked forward to seeing what Stella would be wearing and what bow she had to match.

When Stella’s health started to decline and we realized that this life had become too hard for Stella,  we began to think of ways to keep her legacy alive…and that is when Stella’s Secret Stash came to life! We decided that because Stella loved bows and hats so much and we remembered how much “normalcy” that brought us when nothing was “normal” about Stella’s World, we wanted to share that feeling with other babies and their families.

At Stella’s memorial we decided to collect hats and bows for all the NICU babies in lieu of flowers. The amount we received was overwhelming. So many babies and their families were going to have a “normal” moment in memory of Stella! Each bow or hat is individually wrapped in a cute bag with one of Stella’s memory cards. Every baby receives a special gift.

School children began making bows and knitting hats, strangers delivered hats, old friends began knitting, new friends started sewing and from this Stella’s Secret Stash grew and grew. We were able to create a signature “Stella bow” from Tori’s Bitty Bows and one of Stella’s wonderful nurses created the Stelladorable hats!

We have been able to expand Stella’s Secret Stash to the pediatric unit and to Journey Care, Stella’s palliative care service. Recently, we have also started buying socks for the NICU babies as some children can’t have bows or hats on their heads. It is because of all this, we Stellabrate!

Thanks to all of you, we can continue to make babies cute one hat and bow at a time!