Our Family's Story
Above you see me (Jennifer, Founder of Oliver’s Offerings) and my partner Ryan celebrating our wedding day in June 2016. What you don’t see, is the struggle we were already living trying to start a family. Fast forward 5 long years and we were so excited to announce that Oliver and Wesley were growing steadily in utero. Despite an early diagnosis of Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, the babies had learned to share resources equally and everything seemed fine. Due in part to our intense infertility journey, to be pregnant with identical twins made us feel like we had won the lottery.
Around 26 weeks of pregnancy I started to feel the symptoms of Twin-to-Twin Syndrome reoccurring. Despite several attempts at seeking care and even a hospital admission, the recurrence was missed, and our babies had to be delivered via C-section at just 27 weeks and 2 days of age on February 22nd, 2021. I was sent to recover from surgery and Ryan went to NICU with the babies.
In the dark, early hours of February 23rd, I was called by Ryan to come to NICU as something did not seem right. I was wheeled into NICU to be faced with Oliver receiving CPR, with no warning. It was not successful.
Eventually the team passed Oliver to me to hold as he took his final breaths. I remember touching Oliver’s beautiful red hair, inspecting his perfect little fingers, nose and toes. Our care team helped me give him a bath, take his tiny hand and footprints, and spend some time cuddling him on our hospital bed. Letting a nurse take my baby from my arms to the morgue was the hardest thing I will ever do. My life, my being changed in every imaginable way that day.
To honor Oliver’s short time on earth, I am starting Oliver’s Offerings, a special place for parents to honour their lost little ones. Through the generosity of community, Oliver’s Offerings will be a free weekend for grieving parents to rest and connect with others who understand the devastating and life-altering experience of losing a child. I want to hear all about your little one, your connection, and how your love continues. It is my dream that self-love, compassion, a sense of belonging and connectedness happens here, hopefully easing a bit of our painful, often isolating journeys with grief.
– Jen
