Baby Bear's Blankets

WE HAVE MOVED!

2010-07-27T15:31:00.001-05:00

We have moved to our new WEB SITE!

WWW.BABYBEARSBLANKETS.COM

Please stop by and check us out for the latest info and sewing days and events!

BBB Sewing Day 01/23/10

2010-01-22T11:50:00.001-06:00

DON'T FORGET BBB SEWING DAY THIS SATURDAY!!!

Picket Fence
10am to 4pm
Picket Fence (Stitching Barn)
956) 412-2668
2815 S 77 Sunshine Strip
Harlingen, TX

Please call me with any questions!

2009-10-05T15:10:00.002-05:00

SAVE THE DATE...for the next sewing day in 2010!!!

2009-09-27T21:42:00.005-05:00

SAVE YOUR DATE MY FRIENDS!!!

The next Baby Bear's Blankets sewing day is scheduled for January 23rd, 2010. We have just enough blankets to make it through the end of the year! (I Hope) And I know that the holiday seasons are coming up, so we have planned our next sewing day for the beginning of 2010.

My hope is that with enough advanced warning we will be able to get as many people there that we can. So please put it on your calendars, plug it in to your IPhones, Tattoo it on your spouses foreheads!!!! Whatever you have to do...we are looking forward to having you there to help us out and make blankets for donation!!!

And AS ALWAYS! There will be plenty of Chicken Salad, sweet tea and lots of laughing and learning and praying! Also, any level of expertise is needed...if you can tie a knot you can help make a Baby Bear's Blanket!!!

We will see you there at the Stitching Barn on January 23rd, 2010!

(Please e-mail me to RSVP...so we can have enough supplies and Chicken Salad!)

Christy Pohler

Baby Bear's Pictures and Video

2009-09-25T09:50:00.004-05:00

Please check out the link to see the beautiful video that was made for us by the Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep organization. They were so wonderful to help us photograph our family and our beautiful little girl!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgd8J6FOnFQ

National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

2009-09-22T23:28:00.003-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSYvT-Qv_5w

National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

October 15th is the National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Please check out this powerful video to see the plans for that day to light your candle for the loss of an infant.

Thank you!

www.October15th.com

September 2009 Update

2009-09-14T10:47:00.002-05:00

In speaking with Pastor Joe Jaime, one of the many wonderful Chaplin at VBMC, Harlingen, I recently found out that they are going to hold the annual memorial for the families of the children that were born and passed away at VBMC.

I also was so sad to find out that in the past few months, several families have lost there babies at birth. We also have found out that the NBICU has requested blankets for there department for them to use for there experiences with fetal loss.

My mother and I were going through the boxes of material and incomplete quilts and found a dozen blankets that had been completed and not turned into the hospital...which was a blessing since the hospital had run low, we will now be able to give them more till we are able to complete more blankets.

We are working on a new sewing day hopefully soon that we will be able complete more blankets to turn in. Till then, my mother and I are completing some that had been partially done at the last meeting to tide us over till the next sewing day.

If you would like to participate in the next sewing day please feel free to contact me at any time to find out the next time and date. We will be happy to have as much help as we can.

Till then please pray for the families that are going through such a hard time and learning to keep breathing and living each day with out there little angels in there arms.

Lots of Love,
Christy Pohler
BabyBearsBlankets@sbcglobal.net

Baby Bear's Little Sister

2009-09-11T10:37:00.003-05:00

Betsy was born on August 9th. She was 8lbs 9oz and extremely healthy. We are so glad that God has blessed us with another beautiful little girl!

To my dearest family

2009-09-11T10:34:00.000-05:00

To my dearest family, some things I'd like to say
But first of all, to let you know, that I arrived okay.
I'm writing this from heaven, here I dwell with God above
Here, there's no more tears of sadness; Here is just eternal love.

Please do not be unhappy just because I'm out of sight;
Remember that I am with you every morning, noon, and night.
That day I had to leave you when my life on earth was through
God picked me up and hugged me and He said, "I welcome you."

"It's good to have you back again, you were missed while you were gone,
As for your dearest family, they'll be here later on.
I need you here badly, you are part of my plan,
There's so much that we have to do to help out mortal man."
God gave me a list of things that he wished for me to do
And foremost on my list is to watch and care for you.

And when you lie in bed at night; the day's chores put to flight,
God and I are closest to you, in the middle of the night.
When you think of my life on earth, and all of those missed years,
Because you are only human, they are bound to bring you tears.
But do not be afraid to cry, it does relieve the pain,
Remember there would be no flowers, unless there was some rain.

I wish that I could tell you all that God has planned,
But if I were to tell you that, you wouldn't understand.
But one thing is for certain though, my life on earth is o'er,
I'm closer to you now than ever was before.
There are many rocky roads ahead of you and many hills to climb,
But together we can do it by taking one day at a time.
There is a very wise philosophy and I'd like to share it with you,
That as you give unto the world, the world will give unto you.
If you can help somebody who is in sorrow and pain,
Then you can say to God at night, "My day was not in vain.
And now I am contented, that my life is worthwhile,
Knowing as I passed along the way I made somebody smile."

So if you meet somebody who is sad and feeling low,
Just lend them your hand to pick them up, as on your way you go.
When you're walking down the street and you've got me on your mind,
I'm walking in your footsteps only half a step behind.
And when it's time for you to go, for that body to be free,,
Remember you're not going, You're coming here to me.

Prayer Request

2009-07-01T12:18:00.001-05:00

A prayer request has just come in from my husband Peter. A co-worker of his has recently lost her baby at 10 weeks gestation. Please keep her in your prayers as she has to continue with all the medical procedures as well as the pain and loss of a child!

Thank you!

06-27-09 BBB Sewing Day Pics

2009-06-29T19:34:00.005-05:00

Here are some of the pictures from our latest sewing day! Thanks so much ladies you have made this all possible!

What a success 06-27-09

2009-06-27T19:01:00.000-05:00

Our second sewing day for Baby Bear’s Blankets was a huge success. With 10 Guild members and 3 additional ladies helping, we were able to complete 31 blankets of the two different sizes (20 x 20 and 30 x 30). We were requested recently to make the additional size of the 20 x 20 blankets by the hospital for the smaller and younger babies that would be using them. The request that was made worked out well since we had a large amount of scrap material that several of the ladies were able to piece into the smaller quilts. They turned out so lovely and I’m sure that it will be a huge blessing to the families that received them.
We were extremely blessed to be able to be at the Stitching Barn with plenty of space to spread out and work on our individual tasks. As well, we were able to enjoy the company and really get to know each other more. Linda Chase was so kind as to provide Brownie Pie and our new Baby Bear’s Blankets tradition of Chicken Salad for lunch. The 6 hours seams to fly by with conversation, iced tea and the sounds of sergers, sewing machines and laughter.
We now have close to 60 more panels that have been pieced that only need to be pillow turned and top stitched. With these that were completed today we will be able to meet a large number of the need at Valley Baptist Medical Center, Harlingen for 2009. The additional blankets will be donated to VBMC, Harlingen as needed and our hopes are that we will be able to branch out into the neighboring hospitals.
Thank you so much ladies for all your kindness in attending our sewing day and to all of you who donated material. You have made this dream a reality and a true blessing for all the families that will tragically be losing their precious child.
Our hope is to plan the next sewing day after retreat and close to the end of the year. As soon as we have a firm date we will be letting you know, so you can mark it on your calendar. Also, if you would like to get evolved in completing some of our panels please see Linda Chase or Christy Pohler at the guild meeting.

It's Today!

2009-06-27T07:21:00.003-05:00

Well, the 2nd Baby Bear's Blankets sewing day is today! We will be meeting at the Picket Fence in Harlingen from 10-4 pm. Please feel free to join us at any time durring those hours and we will be happy to put you to work! :)

You don't even have to know how to sew!

Picket Fence Quilt & Fabric

(956) 412-2668
2815 S 77 Sunshine Strip
Harlingen, TX

See you there!

BBB SEWING DAY 06/27/09

2009-06-11T14:56:00.001-05:00

SEWING DAY!

June 27th, 2009

At the Picket Fence, Harlingen, Texas
10am to 4pm

We would greatly appreciate any additional equipment that you can bring to help us complete the blankets, such as sewing machines, sergers and yarn sized needles.
We will be providing all the materials needed to make the blankets!

Please bring a sack lunch and we will provide drinks and light snack
RSVP
BabyBearsBlankets@SBCGlobal.net
Or
956-264-4441

Current update!

2009-06-09T11:54:00.003-05:00

I'm so sorry that I haven't posted in such a long time. Life seams to have gotten away from me! With the expectant arrival of our newest family member, Betsy Pohler in August and all the activities of summer it seams like there is never enough time.

However, I received a call from VBMC today. They apparently have used the last of there supply that I had previously given to them. I do however, have some in reserve that I will be taking by this week.

Having said that, WE NEED TO MAKE MORE!!!!!! I'm so sorry that we weren't able to have our last scheduled sewing day but I would love to get the ball rolling on a sewing day some time this month. If any one is able to help out please let me know!!! I plan on getting a date and time set up so that we can get it all scheduled in and let everyone know.

Also, in talking to Valley Baptist I have found out that a major conflict with us receiving contact with the grieving familys has been the English/Spanish barrier. A lot of the mothers that receive the blankets are Spanish speaking only. Since, I do not have the skills to be able to translate or speak to them I would love to be able to get at least one volunteer that would be able to receive these e-mails or calls for help and support. If you are a Spanish speaker that has the heart for this...PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!

I greatly appreciate all of your help regarding BBB and helping out these families. From what I have heard from VBMC, the blankets and the prayers are much needed and the families are extreamly comferted by the knowledge that there are people out there that care.

Regards,
Christy Pohler

Date Change for Sewing Day

2009-04-24T01:23:00.000-05:00

May 9th, 10 a.m. at Linda's

Our 2nd sewing day for BBB

2009-03-26T13:14:00.001-05:00

To those of you who can make it. We will be having a 2nd sewing day for BBB on April 25th, 2009 at 10:00 am. We will again be having it at Linda's house in Harlingen.

If you would like any more info please contact me at any time: 956-264-4441

Thank you!!!

See you there,
Christy

FISCAL AGENT!

2009-02-26T07:24:00.003-06:00

I'm so happy that God has been providing all of our needs. We were officially added to the FRONTERA QUILT GUILD during there February meeting!

With this we are so happy that we will be advancing and growing into whatever God has planned for us. I can't wait to see what happens at our next sewing day. My plans are to attempt to get one planned for April or May. Lord willing, we will be able to get the rest of our blankets completed to be able to donate the remaining years worth to VBMC, HARLINGEN!

Thank you all for all of your prayer and support for BBB! We look forward to being apart of the FRONTERA Quilt Guild and moving in the path that God has for us!

Our first sewing day!

2009-02-08T20:18:00.003-06:00

I'm so sorry that it has taken me so long to post on here the results of our sewing day on January 31st!

The day was a hug success! We completed 12 blankets at Linda's house and two wonderful ladies took home blankets to complete at there houses. All in all it looks like we have approximatly 20 blankets that will be donated this month.

I also took the first set of completed blankets to the VBMC L&D Dept. The staff were so amazed and grateful for our work and the amazingly cute blankets that we had worked on. We also had some good news that the VMBC hospital is starting a counseling group for mothers who will and have lost there children there. (Something that I have had a great desire for in the past.) Ms. Karen Hall (the head of L&D) was so wonderful to introduce me to many of the nurses that work L&D and to inform them of the uses of BBB. She also has previously placed a particular lady in charge of any family care that experiances a loss in the hospital. I look forward to getting together with them again to see what next steps that we can do help any further families that will be walking down this bitter-sweet road!

I was also informed of a particular lady that had lost her child in VBMC the previous week and was going through a difficult time, obviously with the wave of loss and grieff that is inevitable. I am so hoping that she will be able to contact me soon to see if there is anything that I can do to help.

Please continue to pray for not only this grieving mother but all the rest that enevietably will be going through the same loss!

Thank you again to all the wonderful ladies that have participated and gave so freely of there time and love and prayers to get the first sewing day of BBB off the ground!

Thank you!!!
Mrs. Pat
Mrs. Ann
Mrs. Jodi
Mrs. E. Chase
Mrs. L. Chase

Web Sites For Grief Support

2009-01-08T21:01:00.005-06:00

Bellow are lists of other web sites for grief support for families that have and are going through the loss of a child!

Rosa Maria Izaguirre
Licensed Professional Counselor (956) 202-5492

http://www.irisremembers.org/
Infants Remembered In Silence, Inc.Official Website

www.hannah.org.
Hannah's Prayer

www.compassionatefriends.org
Compassionate Friends

Thank you to all of these sites who have allowed us to add them to Baby Bear's Blankets.

HEAVEN'S NURSERY

2008-12-31T14:10:00.001-06:00

In Heaven there must surely be A special place, a nursery Where ' little spirits ' not fully grown Go to live in their Heavenly home.
The angels must attend with love Tiny spirits on wings of doves, The choir of angels must sing lullabies Maybe quieten their tiny cries.
The Father must come by each day To cuddle and play in a special way These tiny spirits left earth too soon Little ones called home from the womb.
These sparks of life did not perish But came to the Father's love to cherish, To grow and be taught in His own arms Safely away from all earthly harm.
The comforter was sent to earth at once To the parents who lost their little one Their hearts so ache, their arms feel empty The question 'why' seems so tempting.
Then all at once in the midst of tears There comes a peace that stills the fears The parents share the Father's own need To hold their tiny spirit being.
They relinquish their own desperate hold And release their baby to the Father's fold, Then comes an angel to whisper the truth Of a nursery in Heaven bearing rich fruit.
Of tiny spirits chosen to worship the Father A place that couldn't be filled by another, Called to be spared from the struggles of earth, Chosen to be one of Heaven's births.
So Father, whisper words of love from me To our unborn 'life' in your nursery.
~Author Unknown~

The New Year 2009

2008-12-31T11:27:00.000-06:00

We are planning our first sewing day for Baby Bear's Blankets.

We will be meeting at Linda Chase's house in Harlingen, Texas on January 31st, 2009 starting at 10:00am.

If you would like to come join us please feel free to contact me at BabyBearsBlankets@sbcglobal.net.

As well, if you are able to come please bring any sewing needles or other supplies that you would be able to use to help us finish the blankets.

We will be providing all of materials and thread we simply need willing hands to help surge, sew, hand sew (the pillow turned open areas), and hand tie the quilts. But most importantly we need prayers. Our main desire and logo of Baby Bear's Blankets is :

"They are not just wrapped in a blanket...they are wrapped in a prayer!"

We need people to help us make that happen...so no matter what your sewing experience or level of skill is...we need your help!!!

Thank you so much for your time and please contact me if you will be able to make it!

DON'T FORGET!!!! January 31st at 10am!

From Baby Bear's Momma!

2008-12-10T10:54:00.000-06:00

Thank you for coming to Baby Bear's Blankets. We are so excited about what has been happening in our life and the lives of others around us. Baby Bear was a little miracle that has blessed us so much in the short time that she lived...and after!

For a recent update:

Linda Chase (Baby Bear's Grammy) has told me that we are expecting 3 BOLTS of flannel fabric to be arriving some time in the near future. We also have received our cotton that will be adding to the back of the blankets. We are so excited to be getting started on all this.

As well, the FRONTERA Quilt Guild donated a large amount of cloth to be added to the blankets to assist us in making more quilts for our future little angels.

After loosing Baby Bear this past summer I had all these ideas of how this Christmas was going to be so difficult and hard to bear! But, with the help of my family and friends and the guidance of God in Baby Bear's Blankets (BBB) I am actually looking forward to this Christmas Season.

My hope is that in the year 2009. We will be able to provide enough blankets for all of the future angels that will be born in Valley Baptist Medical Center (VBMC), Harlingen.

As I'm sure you can see on top of the BBB web site. We have gotten our Logo almost perfected. Thanks to the help of Lady Yates (Crystal Yates at EarthSongSaga.com) who so graciously donated her time in designing the Baby Bear Angel. Also my wonderful and so talented Sister has been helping me to get the web site, logo and so many other details of BBB started. (I couldn't have done a lot of this with out her!)

I have been blessed so much this past year!!! With a child that was an Angel sent from God and a family and friends and even stranger (that I now consider my friends!). That I can only be excited as to what God has in store for us in the coming year.

I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I'm so excited as to what God is doing in all of us and what he will be doing in the hearts of the Families that we will be touching in the future year!

God Bless,

Christy (Baby Bear's Mom!)

Baby Bear Pohler's Story

2008-12-10T09:56:00.000-06:00

On January 10th, 2008 my husband and I found out that we were pregnant with our first child. We were so excited and overjoyed since we had been trying to get pregnant for 7 months. We immediately went to a birthing clinic in our area to begin prenatal care. After switching to different doctors and mid-wife’s for different reasons we were led to a hospital were at 16 weeks pregnant I had my scheduled sonogram.
At that appointment our life was changed forever. We were told that they have seen a shadow on the spine of our child, and that they wanted to send me for more extensive exams and sonograms. We were also told that they would like to do amniocentesis to determine the cause of the problems that they were seeing on the sonograms. Since we were aware of the risk of miscarriage with the amniocenteses we decided that it was not right for our family and chose not to do it.
From the level 3 sonograms that we received we were told that our little one had spina- bifida to begin with. However, later sonograms informed us that an abdominal wall defect was also present. I was able to find a high risk pregnancy doctor who sent us to a specialized targeted ultrasound doctor who was able to locate the defects and make us aware that the complications were quite extensive and that we would need to go for further testing.
We were devastated to find out I spent the entire day of Mothers Day in bed crying with the knowledge that we would more than likely lose our child’s life. From the very first sonogram at 16 weeks we were encouraged to keep an open mind about aborting the pregnancy due to the complications. However, every time we informed them that we would not be considering it at any point in the pregnancy. After some weeks spent in bed, loving and talking to each other and our little unborn baby. We decided that if there was anything that we could do to help our little ones life we would do it. We went to the Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas for a Fetal MRI.
After quite some time of the doctors reviewing the results we were informed that our little one has Limb, Body, Wall Complex (LBWC). LBWC is a rather unknown fetal complex that only effects 1 out of every 14,200 births in the US. They still do not know the cause of the complex. We were told that it could be due to an infection or some kind of glitch in the fetus as it is forming. All they do know if that the baby’s lower torso is not formed completely and that most of the time a child internal organs are located outside of their body in a sac that is from the umbilical cord. And that there was nothing that they can do medically to help her to live.
We left that same afternoon back home since we had our answers regarding our angel’s health. We were also told that due to the complex there was no external sexual organs that would be able let them know the sex of our child. So we would have to wait till the birth to find out. Upon returning home we were devastated and I was determined to spend every waking moment showing out little one how much we loved her. I spent weeks laying in bed, crying, praying and begging God to give us a miracle and to let our little one live. We were told in Houston to have a natural birth so that I would be saved the after effects of a c-section. However, part of the LBWC is that the sac that was holding her internal organs was attached to the uterus wall…the only logical thing for us to do was to have a c-section so that our little ones last minutes on this earth were not spent in pain with a natural birth.
We had planned a c-section for 35 ½ weeks gestation, since my doctor was afraid that if we went to full term that the c-section would be too traumatic for me and our baby. However, God has other plans and ones that are better than we do. One week prior to my scheduled c-section I went into labor and began contracting. We rushed to the hospital and were informed that we would be having our little one that afternoon.
I was taken to surgery were my husband and I were allowed to be there for her birth. She was born at 1:06pm on July 28th. She was a beautiful 3lbs 12 oz. She has beautiful golden brown hair like her father, long gorgeous eyelashes and pug nose just like me. She lived only a few seconds outside of the womb. But, in those few seconds she took a breath and raised her arm above her head that looked like she was waving good bye to her daddy. We were told that it was not positive but it was more than likely that she was a girl. We named her Baby Bear, a nick name that we had given her in the womb. We decided that she wouldn’t know herself by any other name so we decided to keep it after birth. 3 weeks later we had received confirmation by a genetic test that she was indeed our little girl.
I am even amazed by our little girl today! She lived only a few seconds in this world and has done more than most do in a whole life time. Doctors, nurses and staff at the hospital to this day know of our little Baby Bear and how precious that she is too us. We were told during the whole pregnancy to expect her to not make it. At every appointment we were told to expect her to die in utero. That she wouldn’t move that much because of the LBWC. Yet, she kept me awake many nights with her kicking and moving. Especially when her daddy would come home from work and rub my tummy and talk to his little Baby Bear.
A few days before her memorial that we held on her original due date I was reading a book that quoted Oscar Wilde. The last line of the poem says,…how else but through a broken heart may the Lord Christ enter in?” For so long I had been begging God to tell me why he choose to take our little girl? And that day I felt I had my answer. He didn’t choose to take our little girl…He choose to give us a child that had an even greater purpose than just being our daughter. She was chosen for us! And we were chosen to be the mother and father of this little Angel that has blessed our lives as well as others around us. And because of that I am the luckiest woman and mother in the world.

Baby Bear's Blankets Desire Statment

2008-12-10T09:54:00.000-06:00

Baby Bear’s Blankets
Desire Statement
My desire for this organization is to encourage mothers who have received a terminal diagnosis for their child to hold onto every moment that they have with their unborn child. Also, my most cherished possession is the blanket that my child was wrapped in at her birth. I held it close in the weeks and months after her birth and death and know that I was lucky to have know in advance that we would more than likely not be taking out little angel home with us. I was prepared with a special blanket that I had brought to the hospital for her birth. Some other mothers are not aware of their unborn Child's illness or if they are they are not aware of the blessing that it is to have there Child's blanket after losing such a precious life.
I want to provide handmade baby receiving blankets to Valley Baptist Medical Center’s Labor and Delivery department to be provided to a mother who have gone into labor, lost their child there or if their child is sick and the possibility of losing their child is near. Along with the blanket I would like to also place a card with a simple prayer and contact information for the mother and family to get a hold of me and others that I have met along this bittersweet journey that we have made.
My hopes for the future of this organization is that we will be able to move further out into the community and be able to provide quilts for other hospital’s Labor and Delivery departments in the surrounding area and beyond, to any other hospitals that we can reach. I would also like to contact other women, men, families, churches and any one that is willing to help donate, sew, pray or contribute to the cause of these families and others who have lost such a precious little one. To help them know that they are not alone and that no matter what our children will never be forgotten and though we will never stop missing them, we can grieve, cry, keep breathing and love them with the hope and knowledge that we will see them again one day.

If you would like more information. Or if you would like to help with Baby Bear's Blankets? Please contact me at BabyBearsBlankets@sbcglobal.net As well if you are a mother who has recently lost her child or have received a terminal diagnosis. Please feel free to contact me at any time. I know how much it meant to me to hear from other mothers who had lost as well. Only a mother who has lost can truly understand the grief, pain and desire that you are going through. Thank you so much and God Bless! Christy (Baby Bear's Momma Bear)