On May 6, 2019, wehad to say goodbye to our little miracle - Layla Marie Walker. Even though we never got the chance to hold her, we already know she was the most beautiful and perfect baby we could have ever imagined.

Most of you would not have known we were expecting, and sadly, we found out that Layla would not be full-term just before we planned to announce our news. Given we were considered a “high-risk” pregnancy due to age, we chose to wait a bit longer before announcing until we received the results of our Pre-Natal testing. Unfortunately, at a routine scan just after sending the testing to be analyzed, the sonographer told us that our beautiful Layla’s heart had stopped beating. We had lost her.

After having seen her little heart beating just weeks prior, this news devastated us. We had no signs or warnings that anything was wrong, and to hear those words felt like our hearts had been ripped in two. We knew right then we would never be the same.

People tend not to talk about losing a baby pre-term, because there is a sense of shame that comes along with not being able to bring life into the world. But not to acknowledge the short, but meaningful life of our miracle, our little Layla Marie, would not be fair to her, to us, or to the friends and family who were excited for her arrival.

As you can imagine, this has been traumatizing and devastating, and there is no way to adequately express our grief at this point. Layla Marie was so loved and so wanted by so many already, and we are thankful for the love and support of our friends and family as we navigated through the terrible events of the last few weeks. From finding out the horrific news, to waiting for answers, to seeing doctors and going to clinics, and finally to having to say goodbye at the hospital on the 6th - it’s been the worst few weeks of our lives, and we are forever grateful to our families who were there to listen to us or to let us grieve in silence.

If you’re not sure what to say, that’s ok. We aren’t sure what to say most days either. And hopefully just sharing our story will help answer some questions and help bring some healing to not only us, but to our friends and family as well.

We love you all and thank you for your support.

And to our beautiful Layla Marie, we love you and miss you so much. You are forever part of our family, our little miracle, our beautiful daughter we will never get to hold. Rest in Paradise, Layla Marie. We love you. XOXO