We decided to spend all day Wednesday with our sweet Cora. It was an emotional day. I got to change her diaper for the first time, nurse Holly dressed her in a cute romper that I had brought, and we both got to hold her for a few hours. We had family photos taken by a selfless photographer from the Portland area. We sang songs to Cora, read books to her, and told her how truly grateful we are to her for teaching us so much. Although we knew we would miss her so dearly, we were excited for her to begin her Heavenly mission.
On the morning of June 27th, 2019, we got dressed to go see Cora for the last time. We dressed in the nicest clothes we had with us. I washed Cora’s hair and I gently cleaned her body with a washcloth. I dressed her in clean clothes and our favorite headband and swaddled her tightly. We picked up Chanel and she gave Cora a kiss on her forehead. We told her to say goodbye. She said, ‘Bye bye, Baby Cora.’ My mom said her goodbyes and took Chanel away so that Cora could pass with Derek and I alone.
We were so blessed to be able to spend Cora’s last moments holding her. Derek held her first. He kissed her and sang to her and just enjoyed having her in his arms. When it was my turn to hold her, the nurse Logan removed her breathing tube so that we could see and kiss her face. It was so nice to finally be able to see her whole face! She was so beautiful. She was awake and looking at us with such deep love in her eyes.
When we felt it was time, they increased her pain meds and turned off ECMO. Cora loves us so much. Derek and I cried, begging her to let go. She kept fighting to stay with us. ‘We will be together soon. You need to go home,’ we told her. Finally, she passed peacefully from my arms into the arms of our loving Savior. She was finally at peace from the pains of this world.
