LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- This time last year, a Louisville family was prepared to bring home their baby boy. But life had a different plan, and they have since turned their heartbreak into a labor of love.
The grieving parents have raised thousands of dollars to donate blankets to families who have experienced stillborn birth, or have a child fighting in the NICU.
"It gives parents in this situation a glimpse of hope," said Ashley Jaha.
Jaha and her husband Nick were one week away from their scheduled cesarean section when Ashley noticed her baby boy was not moving or kicking. The couple checked for a heartbeat on their fetal doppler, an at-home heartbeat monitor, and went to sleep knowing they heard a heartbeat.
Around 4 a.m., Ashley checked again, but this time, heard nothing. She drove herself to the hospital as Nick waited for a babysitter to get to their house to watch their daughter Hattie.
When Nick arrived, doctors confirmed that baby Jack no longer had a heartbeat. The soon-to-be-parents of two, were devastated.
"I don't remember much after that," Ashley said.
Eleven hours later, Ashley experienced a stillborn birth. However, for four days, the Jahas were able to hold, touch, and introduce Jack to family who came to the hospital.
The Jahas said a nurse at Norton Women's and Children's Hospital helped give them extra time.
"She had been doing some research for about two months, and it was an ice bath with saline solution and basically take the baby and submerge them, " Ashley Jaha said. "Kind of on a whim decided to do submersion for 30 minutes every eight hours, and by his second bath, his skin tone was back to rosy red and and then it preserved his skin and kept them soft."
The family cherished the few extra minutes, as reality sank in.
"We told him how much we loved him and how great his sister, would be such a good big sister," Nick said.
"Jack's Hug" tags wrapped around hundreds of blankets to be donated to Norton Women's and Children's in honor of Jack Jaha. (WDRB photo)
The blankets the couple has collected are folded and wrapped in a blue ribbon with a card, showing a teddy bear holding blue balloons, and a note that says "Jack's Hug."
"We just thought every baby deserves their own pretty little blanket to be wrapped up in," Ashley said.
Parents at Norton Women's and Children's who have experienced stillborn birth, or have a child in the NICU, will be gifted a blanket.
"Families that have stillborns, sometimes they come to the hospital and they're not expecting to stay and then deliver a baby that's no longer living. So they either come unprepared, or it's so early that they haven't had a baby shower or don't have any kind of clothes or blankets with them," Ashley said. "The only thing that they get is what the hospital gets them and we just thought that every baby deserves their own pretty little blanket."
In addition to the blankets, the Jahas will be making a donation to First Hour Grief, a local grief counseling group.
In addition to counseling, the couple credits their friends and family for helping them this last year.
"Lean on them and do it together, don't try and do it by yourself, it's impossible," Nick said.
In total, the Jahas have collected over 1,200 blankets to donate.
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