I remember asking the doctor I saw at my 6 week follow up about the memory box I received.  I wondered who made the gown?  Where did the items in it come from?  How were they assembled?  I was told the nurses put them together with donated items.  The memory box the nurses at Yale New Haven Hospital assembled and gave to me is one of my most prized possessions now.  It contains the only tangible memories of the short time I had with Adalynn.  I decided that I wanted to put together memory boxes, like I received, to provide comfort to families in similar situations to mine.

And so began my search for items to include in each box in mid-2017.  It took me time to get from idea to action but I was very proud to provide my first set of five memory boxes to Yale in December 2017.  My mom happens to be great at sewing and was invested in learning to sew beautiful gowns.  We searched for patterns in various sizes, which she’s customized over the years using thoughtful accents, like lace, flowers or beads.  Some gowns are made from fabric and lace from my mom’s wedding gown, my first communion veil, and other materials from important life events.  She’s even created boy versions of the gown, with a vest and a sweet little bow tie.  At the beginning of creating boxes, I could not knit or crochet.  My sister came to the rescue with making little hats for the initial sets of boxes until I picked up using a knitting loom in the fall of 2018 and learned to crochet in January of 2020.  The other items in the boxes are carefully selected, with the hope that they help to bring some comfort and serve as a keepsake for the families who receive them.

As my mission expanded and I began to put together more memory boxes, I thought it would be nice to share my work with not only my friends and family, but the recipients of the boxes. I decided to create a facebook page in December 2018 and needed to come up with a page name.  That is how Adalynn’s Gift came to life.  I view assembling the memory boxes as a way to help me cope and a way to help Adalynn’s memory live on.  I view them as a gift that she’s given to me to help with my grieving as well as a gift to the recipients to remember their babies with.  If I can’t hold her in my arms, it at least brings me some comfort to be able to do this in her memory.

At that point, I started to include information about Adalynn’s Gift in each memory box.  I thought it would be a great way to share with families the story behind each gown, hat, and item that is selected.  As I mentioned, I always wonder who made the gown that we received.  Most importantly, I wanted the page to show the families that receive the memory boxes that they are not alone in the grief that they feel.

During the summer of 2020, I became determined for Adalynn’s Gift to have more of a presence and created this website as I continue to expand my hospital reach!

Emily Peregrim

Founder of Adalynn’s Gift