Mother sells her dead son’s bed, the buyer brings her a surprise. Days later, Ricky stood there watching as his wife examined the crib he had purchased. Like always, he thought she was being overly critical of his purchase. Then he heard a piercing wail that could have come straight out of a horror movie. Ricky dashed over to his wife to find out what was wrong.
When he saw it, however, he understood why she yelled. His heart began to rush and he felt his pulse Quicken. Valerie Smith was overjoyed when she learned she was expecting a child. She planned to be a single parent and the best mother in the world. She was ecstatic to start a new chapter in her life.
Valerie, on the other hand, had no notion how her world will change in the near future. She had spent a lot of time and money constructing a nursery for her child and her excitement. She wished for perfection. This baby, whomever he or she was, was soon to become her accomplice in crime, a tiny human to love, protect, and nurture, and with whom she could share the best of all she had. She couldn’t wait for things to change in her life.
She had no notion, however, that nothing was as it appeared. Valerie discovered her baby’s crib at a yard sale and decided to put it up for sale. She had no idea that there was one aspect about the crib that was actually terrifying. Gerald Kompula, a Carpenter bike trade, and his wife, Lorraine, lived in the same town. They saw the crib Advertisement and knew their granddaughter will require one during her pregnancy.
It appeared to be ideal. It was reasonably priced and in good solid shape. They felt it was a good deal, but they had no idea what they were getting for their money. Gerald offered to help them move the crib, but he had no idea what was about to happen. Gerald tried to be nice with her, asking how she was doing and whether she was having a good day, but her responses were terse.
She responded with one word responses. Gerald figured she was probably just bored with small talk, so he inquired about her child’s name. Perhaps this would elicit a response from her, but she completely ignored his question. Why was she oblivious to him? Valerie didn’t respond.
When he asked her what her child’s name was. Gerald didn’t think she was telling the truth because of the way she said it. He gave her a courteous grin, but Valerie did not reciprocate and then requested the money and instructed him to go. Gerald was taken aback by her demeanor. He confronted her and inquired as to if she had any issues with him.
He was only there to purchase her cot, after all, and he wasn’t doing her any favors. Please, just take the crib pay and leave, Valerie replied. Gerald had never been spoken to in such a way before. He rarely had difficult conversations because he was such a nice and polite old man. But he still needed the crib, so he handed her the money and walked away.
He was completely unaware of what he was bringing home. Gerald dashed over to investigate the situation. He noticed his wife bending over the side of the vehicle, her hand on her stomach, a pained expression on her face. Gerald couldn’t find any flaws in the crib. He placed his hand on his wife’s shoulder and inquired as to what was bothering her.
She raised her eyes to him, clearly distressed, and pointed to the crib. Gerald’s attention was drawn to her finger. She was indicating the wooden frame with her finger. Gerald took a closer look. His heart hammered and his jaw dropped at the same time.
Gerald had a feeling something wasn’t quite right about the baby talk he and Valerie had just had. He went back to the store where he bought the crib and realized it was the same one she had just sold him hours before. Gerald had taken her by surprise. Her face had turned pale. She was baffled as to how he knew.
He carried the crib over and showed her what he had discovered. As she glanced at the wooden frame, her eyes welled up with tears. I’m aware of Noah, he stated. Please. What exactly did they see?
He could feel Valerie’s grief in her eyes right away. Valerie disclosed the truth to Gerald at that very moment and he wasn’t expecting it. She described how she’d forgotten she’d placed it there. She didn’t want to cause any problems, so she offered to give it to him for free if he would just keep it. He, on the other hand, was not having it.
Valerie began to have a backache and stomach aches while she was more than halfway through her pregnancy. She dismissed the symptoms at first as pregnancy signs. But as the weeks passed, she realized something was wrong and she was absolutely correct. I had a feeling something wasn’t right all week, she recounted. I was a nervous wreck.
Valerie went to the hospital for a check up, determined to learn the truth. She had hundreds of questions filling her thoughts as she sat in the waiting area. Before composing herself. She took a long breath. Everything will be fine, she assured them, but he had no idea what was about to happen.
Valerie was sick with nervousness as she waited for the doctors to complete their scans and check on her unborn baby. She sincerely hoped nothing was wrong. Finally, the doctors got their hands on the results. Doctors hypothesized that the umbilical cord had become constricted in the womb, making it hard for the fetus to get the necessary nutrition and oxygen. Valerie had a miscarriage.
Valerie had been dealt a severe blow, a bereavement that was nearly impossible to bear. Her life has revolved on the birth of her unborn child. For the past few months, the thrill of childproofing her home, buying toys, putting together a nursery, and reading first time mother books. Her anguish was unbearable after finding that they would not be bringing their baby home with them. A parent must be able to handle a lot of information.
Valerie had to deal with not only the mental and emotional impact of her loss, but also the reality that her home’s nursery would no longer be used. The implications of the vacant nursery were simply too much for her to bear. Valerie was heartbroken when she learned the news. She was desperate for it to be a nightmare from which she was about to be awakened. This, however, was not a nightmare.
This was her situation. Valerie became a shell of herself as the weeks passed. She barely ate and hadn’t left the house for weeks. Valerie felt herself slipping deeper and deeper. Valerie didn’t know what to do with herself in the days and weeks following her devastating and heartfelt loss.
She was supposed to be up all night because her child was keeping her awake, not because her house was definitely quiet. The fact that there were so many reminders of her baby everywhere didn’t help matters. Valerie realized she needed to make a change eleven months after her baby died. It was just what her baby had wished for. Valerie wished she could smile and laugh again.
She yearned for her old self, so the first thing on her to do list was to have a yard sale and get rid of anything she didn’t want. She felt a lump in her throat as she saw the crib she had purchased for her child. She realized she’d have to sell it. She didn’t require it any longer, but someone else may. It was the object she most excitedly obtained and one for which she had spent a significant amount of money and effort searching for.
But now she looked at it and she knew she had to sell it. She didn’t require it any longer. Nor did she require the terrible empty recollection it now provided. But perhaps it could provide hope and excitement to someone else. Gerald, for example.
Gerald and his wife saw the crib Advertisement on the Internet and immediately thought of his own expectant granddaughter and the joy it would offer her. But it wasn’t until he returned home with the crib and his wife peeked inside that he learned the full extent of Noah and Valerie’s ordeal. Gerald wife spotted something inside the crib that stopped her in her tracks and made her scream. Gerald rushed over to see what the situation was as soon as he heard his wife’s voice. Then he noticed it as well.
It was a piece of its wooden frame that made all the difference. He noticed a faint but noticeable message scrawled into the crib’s bottom when he examined it attentively Rip NOAA. 20 19 20 20, it said, and he read it with wide eyes. Gerald and his wife knew right away that they couldn’t afford it. Something about the writing seemed awful enough to make anyone cry.
Gerald, on the other hand, had a different reaction. Knowing the truth about this crib caused Gerald immediate anguish and devastation. He felt bad about buying it from Valerie because he knew how much it meant to her. But he felt more worse for interrogating her about her child when he went to pick it up and even challenged her about her depressed demeanor. It was all starting to make sense.
Valerie wasn’t being obnoxious. She was simply unhappy, very depressing. Gerald assumed it was his fault, yet it had nothing to do with him. The guilt was too much to bear. Gerald was well aware of what he needed to do to improve the situation.
As a result, he started to work and fully changed the crib into something amazing. Gerald and Loreen knew what a child meant to a young mother. As parents of 15 children and as grandparents who had lost a granddaughter, they knew, at least in part, what the loss of a child can do to a family. The crib needed to be returned to Valerie. Gerald and Lorraine agreed.