Giving birth is a life-changing moment, but for mothers who experience infant loss, it becomes a heartbreaking tragedy. To provide comfort during this unimaginable grief, a compassionate labor and delivery nurse has found a way to ensure these mothers don’t leave the hospital empty-handed.
In a viral TikTok video, the nurse shares how she creates handmade keepsakes weighted to match the baby’s birth weight.
“POV: Your patient just gained an angel baby 🪽 and you make sure she doesn’t go home empty-handed,” she writes, as she cuts a baby blanket into the shape of a heart.
She carefully measures out rice to match the baby’s exact birth weight, then sews a fabric casing from the blanket. “Sutures to sew the fabric,” she adds, showing herself hand-stitching the seams. “It’s almost ready 🪽 Then we fill the casing with rice, measured to her baby’s birth weight, so she will always have this to hold onto.”
The video ends with a glimpse of the completed pillow. “Time to give it to her ❤️🪽,” she writes.
The touching gesture has deeply resonated with viewers, especially mothers who have experienced infant loss.
“As a mom of an angel baby, you are doing so much more than you can ever think by doing this! Bless you ❤️,” one person commented. Another shared, “Leaving the hospital without my baby was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Having something weighted to hold would have meant the world.”
Many moms echoed the sentiment, describing how their arms physically ached to hold their babies after loss. “Our bodies don’t understand our baby is gone. We instinctually need something to hold. This is such a beautiful gift,” one grieving mother wrote.
The TikTok community was so moved that many offered to donate sewing machines or supplies. The nurse responded with an update, sharing that she had purchased a portable sewing machine and that some of her coworkers planned to help pre-make the keepsakes for their unit.
“So many of you wanted to donate, and that is faith in humanity restored,” she said.
While nothing can take away the pain of losing a child, this small but powerful act of kindness is offering grieving mothers a tangible way to hold onto their babies’ memory.