There are fewer things harder in life than losing a child. The unnatural progression of a child leaving the earth before a parent can wreak emotional havoc on a person. Aleece Geist experienced this loss when her 5-month old was hospitalized after getting an ear infection in January of 2014 and passed away suddenly. Zentaviah, typically called Zen, was born on August 4th, 2013. Since her passing, Aleece has coped with this tragedy by celebrating Zen’s life each year on her birthday. This year, however, ended up a little differently.
Geist and her family generally celebrate the birthday by gathering at Riverdale Park in Menomonie, WI, lighting paper lanterns and release candlelit boats into the river. This year, Geist never made it to the park.
Her husband took her to the hospital right before the memorial because she was having stomach pain and felt extremely tired all day. Upon arrival and examination, they were shocked to find that her stomach pains were actually contractions and that soon they would have a new little bundle of joy. She was born exactly four years after her big sister. How amazing is that!
While Geist is not unfamiliar with pregnancy since she experienced it with Zentaviah and also has an 8-year-old son named Zekeiah, she had no idea that she was pregnant again. She says that she had felt no regular symptoms of pregnancy which she and her boyfriend are attributing to how calm the new baby is.
The newest addition’s name is Mira, and she was six lbs., seven oz. Mira is short for “miracle.” Mira so far has been a fantastic baby according to Cassidy, Geist’s boyfriend. He says it feels like she’s behaving so well because she somehow knows how surprised and unprepared they were for her arrival.
To many being this unprepared for a pregnancy may cause significant anxiety and panic, but Geist says she prefers it this way. After Zen passed away, she never imagined having another child and felt she would have spent the majority of the pregnancy wracked with anxiety and afraid the same thing might happen again. Nine months can be a long time to stress!
At five months Zen was beginning just to discover the world when she fell ill with an ear infection. After she was briefly hospitalized, she was sent home, and then passed away in the night of still undetermined causes. The memorials they have each year have helped the whole family with grieving. Since they never made it to this year’s ceremony, it has been postponed to September 3 when they will have a combo memorial and baby shower.
The couple right now is not trying to explain or ask why their new baby was born on this day, they are just enjoying the splendor of it all and loving on their new little girl.
Loss can be a horrible thing and something you never truly get over, but sometimes amazing things come out of that loss and make it a little easier to swallow.
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Source: Today
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