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| Molly Ann Coveyou was
born on September 22, 1999. She was born a happy healthy baby weighing
5lbs. 14.5 oz, and 19 inches long. She was a beautiful baby with olive skin and tons of dark hair, so much in fact that we could pull it into pigtails. It had the cutest way of sticking up all over her head, and no matter how we tried to make it lay down, it would pop right back up! Her parents Mary Jo and Jim were happy that she was born healthy, and she was welcomed home by two older sisters, Meghann and Amanda. With each passing day she continued to get bigger and stronger. As the days went by she had bouts of colic at night sometimes, but all in all was a happy baby. She was petite, and looked like all the picture perfect babies that you see on T.V. all the time. Mary Jo stayed home with her for a few weeks, then took her to work somedays, and grandma watched her the other days. After Thanksgiving, Mary Jo started her in my daycare home. My name is Cindy, and I am a licensed daycare provider who has and continues to care for Molly's older sister Amanda. I have provided daycare for Mary Jo and Jim for 6 years. Molly started at my house two or three days a week at first, coming in the mornings and going to grandmas in the afternoon. We then switched and I had her three full days, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. She was a strong baby and had just started to laugh and smile all the time. All the children in my daycare loved to play with her. On Tuesday January 11th, 2000 our world came crashing down. When she came that morning Mary Jo dropped her off at around 9:00 A.M. She let us know that she was slightly congested and hadn't taken much of her bottle that morning. We assumed that she was starting to come down with the cold that had been going around for the past couple weeks. She had no fever, and seemed happy. I played with her for a while, until she seemed like she was getting tired. I then rocked her awhile, and laid her down. She woke up about an hour later. I heated a bottle for her, but she didn't want much, she still seemed congested. I rocked for a while, she still seemed sleepy. She still did not have a fever, and would smile at me when I talked to her. I rocked her for quite awhile and she fell asleep. I continued to rock her until the bus came to drop off another one of my daycare children. I then laid her down and helped my husband with the lunch dishes. She was in a bedroom just off of our dining room with the door open. I was no more then fifteen feet away from her. I went to check on her 20 minutes later. She looked so different. She was in the exact same position as when I laid her down, but her cheeks and hands were a bluish color. I grabbed her, and she was lifeless. I yelled for my husband to call 911 and Mary Jo. I started CPR, which I was so glad I learned. I continued CPR until the paramedics arrived. Mary Jo arrived at my house as they were rushing her to the ambulance. Mary Jo and I followed the ambulance in my car to the hospital. They worked on her for over an hour, which seemed like days. Everything seems like a blur now, there were so many people. They finally came in to tell us what was happening. I was too afraid to ask. The doctor didn't know what to say. Someone finally spoke up and asked how she was and he said they could not revive her. No one could believe it! They thought it was SIDS, but sent her to an expert pathologist, who determined that it was indeed SIDS. How could this happen? Her mother did everything right. She laid her on her back to sleep, made sure no stuffed animals or blankets were by her face, and she never slept with them. The same rules applied at my house. We have lost a precious baby that should have never been lost. And why? Her funeral was just like a dream we all were going to wake up from. It just doesn't seem fair. Please be sure to pray for Molly and her family, and for all the other families that this has happened to. Their lives will be changed forever, as will mine. Molly was one of a kind, as all babies are, and I will love and miss her forever. Cindy Bloxsom Molly's baby-sitter |
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