Baby Raphaelle called home to be with our Lord

[posted by Eileen]

Wednesday, 6^th August

At around 3.55am in the morning, the nurse from NICU came over and told us that Raphaelle was having breathing difficulties and she would bring her back to our ward. At 4.11am this morning, baby Raphaelle was called home to be with our Lord. Letting her go was extremely difficult, Justin and I spent the next 2 hours with her by our side, with tears flowing down our cheeks continuously. We felt devastated but the same time, we were thankful to God that she was not born stillborn and she was strong such that we had some good hours with her.

The nurses prepared simple bread for us in the morning as we did not have much appetite. Our good friend Edwin came early at 7am to help Justin with the logistical matters. Good thing that Justin had already planned all the funeral logistics a month beforehand and therefore, he just need to call and activated those involved. Our family members all came early for a morning prayer together at the NICU. And the pastoral manager Rose arranged to have Raphaelle’s handprints and footprints onto a small memorial booklet.

Raphaelle's Handprints & Footprints

White dress which Daddy and Mummy specially bought for Raphaelle to wear
Beanie hat & booties from Godpa Julius & Godma Karen

While Justin and Edwin were busy settling the administrative matters such as birth and death certificate and the funeral logistics, I was resting in my ward and getting my siblings to help with the packing since I was planning to be discharged by noon (instead of the next day as originally planned). Now I appreciate the fact that I did not go for cesarean because I would not be able to get out of my bed if I had the surgery and will not be able to be present for cremation that afternoon or the interning of ashes the next day.

Raphaelle’s funeral service was held at the chapel at Mt Alvernia hospital that afternoon at 2.15pm. We were comforted by the many church friends, Antiochers and Justin's colleagues who turned up at such short notice, and the chapel was full. Fr Anthony Hutjes came to conduct the service and shared that God speaks to us today in our moment of grief and that we should trust in God that today on the Feast of the Transfguration when Raphaelle was called back home to heaven and that we can be assured that her body is also transfigured like Jesus, and that she is now a Saint in heaven watching over us for she did not sin and that she was properly baptised by her father, Justin. After the service, we proceed to Mandai Crematorium and baby Raphaelle was cremated at 3.45pm.

Funeral Service @ the Chapel

We went back to Blessed Sacrament Church after the cremation to collect Raphaelle's baptism certificate and now we can say that Raphaelle is officially a Catholic.

Entering our bedroom was the toughest part when we reached home that evening because it reminded us of baby Raphaelle who was with us for the past 41 weeks. Our daily chats with the baby in my tummy and our daily rosary together. Even praying rosary that night took twice the amount of time. We did not hold back our tears because we knew that we have to go through this grieving process of Raphaelle’s passing, if not, it will come back to hit us again.