writes:
Lillian Grace Ludwig (our daughter) left this world holding the hand of God at 8:41 pm CST last night - January 14, 2009. She peacefully died in our arms as we talked to her, telling her how much we love her, and how amazing our exactly 100 days to almost the minute were before she had her incident at daycare on Monday where she stopped breathing while sleeping.
She then held on for three long days as a last gift to us, so we could say our goodbyes and let our friends/family say their goodbyes. She was such a little trooper trying to breathe on her own and fight through this. She just could not breath enough to sustain herself on her own after the brain damage. There were glimmers of hope here and there, but the damage to her brain was so devastating from the initial daycare incident - all of her upper brain functions were gone.
Melissa and I will never be the same as sharing our brief time with Lillian has changed us forever. They were the 100 most amazing days of our lives, and also the most devastating at the end. Please see the attached pictures we took the night before the incident (The Geek Shirt picture was from approximately two months old, and not really funny at all). She was so happy and so talkative. She was just the same the morning we took her to daycare. We have no answers yet, except some sort of SIDS-type attack that happened at daycare.
It is so tough to type through the tears, but I wanted to get something to everyone so you can all feel the calming peace that Melissa and I felt as we spent our last two hours with her alone reading her stories, giving her the full-body massage that she loves so much (feet especially), and just telling her how much we love her and how many people are praying for her. Looking across the bed at my wife lovingly rubbing lotion on our little baby girl was one of the most touching and beautiful things I have ever witnessed in my life, as we were so peaceful with her in those final hours. We then sat down with her and held her so tight and told her once again how much we will miss her, and how heartbroken we are that this tragic event occurred.
Lillian has donated her heart valves and possibly her corneas to help other babies in need. Her final act of love will be helping out another family so their little child can hopefully pull through a terrible situation and live a happy and full life.
Lillian is now looking down upon us all from heaven, and she is filled with all of our love and the love of God. She is at peace, and she is waiting for Melissa and I to join her when our time comes to be called home.
No word yet on the service/funeral time/places.
