Georgia on Her Mind

DAYTON - Sarah Chaney, 33, knows all too well the pain and grief of losing a child. But out of that loss, she wanted to create something larger that would help other families.

Chaney, a Celina native now living in West Milton, has formed Dreams of Georgia, a nonprofit dedicated to her stillborn daughter. The nonprofit is in the early stages of creating a butterfly room at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, named the Georgia Room Project.

A butterfly room is an area specifically designed for neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) families to go to once they're ending care for their baby, Chaney said.

"They know their baby's not going to make it and they're not going to come home. They're ending care," she said. "They get to leave the NICU unit, essentially, and go to a separate room that's more of a home environment."

Chaney and her husband have two sons. In 2021, she found out she was pregnant with a surprise daughter. On Nov. 30, 2021, her unborn daughter, Georgia, died three days before she was due.

"Knowing my family was coming in on a labor and delivery unit was not a happy time," Chaney said. "It was sad. Seeing other excited family members coming in to see their baby and meet them was really difficult."

Current NICU rooms are small and sterile, designed to sustain life and heal babies, said Cindy Stilwell, 34, a social worker at Miami Valley and Chaney's best friend.

"We wanted to create an environment that was healing for the family and healing for those that are grieving this loss," Stilwell said. "This room in particular, we've been calling the butterfly room because across the nation that's more so how they're identified. (Just like how a) butterfly comes to be, there's this metamorphosis and that's what we hope is created in these families. That they can grow and become something beautiful out of this."

The Miami Valley Hospital Foundation approved the project in December. The hospital has a current family space it will transform into the butterfly room, although Chaney didn't have a definitive completion date.

Dreams for Georgia is fundraising a minimum of $75,000 to complete the space, which will include a baby crib, an armoire filled with baby clothes, a baby bath for parents to bathe their baby, comfortable seating, baby books and resources for families, according to the nonprofit's website.

Chaney said the fund will stay open to help restock the room with baby blankets, clothes and books.

It's important to families to have anything that touched their baby, Stilwell said.

"(The room will) have a rocking chair so that you can sit there and rock with your baby and read just regular books to your baby… for the first and last time," Stilwell said. "We'll have a sink equipped to accommodate a baby bath so that you can bathe your baby for the first and last time and dress your baby."

Dreams of Georgia specifically chose Miami Valley because most high-risk area mothers travel to Dayton for treatment, Chaney said.

Chaney said talking about Georgia has proved incredibly healing for her. She and her husband named their daughter Georgia because Chaney craved everything peach during the pregnancy. She was unsure of the name at first but when her husband played "Georgia on My Mind" by Willie Nelson, her daughter kicked, settling any doubts.

"Now, anytime we see peaches, I'm like, 'Oh, that's her,' or sunrises or sunsets because they're peach-colored sometimes," Chaney said. "That's kind of our thing. I'd love to be able to incorporate her name into the project itself."

Chaney named the nonprofit Dreams of Georgia because "it's grieving your expectations and the dreams that you had," she said. "All of the dreams that you have for your baby that now aren't going to happen… But being able to have something positive come out of all of this is very healing."

Chaney said she has become a strong proponent for expecting mothers and encouraged pregnant women to advocate for themselves when it comes to their medical care.

"We're not teaching women how to really count your kicks and being able to really monitor if something's changed in your baby," she said. "The (babies) could be in distress (or) it could be something where they could do an emergency-C section and baby would be fine… It's frustrating as a mother who's lost now when people aren't given the information that they need."

Although she described the experience as "incredibly heartbreaking and difficult," Chaney said it's also been therapeutic.

"I know it can make people uncomfortable, but we went through the worst thing possible and I think other people can deal with some (discomfort)," she said.

To help reach its fundraising goal, Dreams of Georgia will host a pancake breakfast from 9 a.m.-noon April 15 at St. John's Lutheran Church in Celina.

During March, Champion Nutrition in New Bremen, Blessed Nutrition in Celina and Cavalier Nutrition in Coldwater will donate the proceeds sold from two drinks, the butterfly tea and Georgia peach tea, to benefit the Georgia Room Project.

Also during March, the nonprofit is hosting a mom-and-me tea party from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. March 25 at Cavalier Nutrition. The proceeds will also benefit the project. To learn more, visit https://www.dreamsofgeorgia.org.