"The Little Angels" - A Special Plot in Dublin, Ireland

Nora is buried in Dublins largest - and most famous people are buried there. There is a special plot called "The Little Angels". There are hundreds of headstones, all in white.

There are 12 babies to each grave, which are mainly twins and triplets. The maternity hospital organises this automatically, and you are then billed for the funeral and grave.

I just break down when I go there. The graves are full of teddies, birthday cards and all kinds of momentos.

It costs around £70, around $100 for the grave, and for the arrangements. It then costs £35 for the name to be put on the headstone.

I have a slight regret, as the hospital gives you many choices, but it is the morning after loosing the baby, and your mind isn't fully with you.

I choose to have a hospital rep bring the coffin to the grave, she was blessed before leaving the hospital. You can hold a mass in the hospital chapel, with the coffin open, and with family members there - this I couldn't cope with, and to also bring your own coffin to the grave yard, this I also couldn't take.

I will always remember that morning. A man from the hospital, came over and asked if I was the mother of "Baby Byrne" - I broke down, and I thank god, I didn't see the coffin, I turned away to cry and actually missed the sight of the coffin - Tom saw this and I think the memory will stay with him.

It was a white coffin, with a brass name plate on it. There was a set of twins buried that morning as well, Jack and Jake, so we joked she is in a grave with all boys!

The only thing is there is alot of grave robbing - the day Nora was buried I placed some special teddies there - the following day they were gone, along with nearly every teddy - some heartless person had stolen all of them. I can't understand the people who grave rob, I once thought may you loose you children the way I did, but then realised I wouldn't wish the experience on my worst enemy.

The only way to stop people stealing them is to put her name on everything. I want to go there this Sunday, as I have bought 2 angels, pottery, that sit and a lovely teddy.

A Comment from Marcia: One of my dads, who was from Mexico, in my group told me that in Mexico(at least where he lived), they think about grave robbers as the children or dead loved ones coming to "pick up" the things left for them. That made it a little easier for those in the group that have to deal with grave robbers.

It is so hard for me to understand how someone could take these precious gifts - but we have robbers in every country and, unless, the cemetery is closed off - this can happen.

Grady was buried with my gold finger Rosary and my beloved Tinny bear in the "Cherub Garden" of a very close cemetery. We held a Memorial Mass on Saturday, July 25, 1998 for all of our family and friends and it was well attended and received.

Paul and I visit Grady's grave nearly every day and each Friday, celebrate his weekly birthday with a cupcake and prayers.

It was held on July 25,1998 for celebrating the life of our son. A table was set up right before the altar. On it, we placed a small flower arrangement of three white roses, the book Guess How Much I Love You, a tiny figurine of a praying bear with angel wings and two framed 5x7 pictures - one of Grady by himself and one of Grady with Paul and me.

Paul's father read the first reading (Lamentations 3:22-26) followed by my daddy (Thessalonians 4:13-14,18) and my brother read the Prayer of the Faithful. The responsorial psalm was the 23rd psalm and the Gospel was Mark 10:13-16.

Our priest gave a very moving homily about being child-like and how Jesus has "been there, done that" with death and resurrection. We were absolutely certain that Grady was shining down on him as he spoke.

The songs we selected were "I Will Raise You Up", "Eagle's Wings" and "Make Me a Channel of Your Peace", which is also the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. It is also on Grady's memorial card.

Following communion, my father-in-law and I made two personal readings. Paul stood up with each of us as we read.

"PopPop" wrote this on the day of Grady's birth and also read it at his funeral:

"June 26, 1998, Friday. Grady Joseph Mulrenin, I want to thank YOU for being a part of my life. I asked the Lord with all my hear to let you stay. HE said okay, but just for one day. Well, Little Guy, You showed Paul and Stacey and all the rest of both families what Love is all about. We cried, we begged, we pleaded to let Grady stay. We hugged and kissed and openly expressed our Love for each other. Even though You have the most loving parents God ever created, He said again "Just for ONE day".

I composed this at the beach 3 weeks after Grady had died, but the credit truly belongs to God and Grady, as I believe they are the ones who pushed my pen on the paper:

We had a memorial service the following Wednesday evening and were totally taken aback by the many people who came. We were very touched by all the support and love that our friends and family showed for us and for our baby. The following morning we had a small service at the cemetery with family and close friends. We released 6 dozen blue and silver balloons at the close of the service. It was the most beautiful and peaceful graveside service I can remember. Although it was sad to leave our son there, everyone walked away smiling at the balloons floating away, sending our Doran to heaven.

Thanks to the nurses of the maternity ward and our very supportive family and friends we have a video and many dozens of pictures of our baby Doran to remember him by. We also have his T-shirt, blankets, ankle band, brush & comb, and a bunny that he had in the hospital. We will never be able to fill the emptiness in our hearts that he has left there but we plan to keep his memory with us always.

My husband and I went back to Japan and settled Tai's ash in our family's cemetery by Mt. Fuji. My parents supported us to create this beautiful cemetery for our angel Tai. Now he is resting and watching us from the Mt. Fuji.

The last couple days I felt very strong connection with Tai and remind me that he finally came to our house from NICU a year ago.

I just want to share Tai's memorial photo with you. We engraved Japanese character which meaning "Ocean" that was originaly written by me. I hope you are doing well and thank you for supporting us.

It is special to receive these beautiful pictures from you. I thank you for sharing your son's memorial with us. It is special to have them on our site.