She's real

My husband and I were discussing our memorial speeches for Genevieve. Mine is already written and he's not sure what he's going to say. We jokes that it should be a long list of things not to say to us. It would include any mention of future kids. He said that his family doesn't seem to understand that having another baby doesn't take away our pain. 

I feel for him and I'm angry at them for their insensitivity. Genevieve was a real baby. She existed. We bonded with her for 34 weeks. We played games with her and played music for her. She has a room at our house. She cannot simply be replaced. Nor do we want to replace her. 

However, because of their lack of tact, he feels he has to convince people at her memorial that she was real. It's upsetting and disappointing. We should not have to justify to anyone that we are parents mourning the loss of our daughter, and just because she's in heaven doesn't mean we are anything less than parents. Yet, we feel like we have to point that out to people, and what's terrible is that it has to be explained to family. 

We lost a real baby. She was 6 lbs 6 oz and 19 inches long. She was beautiful and now she's our angel.