A Letter to Our Sweet Kylie Ryann

Our daughter, Kylie Ryann Byer, was born with her soul already in heaven on April 30, 2015. She weighed 7.4 oz and measured 9 inches long. We were 22 weeks, 4 days pregnant with our beautiful daughter. We loved her from the moment she was conceived, and we miss her incredibly every day. 

I plan to share our daughter's story through a series of blog posts. I am grateful enough to say that I knew someone who had gone through a similar loss, and she was kind enough to share her story with me. I would be absolutely honored if I could help someone someday the way she helped me.

On May 20, 2015, we held our sweet Kylie Ryann's memorial. Our parents and one of my brothers attended with us in a small private prayer room of our church. It was a beautiful yet oh so difficult occasion. Pastor Pat, who baptized our sweet daughter in the hospital, conducted the memorial.

We shared some bible verses with Pastor Pat that we have leaned on throughout these past few weeks. God has provided us with an incredible sense of peace, strength, and hope throughout these past three weeks. The peace we have felt can only be a gift from our Savior.

Psalm 29:11 (the verse I've read most often since we found out Kylie no longer had a heartbeat)

"The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace."

John 14:27

"Peace I leave you with; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

Romans 8:28

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

And for our sweet Kylie Ryann:

Jeremiah 1:5

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart."

Mark 10:13-14

"People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

Finally, we asked Pastor Pat to read a letter we wrote to our daughter. Neither of us could have read these words aloud at Kylie's memorial, so Pastor Pat was kind enough to read the letter for us.

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Our Sweet Kylie Ryann,

There’s so much we want to say to you, so many hopes and dreams we had for you. We know you are in Jesus’s loving arms, our dear sweet girl, watching over your mommy and daddy here on this earth. We want to read something Mommy wrote for you in the weeks after we found out we were pregnant with you.

“Hello Baby,

Gosh, I am 8 weeks pregnant, and I've been meaning to write to you for a few weeks now. Daddy and I have been praying for you, and to be completely honest, you came around quite quickly! I am overjoyed and so excited to be your mommy. I don't think it's quite sunk in yet that you'll be in my arms sometime in mid August. Did you know your due date is my birthday?! What a fabulous birthday present you'll be! I do hope you come on a different day though so that you won't have to share your day :) I love you so much already, and the only proof I have that you exist is the stick that said "pregnant." Well, I'm also tired all the time! But, you don't make me feel too nauseous, and for that I am so grateful. There are so many things I want to say to you, wishes I have for you, prayers I pray for you. My biggest prayer is that you are healthy and that you come into this world immediately knowing God's love and mommy and daddy's love.”

We now know that you fully know God’s love because you are so near to Him in Heaven. We pray that you will watch over us and the little brothers and sisters that we know God will bless us with. We pray that you know you were loved from the moment you were created. We miss you so much, our sweet girl. We love you more than we can ever put into words.

With all our Love,

Your Mommy and Daddy

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I wrote Kylie's 8 week letter on January 6th. We never thought we'd read it to her at her memorial after giving birth to her in April. One thing I do know is that God has an incredible plan for our lives. While we never would have planned this for ourselves, God always knew of His amazing plan, and it is greater than either Patrick or I can even imagine.