Carabetta Cares
Meriden, CT

July 26, 1991

 

Anna Carabetta remembers that It was raining really hard that summer night. She was five months pregnant and cozy at home watching the movie Pretty Woman, when all of the sudden, she felt severe abdominal pain.

 

"I remember thinking, 'Oh my God, there is something wrong,'" Anna said recalling that tragic night when her world changed in a matter of minutes. "I called my doctor and he told me to come into the emergency room. Before I even had time to understand what was happening, I was being rushed into the operating room for an emergency Cesarian section." 

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Everything after that was a blur. 

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When Anna woke up, the nurse delivered the devastating news. Her baby boys had been born alive; they were baptized, and then died just a few minutes later. 

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This was Anna's first pregnancy, and she was shattered

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"I was so angry and bitter," Anna said. "I was looking for answers and wondering why and how this happened."

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It really tested her faith but after a long mourning period, Anna realized that for whatever reason, this was part of God's plan. 

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"I feel like they are still here with me," Anna said about her baby boys who died nearly 30 years ago. 

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Anna and her husband went on to have five other beautiful children but she still remembers the boys she lost, and the fact that she never got to celebrate their birthdays with them. 

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"I could not buy gifts for my boys on their birthday," Anna said. "So,  I want to make sure that other children have gifts to open on their birthdays, in memory of them." 

 

From her loss comes her desire to give. 

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That's the mission behind Carabetta Cares and its Birthday Present Project. Anna wants to help parents, who might be short on cash, or struggling to make ends meet, have access to donated birthday presents to give to their children.  She also wants to make sure that grieving mothers have a support network and resources to make it through a loss, feel good again about themselves, and get back into a social setting. 

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To read more about our services, click here. 

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