Interview With Lori Esteves

Lori Esteve Is the founder of SOBBS (Stories of Babies Born Still) and the organizer of the USCCCI (United States Cuddle Cot Campaign Initiative). She lives in Florida with her husband and three children. Her passion for the baby loss community began after her first child was stillborn in 1986 at full term due to a “true knot” in the umbilical cord. Originally from a small town in northern Michigan with limited grief support services she mourned in silence for many years. After re-locating to Florida she began to write her story in an attempt to reconcile her unexplored feeling of loss, grief, depression, anger and guilt over the loss of her son. After sharing some of her writings on-line and receiving overwhelming and heartbreaking responses from many women who had also suffered a similar loss she decided to begin a support group. In 2010 SOBBS (Stories of babies Born Still) began as a small Facebook group offering a place for families to share, grieve, honor, remember, heal and above all connect with others families who suffered a similar tragedy. The group quickly grew and in 2012 she published “Wandering Purgatory”. The story recounts her heartbreaking loss and the guilt, depression and anger that affected her for several years after and how she finally found the courage to explore those feelings deeper and create a positive legacy in honor of her son. Desperately wanting to do more to help other families SOBBS became a non-profit in 2013 in hopes to raise awareness regarding pregnancy and infant loss. Realizing she would need funds continue her vision SOBBS became an official 501c3 in 2014. That same year the United States Cuddle Cot Campaign Initiative was born and countless families now have the chance spend precious time with their babies gone too soon. Today Lori continues to advocate and educate regarding infant loss while surrounding grieving families in love and support.