MUSKEGON, Michigan — It's early December, and winter is making its presence known.
At Trinity Health Hospital in Muskegon, the snow swirls on the sidewalks leading to their swooshing electric doors.
You can always count on the wind to blow in the new season. But this season, Haileigh Hall faced a wind she couldn't have predicted.
“A whirlwind of emotions," says Haileigh, settling into a chair in the lobby of the hospital. It's a whirlwind that dropped her here.
“Coming in here today is a big thing for me, especially since it's his birthday," she said. “Happiness, sadness. It's a hard day."
Her son, Asher, would be three years old.
“It will always be my son's birthday, as much as it'll be a heartbreaking day," she said.
Haileigh and her fiancé were sure they’d never get pregnant. She was diagnosed with PCOS, which makes conception nearly impossible.
Against all odds, along came Asher. Haileigh was pregnant with a baby boy. They were elated.
“In November of 2021 we got COVID, and shortly after we were better, I had a routine visit at the doctor's office and that is where I found out that we no longer had a heartbeat. And then we were transferred here," Haileigh said, gesturing to the bustling hospital around her.
“December 2, 2021, I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy," she said, her eyes filling with tears, "he was born stillborn.”
Just three years ago, she was in the same hospital lobby under an emotional whirlwind of a different sort.
“When Asher was brought to our room, he was wrapped up in a crocheted blanket, and he had a crocheted hat on, and then there was wings in his bassinet," she said. "Somebody's time and love went into those items.”
Some hobbies are found in moments of joy. Haileigh's was found when there was none.
“I wanted to learn before, but I just never had the oomph to do it. And that gave me it," she said.
Haileigh taught herself to crochet. It was therapeutic to have something to fill her time and her hands with while she grieved.
And then she got an idea.
“I crocheted every day for two months," she laughed, “my hands hurt."
Hundreds of hours, thousands of stitches, all leading to that day in the Trinity Health lobby, where she could weave together her own broken heart.
“I made 14 blanket sets and four bears," she said, smiling proudly at the table filled with her handmade items splayed out in front of her.
Each set has a tiny homemade hat, blanket and angel wings. They're all meant to fit babies who are premature or stillborn, like Asher, and will be offered to families in the hospital's birthing center and the emergency room.
She also created four stuffed bears, each donning a tag that says 'Asher's Wings' with his footprint on it. There's a message for the receiving families on the back.
"In honor of our angel baby, Asher, born on December 2, 2021. We hope this brings you some comfort in this difficult time. Love, Asher's Mama and Daddy," Haileigh reads.
It was a long couple months preparing for this day for Haileigh. But so worth it, she plans to make the donation an annual occurrence on Asher's birthday.
“I want people to know that they aren't alone, that they're loved by somebody that doesn't even know them," she said.
Haileigh couldn’t have predicted the winds of change that blew her here. But she can adjust her sails.
“I'm glad to be where I'm at, doing this," she smiled through tears.
► If you want to help Haileigh with next year's donation, please visit her Facebook or Instagram here.