There is no pain greater than that of parents grieving the loss of a child. When those parents are yet young, just starting out and working hard to happily live off nothing while building for their child a nest, the pain is even more overwhelming. When that young couple, having been told they could never be parents, are given to mourn the loss of a miracle …
Hannah was born an orphan in Katy, Texas. She and her adoptive parents moved from Colorado to Boundary County in 2015. She met Adrian, of Warren, Michigan, online. Hannah flew to visit him once in 2021, in 2022 her parents went to make his acquaintance and he apparently passed muster … for in March 2022, Adrian flew again from Michigan to Idaho and fell to cone knee holding her hand. No one but she knows what he said, but on April 27, 2022, at Trinity Lutheran Church on Cody Street in Bonners Ferry, they were wed.
Theirs was no fairy tale romance, but a struggle. They went cold, went hungry. Lived nearly a year in a tent in Michigan. Hannah suffered a thyroid storm in the midst of those terribly icy days, stopping her heart. She pulled through, but was told she’d never have children.
In July, 2023, Hannah and Adrian came back to Idaho and in with Hannah’s parents. In September, against all odds, Hannah learned she was pregnant. She and Adrian moved into a studio apartment in town in February, Adrian was hired at Alta. Despite a rough pregnancy, everything was moving in the right direction, reflected in the pictures they posted to Facebook celebrating their progressing pregnancy.
On June 24, Hannah gave birth to a healthy and exquisitely beautiful baby girl, Hadrianna Joy, and she and Adrian, though struggling to make ends meet, learned the meaning of true joy, Hadrianna a true daddy’s and granddaddy’s girl, adorable and adorably doted on.
“She was a joy and light to everyone she was around,” Hannah said. “She had the biggest smile and personality.”
On August 26, Hannah was up at 3:30 a.m. feeding Hadrianna as usual, and the child fell asleep in mother’s arms. Hannah gently burped here, then put her down in her bassinette and she and Adrian went to bed. Minutes later, Hannah realized she hadn’t put Hadrianna’s sleep mittens on, so she got up and padded back out to the living room and turned on the light. Hadrianna lay still and pale. Hanna yelled for her husband and went to her daughter who was still, not breathing. They called 911 and rushed Hadrianna to Boundary Community Hospital. Every effort was made to revive her, to no avail.
Already skating perilously close to the financial edge, neither Hannah nor Adrian are able to focus on much but their grief, but Hannah worries they could easily fall homeless again, and right at the onset of winter. Having just moved in, they have little, and faced with funeral and other costs, they need more than anything the love and support of the community.
Adrian is off work, but he is in need of work clothes for fall and winter, seize large shirts, 36 x 36 pants and size 11 1/2 shoes or boots. Hannah wears small or medium shirts, size 8 or medium pants and a 9 1/i2 or 10 shoe. Items for donation can be dropped off at Hope House, 6389 Bonner Street, Bonners Ferry.
Their car is struggling, and they are struggling to pay rent and utilities. A GoFundMe account has been established, and donations payable to Adrian or Hannah Teutsch, cards and letters can be mailed to Teutsch Family, c/o 9B News, 6619 Kaniksu St., Bonners Ferry, ID 83805.
My second baby was still born, and that was tough.
But my loss so long ago was nothing at all compared to Hannah and Adrian’s recent loss of their precious, beautiful baby girl who in her too-short life blessed those around her.
Mere words can not express my heartfelt sadness for this young couple who have gone through too much grief already, let alone comfort them.
My husband retired last winter and has shoes and boots in that size, so he will drop them at Hope House.