Emma Dorics-Bertrand and 10-year-old daughter Emily comb through a colorful mountain of tiny Halloween costumes on the table in front of them, as 6-year-old Everly happily supervises.

There are dinosaurs and puppy dogs, Spider-Men and Yodas. There are nurse outfits, ladybugs, firemen, and so much more … all for the tiniest babies.

Such cuteness shouldn’t be legal.

Emily examines a teddy bear costume in a shade of burnt sienna.

“I think I like this costume best because of the cute little paws it has,” Emily says. She holds up a little pair of booties with knitted “paw pads” on the bottom.

Her mom is partial to the caterpillar, with an eclectic, neon green-striped body, red face, and purple antennae. It’s a sentimental favorite.

“I used to read the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, to Everly when she was in the hospital,” Emma says.

Indeed, this time of year brings a rush of memories for this family. Many of them are painful ones. But in retrospect, there is so much gratitude as well.

Everly’s Birth

Late in the summer of 2020, during the height of COVID, Everly was born at a hospital in Sarasota, Florida. Within 24 hours, she was rushed to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg for a higher level of care. The newborn was struggling to breathe, fighting for her life.

“We had no idea what was happening until she got to Johns Hopkins All Children’s and was tested,” Emma says. “That’s when we found out she was born with a chromosome abnormality and a soft cleft palate.”

There is never a good time to have a baby in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), but COVID made it especially difficult and isolating. Everly’s mom and dad took turns with her, switching out 12-hour shifts. Big sister Emily would not be able to meet her sister right away.

Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months.

Everly would face many challenges, but the most immediate ones were stabilizing her oxygen levels and learning to eat. It was a long, hard road. But Everly was a fighter.

“She inspired all of us every day,” Emma says. “We never put limits on her.”

As October of 2020 approached, Emma wanted nothing more than to bring her baby home.

She needed a goal. She drew a little pumpkin on the whiteboard in Everly’s hospital room and wrote out the desire she hoped to manifest: “Home by Halloween.”

With expert clinical care and all of the love and support of family, Everly got stronger.

Days before that first Halloween, the family was discharged and took their little pumpkin home.

Giving Back

Emma thought often about the NICU families who miss so many holidays as they navigate their own NICU journeys.

The following year, she came up with an idea. She wanted to provide something special for these families during Halloween. She worked with clinical staff to understand the guidelines for the donations, and she set up a wish list on her personal Facebook page with an Amazon link to order them. She named it “Everly’s Costumes.”

“We wanted to think of something to honor Everly and to express our thanks to all the amazing doctors and nurses,” Emma says. “But most of all, we want to encourage the NICU families, to give them a smile and a little bit of normalcy.”

Every year for the past five years, Emma and her family have gathered scores of tiny costumes from family and friends to donate to the NICU. More than 900 costumes have been donated to Johns Hopkins All Children’s over that time.

“Holidays in the NICU can be really emotional and isolating,” says Claire Christian, a Child Life specialist who works with families in the NICU. “These costumes bring families so much joy and allow parents to choose something special for their baby. It's really about more than costumes; it's about giving parents a sense of control, normalcy and hope.”

For the families, there is a sweet memory to be made, even in hardship.

For Emma, it’s a way to honor Everly, and to let families who are on this journey know that they are not alone.

“I want them to feel seen and to know there is light at the end of the tunnel,” Emma says. “Even though you can’t see it in the moment, there is so much joy ahead.”