Woman turns umbilical cords into permanent decorative pieces
- last year
A entrepreneur has started a business preserving the memories of newborns and "angel babies" - by turning umbilical cords into permanent decorative pieces.
Mothers who want to remember the birth of their newborns can have their umbilical cords customised and shaped into hearts, butterflies and even the word "love".
A video showed how the raw umbilical cord can be loosely shaped and then dehydrated making it "last a lifetime".
Casey Merrell, 32, started her business UCord Keepsakes in 2015, after sadly losing her child during pregnancy.
Her "angel baby" was one of the reasons she started the business after she wasn't able to keep the umbilical cord from that pregnancy.
Casey now has four children and has managed to make her own keepsakes from their umbilical cords.
Stay-at-home mum Casey said: "I created one for myself after bringing home his umbilical cord from the hospital.
"I may have gotten some weird looks from the staff.
"His was a simple heart shape with no coating, so you could see the visible vessels that connected us during pregnancy.
"I loved having that connection preserved as he grew - we all know they grow so fast."
Operating out of St Louis, Missouri, USA, mothers from across the United States send their umbilical cords to Casey for preservation.
Mothers can sign up for the process at any point after getting a positive pregnancy test.
They receive a collection kit that will be given to midwives during the birth then a postal kit to send to Casey.
Once Casey receives the umbilical cord, it is dehydrated and painted with a colour chosen by mothers.
If the cord is requested to be natural, it is coated in epoxy resin.
Each piece costs around £120 ($149) and Casey sell an average of 18 every month.
In 2017, Casey started offering the service to friends and word of mouth started getting the service a lot of traction - so she started her own business.
Her company continued to grow and her online presence propelled the business to new heights.
In May 2022, she formally opened the business to the whole of the USA with mothers thousands of miles away benefitting from the service.
Casey is a certified placenta specialist and has a bloodborne pathogen licence and a food handlers licence.
She describes her work as a "labour of love" and finds the work incredibly rewarding to help mothers have a reminder of the birth "frozen in time".
The service is particularly poignant for "angel moms" who have lost their child during birth or shortly after.
Mothers who want to remember the birth of their newborns can have their umbilical cords customised and shaped into hearts, butterflies and even the word "love".
A video showed how the raw umbilical cord can be loosely shaped and then dehydrated making it "last a lifetime".
Casey Merrell, 32, started her business UCord Keepsakes in 2015, after sadly losing her child during pregnancy.
Her "angel baby" was one of the reasons she started the business after she wasn't able to keep the umbilical cord from that pregnancy.
Casey now has four children and has managed to make her own keepsakes from their umbilical cords.
Stay-at-home mum Casey said: "I created one for myself after bringing home his umbilical cord from the hospital.
"I may have gotten some weird looks from the staff.
"His was a simple heart shape with no coating, so you could see the visible vessels that connected us during pregnancy.
"I loved having that connection preserved as he grew - we all know they grow so fast."
Operating out of St Louis, Missouri, USA, mothers from across the United States send their umbilical cords to Casey for preservation.
Mothers can sign up for the process at any point after getting a positive pregnancy test.
They receive a collection kit that will be given to midwives during the birth then a postal kit to send to Casey.
Once Casey receives the umbilical cord, it is dehydrated and painted with a colour chosen by mothers.
If the cord is requested to be natural, it is coated in epoxy resin.
Each piece costs around £120 ($149) and Casey sell an average of 18 every month.
In 2017, Casey started offering the service to friends and word of mouth started getting the service a lot of traction - so she started her own business.
Her company continued to grow and her online presence propelled the business to new heights.
In May 2022, she formally opened the business to the whole of the USA with mothers thousands of miles away benefitting from the service.
Casey is a certified placenta specialist and has a bloodborne pathogen licence and a food handlers licence.
She describes her work as a "labour of love" and finds the work incredibly rewarding to help mothers have a reminder of the birth "frozen in time".
The service is particularly poignant for "angel moms" who have lost their child during birth or shortly after.