Zachary Christopher Notermann-Kircher
April 6, 1999 - August 11, 1999

Zachary Christopher was born on April 6, 1999 to his mother Nichole Notermann, and father Christopher Kircher.  Zach's grandparents are Tony & Claudia Notermann, Robb & Lana Tice and David & Kathy Kircher, his aunts and uncles: Tony & Brett Notermann, Jason & Heather Zander, Melissa Tice, Jeni & Katie Kircher, and two cousins, Derick & Austin.  Zachary was preceded in death by his sister Devon. 

Nichole had been put on bed rest at the beginning of March, due to alot of complications.  She was having early labor signs, and it was to early for Zach to be born.  Nichole had an amnio and it was determined that Zach's lungs had not fully developed yet, and therefore it was to early for Zach to be born.

On Sunday April 4, 1999, Nichole was admitted into the hospital, at the time for an unknown problem, and in the end turned out to be very serious blood clots.  They did an ultrasound and found nothing(Zach was blocking the view of the blood clots), so they determined it was just the way the baby was laying and was cutting off her circulation.  They decided to induce labor the next day, and then a few  hours later decided to stop for the night and start up again the next morning.  The next morning they did, and Zach was born shortly after that.  Later that day they found out that Nichole had very serious blood clots, and if they did not get them desolved soon, she would die.  The next couple of days were touch and go with Nichole's life, and we almost lost her a couple of times. They told us had they not induced her when they did, neither Zach nor Nichole would have survived.

Zachary was born 3 weeks early, and was a very healthy baby.  He looked exactly like his dad.  His dad was very proud, and so was his mother.  The day Zachary was born everyone told Chris that Zach looked exactly like him.  So everytime he would see some one, Chris would hold Zach up by his face and ask "do you really think he looks like me?"  It made him light up to hear that his son looked like him.

When Zachary was born, he had a catscan, to determine whether his brain had fully developed.  This was done, more so, to put his families minds at ease, who had hoped and prayed he did not have the same disorder his sister had. 
We all had so many hopes and dreams for Zachary.  Once we knew his brain had developed, we never had any fears of him never not being here forever.  We thought he would always be here to make us smile and laugh, not just cry.  He had a way of making every day he spent with us special.

Zachary grew to be a very big boy, in such a short time. That is how Zach earned his nickname "Bubba."  He definately would have been a star football player.

On Wednesday August 11, 1999, Nichole received a call from Zach's daycare.  They told her she needed to get there quick because Zach was sick and the ambulance had already been called.  When she arrived, she had no idea Zach would not have any signs of the so full of life Zach that she had left that morning.

The doctors had run all the test and done all the checks that they could to try and find a cause for Zach's death, but they were unable to find anything wrong with him.  He was perfectly healthy in everyway.  That only left SIDS to be blamed for his death.  It is really difficult to understand why and how this could happen to such a healthy guy.  His mother almost died to bring him into our lives and for what????  For him to be taken from us shortly after???  I keep asking myself why??

The tests showed that Zachary was a very loved little(big) boy.  We did not need any tests to show us that, we knew, by the way Zach lit up everytime he saw his mommy.  He was definately the apple in all of our eyes.

SIDS kills over 3,000 babies every year and no one knows why.  Please support SIDS research and help to raise SIDS awareness.

"A million times we will miss you
A million times we will cry
If love alone would have saved you
You would never have died!!!"

There are many people who miss you Bubba!  Take good care of us our little Chubby Cherub, and we will see you again someday!!