Soleil Marie Shayne Thiemann

Our beautiful daughter, Soleil Marie Shayne Thiemann, was born on Saturday, November 29th at 7:08 pm at 30 weeks, weighing 3 lbs 15.5 oz and 15.5 inches long. She came into this world through an emergency C-section, and she was born alive. The NICU team did everything they could to help her…but in the end, she didn’t respond to their interventions. We will be forever grateful for the care she received during her short life.

We made the impossible choice to stop intervening and hold her for her last moments of life. She passed peacefully in our arms — warm, soft, perfect. Feeling her warmth slowly fade and her tiny body grow cold on Jaxon’s chest is a pain no parent should ever experience. We really believed she was going to make it.

The hospital gave us 24 hours with her, and we held her the entire time — memorizing her, kissing her cheeks and forehead, witnessing her beauty, loving her with everything in us.

When they finally came to take her from us, it shattered something inside us. Her two older brothers were there. We all cried together as a family while saying goodbye to their baby sister. It was a heartbreaking and beautiful moment.

We don’t understand why she came when she did, or why she couldn’t stay. But we are grateful for every moment we had with her.

She was Jaxon’s light during a time when she was fighting cancer and when she was grieving the loss of her father who died three months prior to Soleil’s passing. Soleil brought hope and bravery into a season where Jaxon felt completely lost. Jaxon stated frequently that she knew that Soeil saved her life, because if she hadn’t been pregnant with Soleil, Jaxon likely wouldn’t have chosen to start chemo. Soleil made Jaxon choose to fight. She brought bravery and hope, not just to Jaxon, but to our whole family. We will never regret the choice to prioritize both Jaxon’s and Soleil’s lives. We all felt Soleil’s beautiful spirit, but Jaxon especially felt her strong, fierce, and gentle spirit for the 30 weeks that she carried Soleil.

In our family, we choose animals that connect to our children; their spirit animals. When you look up the meaning of a monarch butterfly spirit animal it is described as: transformation, light, resilience, endurance, and the connection between the spiritual and physical worlds. It is a creature of sunshine and delicate strength. We feel this spirit animal describes how we feel about Soleil beautifully. Soleil’s name also means sun, and even more special — she was born in November, whose birthstone is citrine known as the "sunshine gem", the colors of sunlight and warm golden wings. It feels like the universe always knew exactly who she was.

We look forward to the day we get to meet her again, hold her again, and really get to know the incredible spirit she is. In the meantime, she is with God, Jesus Christ, and our family who have already died. They will take care of Soleil until the day comes when we can.

She was and is our sunshine. Our light in the darkness.

She will be forever loved; forever missed.

Soleil is survived by her Father (Kirk Thiemann), Mother (Jaxon Thiemann), her four brothers (Enzo, Zennith, Boaz, and Tenzing), and Grandparents (Camille Hill, William and Debra Thiemann).

Soleil is preceded in death by her Grandfather (Daniel Shane Hill).