Bennett Daniel Troutman never saw his mother's smile as she cradled him in her hospital bed.

He never felt his father's touch as he lovingly stroked his cheek.But in the toughest moments of this Lehighton couple's lives, he showed his parents the importance of faith and strength.On Sept. 13, 2013 nearly four months premature Bennett was stillborn.The tragedy of losing their first child broadsided Drewann and Charles Troutman after nearly two years of unsuccessful attempts to get pregnant.There were minor fertility issues, so when Drewann learned she was with child, it was the best day of their lives.The pregnancy, however, wasn't easy.Drewann had morning sickness the entire time and the fear of an early miscarriage was always in the back of their minds.But after the first trimester, the couple began to breathe a little easier.The unthinkablehappensOn Sept. 10, at 24 weeks, something changed and their worst fear came true."Never did I think we had lost the baby," Charles said, holding back tears.At first Drewann thought she had picked up a bug, but it never seemed to subside, and Charles grew worried as his wife's condition deteriorated rapidly.Just before midnight, Drewann, who was growing weaker by the hour, felt her baby move for the last time."I remember thinking 'I'm going to enjoy this moment,'" she said, recalling the baby's movements. "Normally you don't feel a lot of movement at 24 weeks so this was a blessing. All of a sudden though, the movement stopped and I could feel the baby drop."In that moment, Drewann agreed to let her husband get her and their child help.As Charles drove his wife to St. Luke's Hospital's Allentown campus in the early morning hours of Sept. 11, Drewann struggled to breathe.The emergency room was a flurry of activity shortly after the Troutmans arrived.Drewann was in and out of consciousness and Charles was scared because no one had any answers.Ten minutes later, as he stood helplessly at his wife's bedside, doctors told him the baby had died."They told me to call our family," he said, wiping away tears. "They didn't know if she was going to make it either.""They knew my blood had turned acidic, but they didn't know what was causing it," Drewann added.Twenty-four hours later, blood work revealed that she was an undiagnosed type 1 diabetic who was experiencing diabetic ketoacidosis."For 26 years of my life, I never had any symptoms of diabetes," she said. "It caught the doctors off-guard and it caught us off-guard."Bennett's arrivalAt 6:31 p.m., on Friday, Sept. 13, Drewann delivered their first child a 1 pound, 11 ounce baby boy."It was a breathtaking experience," she said, adding that the couple chose the name Bennett because it meant blessing."Bennett was beautiful. He had Chuck's eyes and it looked like he was sleeping. He was so peaceful."We had about 15 minutes after they placed the baby in our arms and told us it was a boy, to soak it all in," she continued."For about 15 minutes we had become a family."St. Luke's staff made the Troutmans memorial gifts, which included a memorial birth certificate, plaster impression of Bennett's footprints, a crocheted outfit and a memorial baby book.But in the hours following Bennett's delivery, there were dozens of decisions the bereaved parents were forced to make."I always had faith in God, but when you're faced with something you don't understand you sometimes find yourself questioning God," Drewann said."We didn't want to bury him because we didn't want him going from one confined area, never getting out of the womb, to a box, so we chose to have a beautiful cremation ceremony through Schaeffer's Funeral Home and spread his ashes at our families' houses."A small amount of ashes were also made into memorial jewelry that Drewann and Charles now wear.The small silver crosses are not ornate and flashy, but they represent a life that the family had been looking forward to since they were married nearly three years ago."He is always close to our hearts," Drewann said as she lovingly stroked the cross.Learningto live againThe day Drewann was discharged from the hospital was filled with many emotions."I was so excited. I just wanted to be home, but as soon as I opened the door to our home, the reality hit me that I had to put everything away," she said, noting that the ultrasound picture was hanging on the fridge and little signs of the pregnancy, such as her prenatal vitamins and gifts from family were everywhere in their home.The couple also now had to deal with the empty room that was supposed to be Bennett's."Facing that room was a struggle," she said.As the days ticked by, the couple slowly started picking up the pieces and putting their lives back together.They agree that their marriage has gotten stronger."It maximized both our personalities and made us realize what we have," Charles said."We dealt with it in different ways and it was scary at first knowing we weren't going to have the same feelings at the same times, but it has brought us so much closer together," Drewann added."It made us feel like a family. This year we became a family, children or no children. I think this really put it into reality how we appreciate one another and just appreciate the life we have together."I don't think we sweat the small things anymore," she said.Sometimes Drewann and Charles find themselves thinking about the milestones Bennett would have been reaching, but they're finding peace in those moments and opening their hearts to their friends' children who were born since they lost Bennett.A new lightIn December, the Troutmans found out they were again pregnant.The couple was both excited and scared by the news, but they handed it over to God, and so far, Drewann has had a good pregnancy.They are expecting a baby boy."It has been a roller-coaster ride, but a good, blessed one," she said.