Holding onto Hope: My “Why” in Honor of Mother’s Day and Mothers Everywhere

The quotes, stories, and experiences included here are those of the individuals and are not representative of Owlet's views or claims about our product. Individuals were not paid and did not submit their information as part of any paid promotion by Owlet.

By: Elisha Palmer, Director of Policy, Impact and Access, Owlet

I still remember Knox’s cheeks, they were the best. The kind you couldn’t help but kiss. He had this calmness about him, like an old soul in a little body. From the moment he came into our lives, everything felt complete. With my older children, I carried the normal anxieties of motherhood. But with Knox, there was a peace I hadn’t experienced before. 

The day we lost him started like any other. He was happy. He was healthy. I kissed him goodbye, and he smiled. Then, just hours later, I got the call that changed our lives forever. There was an emergency. Knox went down for a nap at the babysitter’s and was found not breathing.

When the doctors came in and told us they were so sorry, they had done everything they could, our world fell out from beneath us. We woke up that morning with a perfect baby, and we went to bed without him. His death would later be ruled as SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

There are no words that fully capture this kind of pain. Nothing could have prepared me for it. I never expected that I would have to bury my child. 

In the days and weeks that followed, grief consumed everything. It wasn’t just sadness, it was disorientation, emptiness, disbelief. I remember thinking over and over: another parent is going to wake up today with their perfect life and go to bed tonight in a living hell. That thought never left me.

And then came the question we couldn’t escape: What could we do? What could have given us more information in those moments? 

The only answer I kept coming back to was wanting to ensure other parents had valuable information about their baby in the moments that matter most. 

I will never know if things would have been different if he had been wearing an Owlet smart baby monitor that day. But I believe with everything in me that if we received an alert about his oxygen level or pulse rate, we would have had the chance to act. That belief became our mission.

My husband and I started the Knox Blocks Foundation in Knox’s honor. Our mission was simple: get Owlet socks into the hands of families who needed them. For eight years, we poured everything we had into that work. We helped over 10,000 families. We heard hundreds of stories from parents who believed their lives were changed because of Owlet. 

With each story, a small piece of us healed. Knox’s life, his purpose, was continuing to ripple out into the world.

Eventually, after eight years of hard work, we entered a new chapter and made the difficult decision to close the foundation. But the mission never left me. “Every baby deserves this” wasn’t just something I’d say, it was something I carried in my heart.

After dissolving the foundation I joined Owlet as the Director of Policy, Access & Impact. While my day-to-day work looks very different now, the “why” behind it is exactly the same. Policy matters because policy creates change. It opens doors. It makes access possible for families who might otherwise go without.

Today, I am driven by every mother bringing home a newborn. Whether perfectly healthy or medically fragile. I think about the quiet moments, the naps, the nights, the trust we place in the world around us. And I carry Knox with me in all of it.

My message to other moms is this: you are the voice for your children. For the ones in your arms and for the ones who are no longer here. Your advocacy, your instincts, your love; it matters more than you know. And you are not alone. 

I hold onto hope for what’s ahead. Hope that one day, every family will have access to meaningful  tools for their babies. Hope that every infant will have the opportunity to wear an Owlet sock. And hope that one day, SIDS will no longer be something we fear.

Until then, we keep going, together.

BabySat® and full-featured Dream Sock® are FDA-cleared for healthy babies between ages 1-18 months and weighing 6-30 lbs is available through an Owlet Dream App update, at no additional cost. Dream Sock is intended to track babies' pulse rate and oxygen level and keep parents informed. BabySat is a prescription-only device intended for babies 1-18 months and 6-30 lbs that could benefit from additional monitoring at home, under the supervision of a physician. Dream Sock and BabySat are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease or other condition, including but not limited to, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), Brief Resolved Unexplained Event (BRUE), and/or Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). Medical decisions should never be made solely using Dream Duo™ and Dream Sock data. BabySat, Dream Duo and Dream Sock should not substitute for the care and oversight of an adult or consultation with medical professionals.