THE 11 UNBORN CHILDREN REMEMBERED AT THE 9/11 MEMORIAL

They never took their first breath. They never had a birthday, a first step or a chance to meet the parents who were waiting for them. But their names — remembered alongside their mothers — remain part of the story of September 11.

On September 11, 2001, thousands of people went to work, boarded airplanes, traveled across the country and began what they thought would be an ordinary morning.

Among them were women who were expecting babies.

Some were already preparing nurseries. Some had celebrated baby showers. Some were counting down the weeks until maternity leave.

And one was only beginning to discover that she was going to become a mother.

They never came home.

Today, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum remembers 10 unborn children alongside their mothers who died in the attacks of September 11, 2001. A separate memorial inscription honors Monica Rodriguez Smith and her unborn child, who were killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Together, their stories form a heartbreaking reminder that the attacks did not only take the lives of the people whose names were known.

They also erased futures that had already been imagined by their families.

THE NAMES THAT INCLUDE TWO LIVES

At the 9/11 Memorial, visitors encounter thousands of names engraved around the reflecting pools.

But some names carry an additional phrase:

“AND HER UNBORN CHILD.”

Those names include:

• Deanna Lynn Galante and her unborn child
• Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas and her unborn child
• Jennifer L. Howley and her unborn child
• Helen Crossin Kittle and her unborn child
• Vanessa Lang Langer and her unborn child
• Patricia Ann Cimaroli Massari and her unborn child
• Renée A. May and her unborn child
• Sylvia San Pio Resta and her unborn child
• Rahma Salie and her unborn child
• Dianne T. Signer and her unborn child

The memorial also bears the name of Monica Rodriguez Smith and her unborn child, killed in the February 26, 1993, bombing of the World Trade Center.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum confirms that Monica was pregnant with her first child and that the day of the 1993 bombing was supposed to be her final day at work before maternity leave.

VANESSA LANGER WAS WAITING FOR HER BABY

Vanessa Lang Langer was 29 years old and four months pregnant.

She worked as an office manager for Regus on the 93rd floor of the South Tower.

Her husband, Tim, had once been uncertain about becoming a father. Vanessa, however, wanted a family.

Eventually, he embraced the idea.

According to a remembrance published through Legacy, Vanessa was thrilled about her pregnancy. She had even given her husband a book called How to Pamper Your Pregnant Wife.

She developed late-night cravings and would send Tim out for snacks such as Fig Newtons and Stella D’oro cookies.

Family members remembered her as energetic, competitive and full of personality.

She loved the Yankees and Giants. She competed fiercely in computer games and the family football pool. She was known for moving quickly, almost as if she were always rushing toward the next thing.

She was also preparing to become a mother.

Then came September 11.

Vanessa escaped from the South Tower, but as the building collapsed, she was caught in the devastation.

Her name is now permanently followed by four words:

“AND HER UNBORN CHILD.”

The 9/11 Memorial officially includes her unborn child in its inscription.

DEANNA WAS DAYS FROM MATERNITY LEAVE

Deanna Lynn Galante was seven months pregnant with her first child.

She worked for Cantor Fitzgerald’s eSpeed division in the North Tower.

Her husband, Anthony, later recalled how excited they had been. The night before the attacks, the couple watched their unborn baby move.

They were preparing for the arrival of their son.

Deanna was also nearing maternity leave.

She never got the chance to meet him.

Her name is remembered at the memorial together with her unborn child.

LAUREN GRANDCOLAS WAS ON FLIGHT 93

Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas was 38 and traveling aboard United Airlines Flight 93.

She was pregnant with her first child.

Flight 93 was hijacked after leaving Newark, New Jersey, bound for San Francisco.

Passengers and crew eventually learned what was happening elsewhere and attempted to regain control of the aircraft.

The plane crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Lauren and her unborn child never reached their destination.

Her name is among those memorialized at the 9/11 Memorial.

MONICA’S STORY BEGAN EIGHT YEARS EARLIER

There is another mother whose name appears with the words “and her unborn child.”

Her story, however, belongs to an earlier attack.

Monica Rodriguez Smith was 35 years old and pregnant with her first child when the World Trade Center was bombed on February 26, 1993.

She and her husband, Edward, had recently prepared their home for the baby.

The nursery was ready.

The family was ready.

And February 26 was supposed to be Monica’s last day at work before maternity leave.

She was in the World Trade Center complex when the bomb exploded.

Monica and her unborn child were among the six people killed.

The 9/11 Memorial & Museum continues to honor them together.

THE CHILDREN WHO WERE BORN AFTER THEIR FATHERS DIED

The story of unborn children and September 11 does not end with those whose mothers were killed.

In the months after the attacks, babies were born to women whose husbands and partners had died.

Among them were Andrea Russin’s twin daughters.

Andrea was already heavily pregnant when her husband, Steven Russin, left for work at Cantor Fitzgerald on September 11.

They already had a 2-year-old son, Alec.

Steve never returned home.

Four days later, on September 15, Andrea gave birth to their twin girls, Ariella and Olivia.

CNN later documented how Andrea struggled to explain to her children that their father was gone.

She remembered telling her family to photograph the American flag at half-staff because it was for their daddy.

The twins became a living connection to the father they would never meet.

Andrea later described the extraordinary support that came from strangers, neighbors, churches, synagogues and communities.

People brought candles to her home.

A waitress gave her $10.

A woman in France offered the family the use of an apartment.

A German taxi company collected donations.

The grief was enormous.

But so was the generosity.

A LEGACY THAT OUTLIVED THE ATTACKS

For families who lost someone on September 11, there was no simple ending.

There were birthdays that never happened.

Nurseries that remained empty.

Wedding anniversaries celebrated without one person.

Children who grew up knowing a parent only through photographs, stories and memories.

And there were children whose lives began in the shadow of an unimaginable loss.

Andrea Russin eventually turned some of her grief into service. She has supported community projects and organized blood drives around the anniversary of the attacks in memory of those who were lost.

Her story offers another way to understand September 11.

The attacks were carried out by a small group of people determined to cause destruction.

But in the aftermath, millions of ordinary people responded with compassion.

THE NAMES REMAIN

Twenty-five years later, visitors still walk around the memorial pools in Lower Manhattan.

They see thousands of names.

And among them are names that tell a story in only a few additional words:

“AND HER UNBORN CHILD.”

Those words represent lives that never had the opportunity to begin.

They represent mothers who were preparing for a future they would never see.

They represent fathers who never held their children.

And they represent families who spent the next quarter-century carrying both love and loss.

September 11 is remembered through the towers that fell, the planes that crashed and the nearly 3,000 people who were killed.

But remembrance can also be found in the lives that were supposed to come next.

The babies who were expected.

The children who were born afterward.

The families who kept going.

And the people who, despite everything, chose to help one another.

Twenty-five years later, their names remain.

Their stories remain.

And they will never be forgotten.