Ryan Kelly left the University of Alabama in 2016 a three-time national champion and a consensus All-American, but something that's stuck with him nearly a decade later – as he's become a Pro Bowler, team captain, husband and father – has been a piece of wisdom from his former head coach.
"Nick Saban always said around Christmas time," Kelly said, "no gift that you could potentially get will ever be as good as the gift that you give."
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Just ahead of the holidays, a cheerful, pastel balloon arch welcomed hundreds of soon-to-be parents to Gridiron Hall within the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center. The families gathered for photos in front of the celebratory decor, documenting a milestone for many pregnancies: A baby shower with family and friends.
Janice Walker and her niece, Carrie Manning, were among more than 300 expecting families who eagerly filed into the Colts' practice facility for a community baby shower hosted by Ryan and Emma Kelly in partnership with Count the Kicks. Carrie is pregnant with her first, Janice pregnant with her fifth.
"It's so nice we get to do this together," Walker said. "When I was her age and I was starting off with my kids, who are older now, they didn't have things like this. It's such a great experience to see people coming together like this."
The event, open to all expecting families, provided every mother with free boxes of diapers and other newborn essentials, like wipes and pacifiers.
Tables surrounded the perimeter of the room, where professionals greeted new and expecting parents to share information on how to monitor pregnancy and equip them with tools to prepare for labor.
"I mean, honestly, number one, just the knowledge of everything," Manning said. "It's my first time, so I know nothing. Just like all the little pamphlets, hearing different stories and everything, it's just really helpful to have all the resources."
And providing those resources is exactly what the Count the Kicks campaign aims to do. Healthy Birth Day created the Count The Kicks program to educate expectant parents on the importance of tracking fetal movements. According to Count the Kicks' website, Indiana loses an average of 466 babies a year to stillbirth.
"It's definitely needed here in Indiana, because we know Indiana has one of the highest stillbirth rates in the country," Emily Price, CEO of Healthy Birth Day, said. "Every expectant parent needs to know to pay attention to their baby's movements in the third trimester and speak up when they notice a change."
The Count The Kicks app is free and available in 21 languages. Price and Healthy Birth Day's focus is to empower mothers with the ability to track prenatal movement, which is an important factor in preventing stillbirth.
"We know we are going to save lives tonight," Price said.
Providing mothers with both information and a supportive environment for them to share their questions is what Ryan and Emma aspire to achieve with their platform.
"Be vulnerable," Price said, urging parents to voice their questions and concerns. "We're all in this together. We're all here for everyone to have a healthy outcome, the best possible outcome you can have. We're here for you. Count The Kicks is here for you. Ryan and Emma are here for you."
There were also dozens of sought-after items like brand-name strollers, high chairs, car seats and bassinets that were raffled off throughout the night. The generous offerings were made possible by the Kellys and partners like Count the Kicks and the Colts, as well as sponsors across the community. The NFL Players Association awarded Ryan its Week 13 Community MVP in recognition of the hundreds served during the community baby shower.
"Having little family here, we really mostly have each other," Walker said. "It's nice for programs like this because then we have a little more support. These things mean a lot to us because we get to take them home and it gives us a fresh start. It makes it less overwhelming for everybody."
Having that gift of support and community has carried the Kellys the last three years as they navigated the depths of grief and the peaks of joy.
As her newborn daughter, Stella, rested on the other side of the room, Emma radiated a glow often associated with expectant mothers. You might expect a mom with three babies under 18 months would show signs of stress and sleep deprivation. Instead, Emma spent hours engaging with anxious moms-to-be.
One woman shared with Emma the medical challenges that led to miscarriages and infertility, tearing up describing the emotion of a surprise pregnancy, now in her third trimester. Another woman rested her hands on her belly, telling Emma that she's serving as a surrogate for her sister who endured devastating fertility challenges.
"A lot of people told us they followed our story," Ryan said. "They had their own story. With our story, I think we've connected with a lot of people on a very personal level. So, I think a lot of people felt comfortable being in that environment to come share their story.
"There was a woman that came up to me, she had tears in her eyes. She said she lost her husband two weeks ago and she's pregnant with a baby boy. For her to be there by herself, to come up to me, it was just amazing. A lot of touching stories."
In December 2021, Ryan and Emma lost their first child, Mary Kate, to stillbirth. Twins Duke and Ford would arrive in June 2023, more than three months early. Weighing just 2 pounds at birth, the boys would spend 85 days in the NICU before coming home. Early in 2024, while Ryan was playing in the Pro Bowl, Emma found out she was pregnant with baby No. 4. In October, Ryan and Emma welcomed another daughter, Estelle Vivianne, who the Kellys affectionately call Stella.
Ahead of the event, Walker wasn't aware of the Kelly family's story until Manning saw a Facebook post promoting the baby shower and shared with Walker the backstory.
"It's amazing," Walker said. "It's very touching because a lot of parents would shut down after something like that, and instead they decided to help others, to give them knowledge and to just be there for their community. That's such a blessing."
Emma figuratively and literally wrapped her arms around her fellow mothers, wiping away tears and expressing her gratitude for sharing their stories. Eager dads followed behind, loading strollers with diapers and newborn essentials while bobbling armfuls of reading material. They approached the Pro Bowl center, freeing an arm from their bounty of brochures to shake Ryan's hand, occasionally asking for a photo, but often asking for advice.
"I think it's just amazing that they were there," Ryan said, "A baby shower can sometimes mean it's the women who do the gifts and stuff like that. You could tell how much it meant to them to be there, to be a part of it, the excitement."
As each expectant parent filed out of the practice facility – equipped with diapers and essential – potentially life-saving – information, they also left fulfilled by finding a community of others experiencing the same hopes and challenges. As Ryan and Emma well know, that sense of support and community is perhaps the greatest gift any growing family can receive.
And reflecting on the words of Saban, Ryan called them "the truest thing I have ever heard."
"The more that we do for people and realize how gifted that we've been through support from them, to give back to them always means so much," Ryan said. "And it just kind of ties us even closer to the community, which I always love."
