The loss of a child is one of the most difficult experiences for any family. And it’s especially hard for families with babies who are born prematurely. To help ease the pain and to provide parents with a way to honor their baby, nurses and volunteers across the country are creating beautiful angel gowns out of repurposed wedding dresses. They’re donating them to hospitals where babies die, giving families a special keepsake they can keep forever.
One Arkansas woman is taking this project to the next level. Colleen Angel, who is known as Grandma Angel, has turned her home’s first floor into a sewing studio for the tiny outfits. She started making them after her cousin lost her baby and heard that there was a need for them at local hospitals. Now, she makes them for every hospital in Arkansas and has even donated them to hospitals in other states.
For the past three years, she’s been transforming wedding dresses into memorial or burial gowns for tiny babies who never come home from the hospital. Her tiny works of art are made out of wedding silks and satins, pearls, beads, lace and tulle. And she adds embroidery and a bow tie or vest for boys. For the littlest babies, she also sews sleeping bags and baby bonnets. She and her seamstresses make them all by hand, and they try to personalize each outfit as much as possible.
NICU Helping Hands is always seeking donations for their work. They’re currently raising money to cover the cost of shipping gowns to homes and hospitals around the country. But they say they’ve never had to turn a family away. They say that it’s important to have a gown for every baby who passes, regardless of the amount of time they lived or how far along they were in gestation.
Mayo Clinic nurse Lynn Gaber is another dedicated volunteer. She makes these gowns, as well as sleep sacks and overalls, for families who lose their newborns in the NICU. Her heart breaks for each family she sees, but she knows the need exists. That’s why she started her own project to get more people involved. She’s designed a kit that gives people the opportunity to try sewing these gowns before they commit to it long-term.
A registered nurse in the cardiovascular surgery ICU at Mayo, Gaber has seen her share of bereavement and knows the power of these tiny outfits. She believes that more hospitals should offer these gowns to comfort grieving families, and she hopes to eventually expand her program nationally. To find out how you can help, visit NICU Helping Hands’ website here. You can follow the journey of your dress to a developing country (Guatemala is currently where the dresses are going) and virtually meet your seamstress. You can also make a donation to fund the sewing costs for your dress. It’s called the International Program and you can do it here.