One in four women will experience an infant loss. It can be an unexpected blow that leaves families feeling empty and hopeless. At a time like this, little things can help. Angel gowns, or baby burial outfits, are made from donated wedding dresses and delivered to hospitals, funeral homes and families free of charge.
When a colleague of Kathleen Sharp, a nurse at Atrium Health’s Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, shared about her experience with the international program, it struck a chord with Sharp. She remembered her own personal struggle to conceive with her husband in the early years of their marriage and her son’s death at 18 weeks gestation. She also remembered the beautiful gown her son wore when he was placed with his brother in the hospital at a very difficult age. “I knew then and there I wanted to participate in this amazing way of giving back to families,” she said.
Scrolling through Facebook, she found a woman who had started a group called Angel Gowns of Central Ohio to collect wedding dresses and sew them into tiny burial outfits for infants. Bauer, who retired from her home economics teacher job at Pickerington Schools in 2014 and had recently begun sewing for a hobby, was inspired to do the same.
Bauer and her fellow seamstresses have likely sewn more than a thousand gowns in the last three years, delivering them to many hospitals across Ohio and the country. She says they have helped grieving families who are forced to bury their smallest of souls. She has heard of hospitals who have no angel gown programs and have seen babies buried in towels and clothing purchased for dolls, which can be harrowing for the grieving family.
The gowns are worn for any infant who is resuscitated but is not expected to survive, or for those who have been born stillborn or died at the hospital. The gowns, which come in sizes to fit micro-preemies and those who are delivered full-term, are available to families at no cost.
A similar effort is underway in New Zealand where a woman named Michelle has been making and distributing the gowns since she lost her own son at birth in 2012. The project is now an international movement with volunteers around the world making and donating gowns to their local communities and beyond.
For Sharp and other women who have lost a child, the gowns are a way to honor their memories and give families the comfort of knowing they can dress their baby in something that is so much more than a simple gown.
While nothing can make up for the pain of losing a baby, the gowns offer a small measure of peace and healing. To learn more about the program or to donate a wedding dress, visit the website of Angel Gowns International. To volunteer to sew with them, email [email protected]. The program also needs money for shipping.