![]() ![]() Some gowns are created to look like miniature suits, others look like angelic dresses. Each gown comes with a matching cap/bonnet or headband. In the hospital, a nurse can bring the baby to his or her parents already dressed in their gown, or parents can dress their baby themselves. Like the memory blankets and the angel gowns, the wraps also come with a beaded angel and a poem for the parents to keep.Īngel gowns are for stillborn babies and for children who pass away in their first few years of life. ![]() ![]() These wraps offer parents the opportunity to hold their baby, to take pictures, and to spend precious time together. In every case, the blanket serves as a marker for a loss that might otherwise might not have been recognized.įor little ones who are still too small for full angel gowns, Cortes and her team of volunteers create wraps – each with its own tiny blanket and hat. Some parents choose to display the memory blanket in a shadow box, others choose to keep it as a special memory of their lost one. Memory blankets are for the smallest angels, the early miscarriages where the memory blanket can oftentimes be the only thing that a mother takes with her from the hospital. You’re not alone…we’re all here for you.”ĭressing the littlest angels: memory blankets, wraps, and angel gowns “Everyone grieves in a different way,” Cortes explains. It’s important to let parents know that they aren’t enduring their pain by themselves, that there’s a network of people ready to help. Sunshine State Angel Gowns is a member of the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Resource (PILR) Network, a Central Florida partnership of counselors, professionals, individuals, and organizations that aid parents through pregnancy and infant loss. This sense of community in loss is especially important to grieving mothers and fathers. “As hard as it is sometimes…I go through healing with them at the same time. While working with moms who are experiencing similar grief can be difficult, she says that it’s also an important part of her own healing process. (“Tito”,) due to complications from cerebral palsy, Cortes is no stranger to this loss. As the name suggests, Sunshine State Angel Gowns tries to be the first ray of healing – that first glimpse of sunshine – in a parent’s storm. Now in its third official year, Sunshine State Angel Gowns turns donated wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses into angel gowns, memory blankets, and wraps for grieving parents experiencing the loss of a pregnancy, baby, or child. For many families who receive an angel gown or wrap, she says families don’t even know where to find clothes small enough for their tiny baby. “To me, it is the first step to healing, for them to receive this,” Cortes explains as she shows me a blue gown and its matching bonnet. ![]() Whether a pregnancy ends in loss at 20 weeks or a little one passes away at 20 months, Sunshine State Angels Gowns is there to make sure that no grieving parent is ever without a gown for their angel. What are angel gowns?Īngel gowns are burial and viewing gowns for miscarried or stillborn babies, little ones lost in their first years of living, and the youngest of the world’s angels. “So, we’re gonna create three different kinds of gowns out of this.”īut Cortes wasn’t talking about more wedding gowns. “You have your lace on top with the netting, and then you have another netting underneath, and then you have satin,” she said. I listened as the organization’s founder, Virginia Cortes, explained how my wedding dress would be taken apart and re-created. This afternoon, I walked into Sunshine State Angel Gowns’ workshop, my treasured wedding gown in hand. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |