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Nov 15, 2009 10:35 pm US/Central
Family Finds Comfort For Pain Through Photographs
Arezow Doost
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
As Becca Church thumbs through her baby book tears slowly trickle down her face. "This one is my favorite, I don't know why," says the mother.
Her husband Chad immediately chimes in and picks up his favorite photograph. It's one of him kissing his new baby boy.
The Church's gush about their little Michael Christian and dozens of timeless photographs. "We were pretty excited when we found out we were going to have a baby," explains Becca.
The 27-year-old from Lake Whitney says her entire pregnancy was all organic and all natural. Becca had been working with mid-wives.
She was almost 35 weeks along when she found out something was wrong with the baby.
Just 2 days before Michael's birth the Church's were told by doctors that he had a fatal form of Dwarfism.
Doctors told the couple that Michael's bones in his chest and his lungs had not developed.
The couple drove to Fort Worth to see a specialist at Harris Methodist, but were only told the same news that their son had Thanatophoric Dysplasia.
On June 25th at 12:38 p.m. Michael was born.
"That day was pretty hard," says Becca as she wipes away tears. He was only here briefly -- just 41 minutes.
"It was the happiest worst day of my life all in the same time it was more so a joy to find out our baby was a little boy," says Chad.
The family wanted to remember that moment and were told about a organization by their mid-wives. They turned to the
Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Organization.
Photographer Michelle Clynch was at the hospital waiting for the family after the delivery and quickly started snapping photos.
"The first initial idea of it it seemed like odd we were not sure why we would not want to do that," explains Chad "But the more we thought about it the more it made sense."
The non-profit provides families with a network of volunteer photographers around North Texas who help families like the Church's cope with grief.
"I want them to have something to remember their baby, because they really can't they are in shock and grief," says Clynch.
The organization has about seven thousand photographers around the world. They were founded in Colorado and have slowly been spreading around the country.
As the Church's look through the photos of their little one -- they focus on details. "I did have the c-section and things were a little cloudy," says Becca "I can go back and relive what he looked like and really what he looked like not some cloudy version."
"We can say look he has his dad's ears we didn't take the time to look at those things when we had him without we were too busy trying to hug him and love him," says Chad.
With each photo the couple celebrates their son and a life too short. "That's my little boy just because he was not here doesn't change the fact that I'm a mom and I had him and that's proof that's proof that he was here," says Becca.
The Church's have been able to share the photos with their friends and family. They have also
started a blog about their son and his genetic condition.
Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep has more than 50 photographers in North Texas.
They are looking for more as words spreads about what they do.
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