- Call or text Jill at (410)903-3265 to inquire about availability.
- Please include your name, hospital or home address, baby's due date /birthdate and any other pertinent information.
Stillbirth, TFMR, Perinatal Hospice, Fetal Demise and Infant Loss
WHAT IS BEREAVEMENT PHOTOGRAPHY?
Photography can be an important part of healing after the loss of a baby. As a professional photographer, I’ve been supporting families facing perinatal loss with documentary photography for more than 10 years.
I offer free photography services to those facing miscarriage, stillbirth/fetal death in utero, TFMR, or a life-limiting genetic diagnosis during pregnancy at any gestational age.
Sometimes families reach out to me when their baby has a difficult prognosis even if they may survive. It’s important to me that families who may have a limited time with their child have the opportunity for professional photography without specific limits on the circumstances.
When families are faced with the decision to have an abortion or terminate their pregnancy for any reason, they may not meet their baby. In planning for these circumstances, they may choose portraits while they are pregnant.
The service of photography and all of the full-resolution digital images are offered completely without charge. Jill is available to visit most hospitals and home in Anne Arundel County, Howard County, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Harford County and surrounding areas in central Maryland, northern Virginia and Washington DC.
VIEW IMAGES:
In addition to photography, we’ve been creating memory boxes for area hospitals for the last 5 years.
WHAT IS A MEMORY BOX?
Make a donation now to support families in the Baltimore-Annapolis area by covering the costs of photography and memory box supplies:
Photography, in the context of parents dealing with the loss of a stillborn baby, plays a significant role in the healing process:
- Acknowledgment of Existence
For parents, photographs serve as tangible evidence that their baby existed. This acknowledgment is crucial for the grieving process, as it allows parents to celebrate the baby’s brief life, however short it may have been. Photographs validate the parents’ experience and the reality of their loss, which is an essential step in healing.
- Memory Preservation
Photographs become one of the few, if not the only, physical reminders of the baby. They help preserve memories that are precious and fleeting. For many parents, these images are invaluable as they provide a connection to the baby, capturing physical details that might fade over time from memory.
- Grieving Process
The act of taking photographs can be a part of the grieving process itself. It allows parents to spend time with their baby, saying hello and goodbye in their own time and way. This can be an important ritual that aids in the acceptance of their loss.
- Sharing and Validation
Photographs can also serve as a means for parents to share their baby with others, helping to validate their grief and the significance of their loss. Sharing photographs can help in creating a support network, as friends and family are better able to understand and empathize with the loss.
- Therapeutic Outlet
For some parents, the process of taking, viewing, or sharing photographs can be therapeutic. It can provide an outlet for emotions, a way to express grief, and a path to discussing their feelings and experiences. This can be particularly helpful in cases where parents find it difficult to articulate their grief verbally.
- Legacy Creation
Photographs help in creating a legacy for the baby. They become a part of the family’s history, acknowledging that the baby’s life, however brief, had meaning and impact. This can be comforting to parents as they navigate their grief and seek ways to remember and honor their child.
- Healing and Hope
Over time, photographs can become a source of comfort and healing, helping parents to remember not only the loss but also the love they have for their baby. They can serve as a reminder of the capacity to survive intense grief and, eventually, find a way to live with loss, perhaps even finding new meanings and sources of hope.
As a photographer who provides professional photography services to parents experiencing the loss of a baby, I am trained to handle such sensitive situations with care, respect, and empathy, underscoring the therapeutic value and importance of photography in the healing process.