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Remembrance photography captures the sensitive moments of infant loss

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The Dodgeville-based Babies Gone Too Soon organization recently presented local photographer Lindsey (Ludvik) Bedward with an appreciation plaque and a $1,000 award she has donated to Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. Bedward has been working with NILMDTS for six years, as a volunteer providing remembrance photography to families who’ve experienced the loss of a baby. Babies Gone Too Soon members pictured with Bedward (center) are Morgan Leix, Brenda White, Amy Michek and Liz Green.

Local photographer volunteers her time and talents

By Correne Martin

For parents suffering the loss of a baby, memories, pictures and a few belongings are the only mementos they will have to remember forever the love and bond they shared with their little sweetheart.

Ten years ago, an organization called Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep (NILMDTS) introduced remembrance photography to the world, offering the free gift of professional portraiture to parents going through the inconceivable tragedy of losing a tiny life. Since 2005, the work of this unique entity has been to train, educate and mobilize professional quality, volunteer photographers to provide beautiful heirloom portraits to families facing the untimely death of an infant. It is the hope of NILMDTS that these images serve as an important step in the family’s healing process by honoring the child’s legacy.

The concept of remembrance photography started with one family’s personal story, as told on the organization’s website, nowilaymedowntosleep.org.

“Maddux Achilles Haggard was born on Feb. 4, 2005, with a condition called myotubular myopathy. It prevented him from breathing, swallowing or moving on his own. On the sixth day of his young life, his parents, Mike and Cheryl Haggard had to make the excruciating decision to take him off life support. Before they did, they called photographer Sandy Puc’ to take pictures of them cradling their son. Puc’ photographed the couple with Maddux at the hospital before he was removed from life support and after—when he was free from the tubes and the wires that had sustained him.

“Those tender photographs documenting Maddux’s eternal connection with his parents inspired Cheryl Haggard and Sandy Puc’ to begin a nonprofit organization that has provided thousands of families with babies who are stillborn or are at risk of dying with free professional portraits with their baby.

“Sandy and Cheryl founded the organization in April 2005 and called it Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep after the children’s bedtime prayer. NILMDTS now has accepted over 1,600 active photographers around the world. NILMDTS reaches every state in the United States and has been present in 40 countries worldwide.”

Locally, Lindsey (Ludvik) Bedward, of Patch Grove, who has owned and operated Lindsey Ludvik Photography since 2006, joined Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep in 2009, after hearing about its extraordinary services through photography conventions. As the only NILMDTS volunteer in the region, Lindsey gets calls, mainly from area hospitals, when a mom and baby have been admitted and the baby has no heartbeat, is stillborn, or there are other life-threatening matters.

“They keep me posted and we try to plan appropriately so I can get there in time,” she explained, noting that there is a very narrow window of time in which such photographs can be captured. “Sometimes, grandmas call me for the service, but usually I work with the hospitals.”

Lindsey said area hospitals participating in the NILMDTS program include Grant Regional Health Care in Lancaster, Upland Hills Health in Dodgeville, Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon, Iowa, as well as Gundersen and Mayo in La Crosse. She said she has approached Crossing Rivers Health in Prairie du Chien about adding its name to the list, as a health care center referring families for this service.

According to the NILMDTS’ website, the services are available for parents experiencing a newborn infant loss. If a baby is under 25 weeks gestation, then photographers would consult with medical personnel to help them determine if they can capture professional images of the tiny babies.

Through the program, each family receives a set of images with a license for use, which allows them to have the pictures printed by a photo lab at their own cost. A standard session produces a number of sensitively retouched, black and white or sepia tone, digital images delivered on a CD or via an email delivery program within six to eight weeks on average. If the family requests, most photographers are able to email a few images to the family within a few days in time for a memorial service or funeral.

Lindsey and other NILMDTS’ affiliated photographers are dedicated to making photography sessions as loving, sensitive and private as possible. The photographers graciously donate their time and talents at no cost.

“Typically, it’s the babies, moms and dads, siblings and grandparents who are part of the photos,” Lindsey said. “I cry every time. It’s a difficult moment for everyone involved but I know that I’m doing a good thing. I would want those pictures. It can be an important part of the grieving process.”

The NILMDTS website states, “While parents sometimes, at first, don’t think about receiving images of their baby, they are almost always thankful they did.” The family doesn’t have to look at the photographs right away, but they will be there if and when they are ready. The portraits will last for generations and will honor and remember a tiny life that is forever loved and cherished.

“The word is getting out there,” Lindsey added. “I just want people to know the service is available if they need it. They have to know about it for me to help.”

Lindsey has been recognized for her work with NILMDTS by the Dodgeville-based Babies Gone Too Soon group, which is made up of parents who’ve all experienced infant loss. The group holds fundraisers in the Dodgeville area and donates toward memorial services and other needs of families going through the loss of a baby.

During a Babies Gone Too Soon Auction for Angels fundraiser, Lindsey was presented an appreciation plaque and a $1,000 award she has donated back to Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.

“I couldn’t believe they gave that to me. I was so grateful,” Lindsey said.

“I volunteer my photography because I want to help families who are going through this. To know that I can give them something at such an emotional point in their lives really means something to me.”

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