MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Out of every thousand live births in the U.S., about five infants die, and that doesn't include still births or miscarriages. Losing a baby is devastating. One woman in Utah is helping to ease the burden. Ciara Hulet from member station KUER reports.
CIARA HULET, BYLINE: The Nowell family lives in a small town south of Salt Lake City. Kristen's a dental hygienist, and Zak, a gym teacher. They have two young children, but their third child, Ayla, had a rare genetic disorder and only lived three months.
ZAK NOWELL: It's extremely difficult to go and dress someone that you love and then put them in a casket and bury them in the ground. That's damn tough.
HULET: But a unique burial gown made from a white wedding dress helped honor her life.
NOWELL: Seeing her dressed the way that she was - I mean, it still holds a significant value to me, you know, that it was just, like, that's my child. That's my baby.
HULET: This piece of burial clothing is called an angel gown. It was given to them for free. And between buying a burial plot and casket, meeting with doctors, paying the bills and worrying about their other kids, that dress lifted a big burden.
KRISTEN NOWELL: Really, for us, it was just an angel here on Earth just to help us find what we were needing, you know, at that time.
NOWELL: For sure. Even though you're still standing in fire - you're standing in the midst of this heat, and someone's willing to walk through it with you even though they have no investment in you personally.
HULET: The dress was made by Analane Powell in Provo, Utah. She's been creating angel gowns for five years. She does it for free, on her own time, outside of a full-time job.
(SOUNDBITE OF SEWING MACHINE WHIRRING)
HULET: In her craft room, Powell sews together parts of a wedding dress that's been cut into pieces.
ANALANE POWELL: Right now you'll hear the zigzag of the machine.
(SOUNDBITE OF SEWING MACHINE WHIRRING)
HULET: She says burial clothes for small babies aren't always readily available.
POWELL: It's very difficult to find the small sizes, like micro preemie, and so it is kind of a stressor for families to have to try to find that.
HULET: Powell has donated her angel gowns to many parts of the U.S. and even in four other countries. There are similar programs, but she says a lot of hospital workers she's met have never seen burial clothing like this before, so there's a great need.
POWELL: Losing a child is one of the hardest things a person can go through, and I want them to know that they're not alone.
HULET: Boys get little suits with a vest and small buttons. The dresses are all unique because Powell tries to make them look similar to the original wedding gown. All the wedding dresses come from donations.
POWELL: So these are the wedding dresses.
(SOUNDBITE OF FABRIC RUSTLING)
HULET: One of the gowns waiting to take on a new life is full of beads and sparkles. Emily Ruiz wore it 11 years ago.
EMILY RUIZ: You know, whoever made it, I felt like they just put so much love into it. It carried magic in its threads somehow. And I felt like it needs to get out again.
HULET: Ruiz hopes those threads will be healing for the families who wrap them around their lost child. But letting go was also healing for her. The dress came from her first marriage that ended in divorce.
RUIZ: And it felt really awesome to say, oh, gosh, there's a new purpose for this.
HULET: And she hopes the families who receive pieces of her dress will be able to feel the love from her. The Nowells did when they received the angel gown for Ayla, created from a different dress.
NOWELL: It's Ayla's life, and it's also that person that donated their wedding's dress life, it's Analane's life, and they're all stitched into this one dress.
HULET: Powell calls this the angel gown effect.
POWELL: It's a circle, and if it's - we're just helping each other. And while our grief may be very different, together, as a community, we're helping each other.
HULET: And she says that's a powerful thing. For NPR News in Provo, Utah, I'm Ciara Hulet.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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