Volunteer

So a few months back I was on facebook and I am in a group called Chicks with cameras and I saw that a girl named Terra was asking that people sign up to volunteer for an organization called Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. Its a non profit organization where professional photographers give there time to provide photography for families suffering a loss of a baby. I thought that is so sad and something that I could never do. Well after a couple of weeks of always having it on the back of my mind I decided to give it a go. Luckily I had ten auxillary light photos and ten natural light photos to send in and then waited for approval. A few weeks later I was approved and not a couple of days later got a text to go and take pictures of a little twin girl who was 32 weeks old. I was extremely nervous, like feeling like I was going to throw up as I drove down to the University of Utah hospital. Things went good and I was able to get some pictures in the NICU with the mom and the twins together. I thought I would be a wreck but I was completely surprised to find that not only did I not fall apart but I was able to take a step back and just get the job done. 
     I consider myself to be a people person and have such a love for all types of people but doing this has made me realize that I can also be very sympathetic and try my best to make these families feel loved and supported through this hard time in their life, even if I am only with them for a short time. I have been awakened to the fact that babies die all the time and that was hard for me at first. My phone gets text after text some days and it can be a little unsettling. 
     I have had some great experiences and others that were just very sad. I was taking pictures of a sweet baby boy who was just taken off life support and as soon as I wrapped that up I was asked if I could stay and take some for a family that would also like some. I knew I needed to stay and then the nurse led me to another room where the sweetest family was. The father immediately embraced me and told me how thankful he was that I was already at the hospital and could help them get some pictures of their beautiful baby boy. He was absolutely beautiful wrapped in his mothers arms. I could feel the love radiating from the mother to her child and the husband to his wife and baby. I am always thankful that I know about the Plan of Salvation. What I wreck I would be and probably could not do this if I didn't know what happens after death. The picture above is of this sweet baby and his parents loving hands holding his tiny little hand in their own. As you can see I will not mention names for their privacy. A week later I received this card from the parents.


Dear Heather,

Thank you so much for taking pictures of our baby. He was just with us just one short hour. Thank you for preserving the memory of that sweet time. It was awesome to feel his spirit and to love on him and hold him. The pictures are priceless treasures that can never be recreated. How can we thank you for that gift ? You did a beautiful job and we are forever grateful to you. God bless you! With thankful hearts .......


Life is full of experiences and sometimes we need to get out of our comfort zones to have rewarding experiences and things that make us stronger. This is definetely out of my comfort zone. I am nervous every time I am on my way to a hospital. There is no retakes or second chances which can make things pretty stressful. There is times that I don't want to do it anymore and times where the nightmares make me question what it is that I'm doing. For the record I have only had one but it was not fun. I hope that I can continue because if anything it makes me appreciate life and my wonderful family. Kevin has been so supportive of me and I am so grateful. If this is something that you could do, we always need volunteers so give me a call.