Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep's mission is to introduce remembrance photography to parents suffering the loss of a baby with a free gift of professional portraiture. They train, educate, and mobilize professional quality photographers to provide beautiful heirloom portraits to families facing the untimely death of an infant.
It was founded in 2005 by Cheryl Haggard when her son, Maddux Achilles Haggard, was born with a condition called myotubular myopathy. As they state on their website, the condition prevented him from breathing, swallowing or moving on his own. On the sixth day of his young life, Cheryl and her husband Mike had to make the excruciating decision to take him off life support. Before they did, they called photographer Sandy Puc' to take photos of them with their son before and after he was off life support. "That night was the worst night of my life. But when I look at the images, I am not reminded of my worst night. I'm reminded of the beauty and blessings he brought," said Cheryl.
Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep now exists to support and comfort people during this incredibly difficult time, and they kindly shared some of their gorgeous, touching photographs with us.
Baby Ava; photographer Chris Paulis
Baby Barrett; photographer Cliff Lawson
Baby Beckett; photographer Heather Lombardo
Baby Braylen; photographer Olivia Grey Pritchard
Baby Christopher; photographed by Vicki Zoller
Baby Davin; photographed by Amy Hales
Baby Eliana; photographed by Steve Babin
Baby Isabella; photographed by Mary Louise Delano
Baby Jailah; photographed by Tim Cobb
Baby Kupono; photographed by Karl Hedburg
Baby Jase; photographed by Burt Rich
Baby Maddux; photographed by Sandy Puc'
Baby Rowan; photographed by Jennifer Brown
Baby Logan; photographed by Julie Williams
The picture at the top of the post is Baby Alexander, photographed by Shelly Kroeger.
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