This summer, California couple Emily and Richard Staley went through one of the most devastating experiences parents can endure when Emily delivered a stillborn baby girl. But thanks to the help of one photographer, their tragedy might help break down the silence around the little-discussed topic of stillbirth.
After about eight months of pregnancy, Emily Staley had grown accustomed to her unborn daughter's energetic kicking, Fstoppers reports. So she knew something was wrong one morning when she didn't feel the baby moving at all. A hospital visit and ultrasound revealed the painful truth: Her baby had died in utero. Reeling from shock and grief, Staley arranged to deliver her stillborn daughter via C-section early the next morning, when Richard could be by her side. And, through the help of a friend, she arranged to have a photographer at the hospital to capture this important time for her family. This practice is not uncommon, as individual photographers and organizations like Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep have been providing "remembrance photography" to parents for many years.