Loving Parents and Babies Both

A matching set of kimonos for 20-week
infants. The outfits are about 6.5" tall, or a
little shorter than an adult's hand.

Since 2011, an organization called Teeny Tears has existed specifically to provide clothing for infants too small for infant and preemie clothing available in stores. Thus far, over 130,000 tiny handmade diapers have been donated by volunteers and over 1,000 hospitals have been served. The mission is to share hope and encouragement for those suffering infant bereavement.
About 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage (loss of the baby before the 20th week), and of those, 75% end within the first trimester. 1% of pregnancies end in stillbirth (infant loss after 20 weeks). That means that there are countless women who have undergone infant loss, and most of them are suffering in silence. This is particularly true for the mothers of the children lost in the first trimester, who often feel as if they are not allowed to grieve.
Talking about death is always uncomfortable, and the fact that miscarriage often occurs when a child is considered “not viable” (unable to survive outside of a mother’s womb) means that many people feel like no one will understand their grief. After all, a common response to an infant death is something along the lines of, “There was probably something wrong with it,” or “It’s probably for the best.”
As anyone knows who has dealt with grief, responses like this do not help; rather they make the grieving person feel invalidated—but grief doesn’t work like that. No matter how tiny, frail, and helpless an infant is, even when he is the size of a pea or a baby carrot, families who have lost children still feel grief. That infant, no matter how small, is a part of the family.
Many women who volunteer for Teeny Tears have personal stories either of leaving brokenhearted with nothing or of leaving with some comfort with pictures, footprints and tiny diapers. The women all remember their experiences vividly, either with grief and regret when they were given nothing or with gratitude and even joy with those who experienced compassion and understanding from hospital staff and volunteers.
I have personally been involved in this and other related organizations for some years, and my specialty is knitting kimonos for infants between the ages of 16-22 weeks’ gestation (around 4-5 months). There are no clothes or diapers that can fit these tiny angels who can fit in the palm of a hand.

A pair of outfits for boys between
20-22 weeks' gestation.

The unconditional love expressed by those involved in organizations such as Teeny Tears, though, is sharply contrasted with the apathy and even cruelty of organizations such as Planned Parenthood. Instead of cherishing and nourishing an infant’s life and celebrating each day, abortion clinics fuel fear, worry, and self-interest. Parents feel that they can’t bear the burdens, that this isn’t the right time, that it would be best for the child not to live. And so fragile infants are poisoned, dismembered and crushed in the name of love and parenthood.
The nation has been shocked in the past week by the release of two videos. Each video has been released twice: once in a full unedited version and once in a much shorter edited version. Both Dr. Deborah Nucatola and Dr. Mary Gatter are Planned Parenthood clinic directors and abortion doctors, and they were filmed by undercover operatives discussing the sale of aborted fetal organs for profit.
I have been absolutely appalled by the most recent developments with Planned Parenthood, but it really should come as no surprise. After all, when a life is devalued-- but the cost of its parts go up, even the most innocent and helpless life is threatened. Death is not more merciful than life, no matter how hard that life is.
That is why organizations like Teeny Tears exist. They seek to cherish life and to comfort families, leaving them with more than empty hands when they leave the hospital. Teeny Tears is also founded in hope—hope that all infants will know they are loved and may meet their families, and also hope that they will live. They leave families with some measure of joy and remembrance and peace, even in the midst of their heartbreak and grief.

Several kimonos for girls, a blanket, and several diaper sets. Diapers are donated in matching sets so that parents may
keep one and dress their baby in the other in the case of bereavement.