Photos mark infants lost at birth

HARLINGEN — When Gerard Rohrbough walks into his house, his baby’s face fills his heart.

“That’s the first picture I see, so we never forget him,” said Rohrbough, a U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement officer.

The photographs remind Rohrbough and his wife, Laura, of the son who died more than a year ago, just hours after he was born.

“It brings back good memories of that day. It gives me a reminder that my son was here, that he was real. It’s something I can hold on to and embrace.”

Doctors did not expect little Frank George to live long after he was born Oct. 7, 2008.

A hospital chaplain, Joe G. Jaime, called a volunteer with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, a Colorado-based organization that works with hospitals to take photographs for parents whose babies die shortly after they’re born.

The photographs help families through the grieving process, Jaime said.

“The picture gives them something to hold on to, that they can go back to,” Jaime said. “It validates the life that is sacred. It’s important that the parents have something. The Bible says, ‘Blessed are they who mourn for they shall be comforted.’”

Janine Campbell, who took the pictures of Frank George, also took the photographs that fill the scrapbook Christy Pohler keeps with the memories of her baby.

“As a new mother, I wanted to have something to show her off. It’s wonderful to walk into a place and show what I made — a new baby. I couldn’t have that, so I wanted to have that memory of her,” Pohler, a homemaker, said.

“It’s good to remember how beautiful she was. This is our daughter. This is our family.”

For more than a year, hospital chaplains have called Campbell to take photographs for parents who want to hold on to their memories.

“It’s a huge part of who I am,” said Campbell, who runs JMLV Photography studio in Harlingen.

About two years ago, Campbell tuned into a TV talk show to find out about Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.

“It started with the desire to allow my talent to be used for something bigger than myself,” Campbell said.

The organization trained her for the work in Houston, she said.

“This organization plays a huge part in helping a parent heal,” Campbell said. “It’s an honor to be invited to that moment. It’s such a delicate moment and (parents) invite you to photograph the moment. The fear is that the pictures won’t be good enough.”

Campbell said she takes black-and-white photographs of the family and baby for about 15 minutes.

“I try to remain as anonymous as possible,” she said. “It’s not easy. If I start crying I’m empathizing with the family.”

In the Rio Grande Valley, Campbell is one of four photographers who helps Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, said Shana Hensley, a spokeswoman for the organization.

The organization formed four years ago and works with about 7,000 professional photographers in 25 countries, Hensley said.

In the Valley, the organization can take photographs for families at Valley Baptist Medical Center, Harlingen Medical Center, Mission Regional Hospital, McAllen Medical Center, Doctors Hospital at Renaissance and Rio Grande Regional Hospital, Henley said.

Chaplains ask parents if they want photographs of their babies who doctors believe will die at birth, Jaime said.

At Valley Baptist Medical Center, nurses took photographs for families whose babies died after birth, registered nurse Shannon Palmos said.

Now the hospital’s chaplains call Campbell to take photographs, Palmos said.

“She’s real quiet and gentle. She just puts everybody at ease,” Palmos said. “She’s got the eye and artistic nature. The photographer can make it beautiful, positioning the baby just right to have the parent hold it.”

For Gerard and Laura Rohrbough, Campbell photographed Frank George’s baptism before he died, his father said.

“It helps with coping with what happened and helps with closure,” Rohrbough said. “Looking at the pictures gives us a calmness.”

Some of Campbell’s photographs fill portraits in his home. Others he carries in his wallet, he said.

“It gives me a good feeling to know he’s not suffering and God called him to heaven and he’s safe in Jesus’ arms,” Rohrbough said. “He was sent to us for a brief time so we could get to know him and he’s an angel watching over us.”

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Fernando del Valle is a reporter at the Valley Morning Star in Harlingen.