MISSing Angels Bill gives a voice to state stillborns

8/2/2006
By ADAM ARMOUR
Staff Writer

A book of both sad and happy memories rested on the table, opened to a page holding a photograph of a beautiful baby boy. He looked to be asleep — eyes pressed gently closed, a wispy tuft of hair atop his small head and a face that looked like his father’s.

Christian Keith Credille was Stacy and Randy Credille’s first child. When Stacy traveled to the hospital to give birth, an entire collection of family and friends came to show their support. Everything was ready for little Christian — a cradle in his parents’ bedroom, a decorated room of his own, his mother had even pulled the tags off of all his baby clothes in anticipation of his arrival.

“I expected a perfectly healthy baby; I had no reason not to expect that,” Stacy said, lightly turning the pages of the book. “I knew something was really bad wrong, but I didn’t know how bad. I thought something was going to be wrong with his lungs or that he wouldn’t be breathing, something like that, but I believed everything was going to be OK.

“Once he was delivered, they took him to the warming tray and immediately tried to revive him. I could see them over [across the room] working on him while the doctor was working on me. About 18 minutes later, the neonatologist came over and told me he was sorry, but there was nothing else he could do.”

Sadly, Christian, born on July 26, 2000, passed away before he even had a chance to open his eyes — one of approximately 400 stillborn babies born in Mississippi each year. Piecing together this large book — bound with pages and pages of photographs, stories and poems chronicling Stacy’s joyful pregnancy and the sadness following her son’s birth — is what has helped hold together her broken heart.

Although the book is Credille’s official documentation of Christian’s life, the State of Mississippi has no such thing. Mississippi is one of 37 states that does not issue birth certificates to the parents of stillborn children. No official record of Christian’s birth is kept by the state and no data regarding the cause of his death is recorded. To the State of Mississippi, Christian does not exist.

But Credille is working to change this. Teaming with her cousin and close friend, Emily O’Neal, Credille is pushing legislation that would allow parents of stillborn children the option of receiving a birth certificate, providing aching mothers and fathers tangible evidence of their child’s existence to help the healing process.

“We’re trying to bring some dignity to these children,” O’Neal said, citing that stillbirths take the lives of more infants than all other causes combined — approximately 39,000 each year. “These figures do not count in the tally of infant mortality rates … These children are not given a voice or any respect; they are not considered people.”

O’Neal added that, because these children were not officially born, the government does not use the stillborn mortality rate in any form of statistical medical research. Additionally, the cause of stillbirth is largely unknown.

The women were inspired by the work of the Mothers in Sympathy and Support (M.I.S.S.) organization, which has worked since 1994 to provide stillborn babies with birth certificates. To date, the MISSing Angels Bill is accepted in 13 states, and O’Neal and Credille plan to make Mississippi the 14th.

“Most people are not aware that parents are not offered a certificate for their stillborn babies,” Credille said. “The people whom I’ve talked to about this have shown overwhelming support.”

According to the bill, parents of stillborn babies will be given the option of receiving a “Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth” recording the birth of the child. The law will be retroactive for a window of two years, allowing parents like Credille to receive the same. Fees for this certificate will match those of a “Certificate of Live Birth,” so there should be no additional costs to the state.

According to O’Neal, support for their cause has snowballed quickly. After talking to Rep. Steve Holland, who has pledged his support of the bill and agreed to have it drafted, O’Neal said that the plan is to have the bill presented for legislation in the House of Representatives in January.

O’Neal has also received a letter of support from the office of Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck and is working to contact Rep. Bill Miles and Rep. Alan Nunnelee.

“It feels like we’re getting support not just from the local community but from all professional and political areas,” O’Neal said. “It seems like, since this thing has started, that all of the doors have just opened for us.”

Working together with their leaders and community, O’Neal and Credille hope to continue opening these doors until legislation is passed recognizing these children. They are asking anyone they can to write their officials in support of the MISSing Angels Bill.

“It’s hard to speak for a child who has no voice, and that’s basically what we’re trying to do,” O’Neal said. “But all those hurdles that I expected to have to jump have really come to meet us at the starting line.”

To Credille, whose son inspired this movement, the certificate would help bring a sense of closure to her grief.

“It’s a way of recognizing his life and acknowledging that he existed in this world,” Credille said. “I think about him everyday … The grief is still there, to some degree, but it’s been six years since he died and each day gets a little easier. I think this will help, to have something tangible to hold onto to remember him by.”

In the back of her book of sad and happy memories, there is an empty space, waiting.

Appeared originally in the Itawamba County Times, 8/2/2006, section A , page 1

The M.I.S.S. Foundation is a nonprofit, 501(c)3, international organization which provides immediate and ongoing support to grieving families, empowerment through community volunteerism opportunities, public policy and legislative education, and programs to reduce infant and toddler death through research and education.