Maggie Janssen volunteers to make dresses, suits, bunting bags, hats and booties for a special group of babies.
The tears shed as the outfit goes on and photographs are taken are tears of grief and goodbye. The babies that wear the Prince George seamstress' outfits died, while in their mother's womb or shortly after they were born.
"When moms come to pick up the clothing we always have a good cry," Janssen says, with a soft smile. "Some moms will come to me and say 'but the baby was not to term' and I look at them and say 'but it was a baby, sweetheart, it's a baby' and I hold them and we bawl for 20 minutes. We have a good cry and we talk."
Janssen has a Facebook page called Angel Gowns by Maggie, so people can find her if they need her.
"I want people to know that if they are in that situation that I'm here," she says, glancing at her antique treadle Singer sewing machine she uses on occasion.
Stillborn babies at all stages of gestation and neonatal deaths -babies who die shortly after birth - are not as rare as one might think.
There was 131.4 neonatal deaths per 1,000 during the fiscal year from April 1, 2014 and
March 31, 2015 within the Northern Health Authority region, according to a report provided by Perinatal Services BC.
Janssen endured several miscarriages during her first trimesters and said she understands the pain experienced by mothers who lose their babies.
Janssen, who's been married to Peter for 43 years, now has two adult sons and they each have two children of their own.
About six years ago, Janssen met a lady who knit and crocheted little hats and wraps for dead babies. She quickly got on board to join the cause for three years, but it just got too expensive for her to continue.
Then, she connected with another lady who created dresses and suits for dead babies out of donated wedding gowns.
Janssen reached out to the original founder who provided the service, Michelle Matthews from Washington.
"Michelle was a nurse and she told me she had gotten tired of babies going to the morgue wrapped in paper or wrapped in just a towel so one day she went home and got out her wedding dress and cut it up and sewed the garments and took those back to work," Janssen says.
She rises from the sofa and makes her way over to a box she has on a shelf.
"This is where it gets really emotional, these are for the really tiny, tiny, tiny babies," she says, gently cradling an empty bunting bag as if there were already a premie in it. The wrap is about six inches long from the top of the flannelette lined satin hood to the beribboned bottom. She gently strokes the garment and sighs.
Janssen takes a deep breath to shake herself out of her reverie.
"This is not one of those conversations you can have at the coffee table," she admits. "A lot of people don't like it."
Even though it is an emotional subject and Janssen volunteers her extraordinary sewing skills to this most difficult task, there's a simple reason why she chooses to do it over and over again.
"I love people."
In her living room, there's a wardrobe filled with tiny gowns and suits lined up back to back on tiny hangers waiting for mothers to choose as the first and last garment their baby will ever wear.
The gowns that Janssen offers to mothers and donates to the hospital just have ties in the back so as not to make the garment any more complicated than it needs to be.
These gowns are what Janssen calls resting garments, that the babies are buried in. She says they are not meant for mothers to keep but instead for them to take comfort in knowing the baby is going to his or her final resting place in a gown made with love.
Janssen has a variety of gowns to choose from and many of the bodices are embellished with rhinestones and pearls.
"I've always loved the sparkle," Janssen says with a gleam in her eyes. "I always wanted to be Elvis's tailor. That was my dream."
She takes a breath.
"It's not always tears here, we can laugh, too."
With every gown, Janssen creates she prays for the family and their lost baby.
"It's not just a gown, this is for an infant," said Janssen. "It's about a mother's love and to me it's all for the love of a child and each one leaves us on angel's wings."
