Photographs

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. --Genesis 1:27

It can be worrisome thinking about retrieving your baby for burial. One of the problems is knowing what you're looking for. If your baby is sixteen weeks gestation then there's no problem recognizing him. It's a different story if you're six weeks. Looking on the internet for photographs to aid you is a sticky business because you're likely to come across things you'd rather not have seen. I have culled the internet for some photographs of babies at each week gestation and have included sizes if the baby is not in a recognizable context. A heartfelt "thank you" to all of the women who have graciously allowed me to post photographs of their babies. [You may notice that some of these are "stock photos". If you have natural photographs of your baby and would feel ok with them being included on this page, I would be grateful to hear from you.]

[Important note on recognizing the baby: Depending on how long it has been since the baby died, you may see something different in terms of the sac. Usually the amount of amniotic fluid decreases over time so depending on how much there was to start with, you may or may not see a nice, full "bubble". In addition (and this is important), the uterus will form a clot around the sac/baby as time goes on. This means that you may deliver the baby in the sac very obviously, or you may deliver a sac with a clot attached, or you may deliver what appears to be a large clot or placenta but which is actually the sac enclosed in a clot. Especially if you feel as though you are completing the miscarriage but haven't seen the sac, check inside the large clots. This sounds gross, but it will feel a little different when you are looking for your baby. The clot will be on the sac, not the baby (all things being equal) so you will still be able to remove the baby from the sac if you so desire. When my first son was born his sac had a large clot attached. It covered about 1/3 of the surface. When my second son was born there was no clot attached at all.]

Four Weeks (four weeks gestation is counting from your last menstrual period and is about the earliest most people realize they're pregnant)
and Five Weeks:

I was unable to find a decent photograph. At this stage you may not recognize the baby for what it is. You may see a very small whitish or greyish piece of tissue, possibly with a cord attached, probably in a fluid-filled sac. You will also probably have heavy bleeding with clots. It can be difficult to retrieve the baby at this stage.

Four Weeks: 1/8 inch long (source)

Five weeks, 2 days: (source)

Six Weeks

approximately 0.5 cm (source)

Seven Weeks 

approximately 1 cm (source)

Eight Weeks

(These pictures are of Bethany's baby, Blessing)

(These pictures are of Lisanne's baby, Shiloh Rune. [Story])

Shiloh is in the middle of the photograph inside the sac, right on the edge.

Next to the sac

Nine Weeks

(This is Linda's baby, Kateri (9.5 weeks))

(This is Candy's baby, Kendall (9 weeks, 5 days)) [story]

Ten Weeks  (Shelley's baby, Mason)

Eleven Weeks (Eliane's baby, Noah) (Noah looks closer to 13 weeks leading me to think that he was 11 weeks from conception, not LMP)

Twelve Weeks

(This is Andrew [story]. He was 13 weeks but appeared closer to 12.)

9 cm, 1 ounce

(This is Innocent [story]. He was 12 weeks 5 days.)

 Thirteen Weeks (Amanda's baby, Rowan)


approximately 7 cm

Fourteen Weeks

Fifteen Weeks (Amelia's baby, Micah)

(Micah's legs are resting on his belly; you can see the stump of his cord in the middle.)

Sixteen Weeks

         (This is Diana's baby, Owen (16wks,3d))

(This is Jennifer's baby, Ava May (approx 16wks but may be younger))

4.5 in or 12 cm

A view of Ava still in the sac with the placenta behind.

Seventeen Weeks 

(This is Morgan's baby, Emerson (17 weeks, 3 days): "Induced after we found out his heart had stopped within the previous 24 hours. He was born with his cord wrapped three times around his neck.")

160g (5.6 oz) , roughly 9" long

(I do not have permission to post these pictures, but there is a lovely series of photographs of Gene and Melodie's son, Caleb at this link. They have graciously allowed me to link back to them.)


Eighteen Weeks
     (Diana's baby, Sophia (17 weeks, 5 days))

     (Natasha's baby, Jeremiah)

Nineteen Weeks (Amanda's baby, Levi)

Thirty Weeks: (Melissa's baby, Calypso (29 wks, 5 d))

(Note: Calypso was born alive and lived for 23 days before entering Heaven.)

13 inches, 3 lbs, 1.9 oz

Thirty-three Weeks: (Trish's baby, Evelyn [story])

Full Term: (Kara's baby, Evan)

(Both photos taken by Captiv8ed Photography)

**Please note that these photographs are of people's children, no matter how small. If you wish to use one of these photos for any reason, please contact me or the originator of the photograph (always linked) before you do. I have had many requests to repost photos of Innocent and others and I have no problem with that if they are not used in an exploitative way or for someone's profit. But do please ask first because it can cause a lot of pain for a parent to come across their child's photo when they are not prepared for it. Thank you.**

Here are some sites that have parent-submitted photographs of still-born and miscarried babies. The majority are later gestation but there are a few earlier gestation. These sites generally feature portrait type photographs.

Missing Angel Foundation (This site is primarily of later gestation to full-term babies.)
Stillborn Angels (This site has a few more early gestation babies.)
Stillbirthday (This page has been recently created and has babies classified by gestational age, similar to this page)

[Additional note: There are frequent visitors from pages containing arguments that an X week baby does not look like a baby (and therefore is fine to kill). Look at this logically: We all start from two cells. How can two cells look like a three month old? Those cells divide and divide etc. and eventually you can see the beginning of eyes and arm and leg buds (not to mention the complex workings inside). The ad hominem argument that is most frequently used is this: "Such and such model of a tiny baby doesn't look exactly like the real thing therefore all pre-born babies are fine to kill." Because the nose on a silicone model, used to give people the idea of what a baby at X weeks looks like, is slightly more prominent than on the actual baby doesn't mean the entire model is a figment of someone's imagination. If anyone has any doubt about what an 8 or 10 or 12 week baby looks like, you need only look at the photographs above. If you're trying to convey this information to someone else, I ask that you please do not copy the photograph, just link back to this page. Thank you.]