Minnesota couple experiences pain, grace in their newborn's death

Published: 2008-02-14

FERTILE, Minn. (CNS) -- April and Aaron Swenby experienced both pain and grace when they delivered their baby, Austin John, who lived for only 11 minutes before dying in his mother's arms. Four months before he was born, doctors told the Swenbys the baby had anencephaly, a neural tube birth defect, and would not survive. Rather than abort the baby, the couple, who are parishioners at St. Joseph in Fertile, named the baby, celebrated his life in the womb and incorporated him into everything they did as a family. And when he was born they received a grace-filled gift, said Father Bob Schreiner, rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Crookston. "They didn't deny the pain of Good Friday," he told Our Northland Diocese, newspaper of the Diocese of Crookston. "They sat in stillness with Holy Saturday, and they experienced the power of redemption and resurrection on Easter Sunday when Austin was born."

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