Mum donates wedding dress to be turned into 'angel gowns' for babies that have died

A mum has donated her wedding dress so that it could be turned into 'angel dresses' - little gowns small enough to fit babies that have sadly passed away.

Justi Underwood Bates, from Kentucky in the US, revealed that she decided to give away the dress she wore on her special day in a Facebook post.

Together with a picture of the small angel dresses, Justi wrote: 'Today I received my wedding gown back. I sent it off earlier this year to be made into angel gowns for babies that don't make it home from the hospital and I'll be donating them to the NICU at Vanderbilt.

'17 little gowns were made from my dress and as beautiful as they are I pray they are never needed.'

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10208952295217028&set=a.1580648348536.2082365.1005480004&type=3&theater

The lovely gesture went viral as the post was shared nearly 190,000 times, and Justi said it's inspired other women to do the same.

'I was not expecting it to blow up like this but the messages from people wanting to do the same just keep pouring in', she wrote in the comments.

'The response is unbelievable! I've literally gotten hundreds of messages either from people wanting to do the same or people who just want to share their story of their loss and how they wish their hospital had had angel gowns. I have so many emotions going on right now.'

Many people took to Facebook to praise her for the selfless act of kindness, which could make a real difference to parents who have to go through the pain of losing their child.

One user said: 'You have such a beautiful heart! Bless you for doing this for the families that will have to endure the unthinkable'; while a second wrote: ''What an amazing idea! I've never heard of them using wedding gowns before.'

Another commented: 'This is amazing I never even heard of angel gowns before this. Such a great and amazing thing you did and hopefully inspired many more to do the same. It probably means a lot to the parents that receive these in such a horrible situation it probably brings some amount of joy to them.'

A fourth said: 'A lot of women keep their wedding dress for keepsake so for you to give yours to parents that lose their baby is a blessing.'