A new daughter brings joy to a family of faith

    It was August 2012, and the heavens had opened at St. Louis Cemetery No. 3.
    As Regina and Kenny Heine of Metairie prepared to bury their infant daughter – Anne Grace Heine – they saw something that lightened the unimaginable gravity of the moment.
    With rain coming down in buckets, relatives released into the teeth of the summer thunderstorm 47 helium balloons – one balloon representing each minute that Anne Grace, who suffered from a rare genetic condition called full Trisomy 18, had lived before Regina, clutching her infant daughter to her chest, finally let her go.
    Neon pink balloons were flying everywhere, and a few needed a boost from Regina’s mother-in-law into the dark skies.
    Following the prayers of committal, Msgr. Andrew Taormina, pastor of St. Francis Xavier Church, hugged the couple and told them: “Call me for the baptism.”
    The Heines didn’t need an interpreter to figure out what he meant. He was telling them to call him when they had another child to baptize.
    As radio broadcast Paul Harvey might say, here’s the rest of the story:
    On Jan. 7 at 9:31 p.m. – about 16 months after Anne Grace’s death – Regina gave birth to Juliette Marie Heine at East Jefferson General Hospital.
    “God gave us another beautiful gift,” Regina said.
    Juliette’s momentous birth brought with it a flood of memories. Juliette had swallowed some amniotic fluid during the C-section delivery, and that meant an unplanned, one-week stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Although that condition is relatively common and not usually life-threatening, the Heines could not be blamed for being extremely anxious.
    “Obviously, when the baby had some complications, for both of us it brought a lot of fear and anxiety,” Regina said.
    A few months after Anne Grace had died, the Heines used her inked footprint to design two pieces of jewelry – one for Regina and one for Kenny – that would keep her memory close. So when the nurses asked if they had any religious articles they wanted to place with little Juliette in the NICU, Kenny took off the St. Ann medal he was wearing and gave it to the nurse, who looped it around a surgical mask and suspended it above Juliette’s head.
    “We knew that her big sister was watching over her,” Regina said.
    The Heines have one other daughter. Katharine just turned 3 in November, and she still has the picture of Anne Grace atop her dresser, where she can see it every morning, noon and night. The picture was taken by a volunteer photographer from an organization called Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, which offers its services to families faced with the prospect of imminent infant death. 
    “Katharine talks about Anne call the time,” Regina said. “She knows that her Sissy Anne is in heaven, and she can always pray to her Sissy Anne. She continues to be a part of our family. We continue to talk about her. And we will tell Juliette about her.”
    Regina said she has been amazed at the response to her willingness to share the story of her daughter’s death. She has received emails and cards from people across the world.
    “For us, it was such a natural thing to do as parents, but we had so many people telling us how beautiful the story was and how touched they were by it,” Regina said. “Truthfully, in this day and age, people just look for stories like that, where as sad as it was, it was a such a blessing for us. It gave something to our entire family, and it continues to give. My aunt actually commented that we got to hold an angel.
    “Anne’s story was that she was able to endure and overcome. Her presence graced us at birth, and her time on earth was special, as it is for every life. Every life has meaning, and every life has value. People relish in hearing stories like that.”
    The date for Juliette’s baptism is set – Feb. 22. Msgr. Taormina and Deacon Eddie Beckendorf, who baptized Anne Grace seconds after her birth in 2012, will both be present for the sacrament.
    “People have shared with us that they, too, had lost a child and had never really talked about it,” Regina said. “They said how moved and touched they were by our story, and that sharing that in some way helped them heal.”
    And now you know the rest of the story.
    Peter Finney Jr. can be reached at pfinney@clarionherald.org.