“For these children, we have prayed.”

It is the 2^nd day of October. Every month of the year has a different remembrance theme and October is pregnancy and infant loss awareness month. As some of you know a few years ago, I started a documentary to raise awareness of pregnancy and infant loss not just at the early stages of pregnancy but ANY stage of pregnancy. As part of that documentary, I followed and told the story of multiple women who had gone through varying degrees of infertility or miscarriage to help others understand that there are so many that go through it and that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. As this is the beginning of another October, I am going to start by telling some more rainbow baby stories to again bring awareness to pregnancy and infant loss.

Last week, I had the pleasure of photographing a sweet family. The Mom, Tina, husband Alvaro and kids Kayla, Evan and Cecila were all super excited to celebrate the soon arrival of their twin babies.  Here is Tina’s story:

Tina and her husband met at a pool party when she was 11 and have been together pretty much ever sense. They got married after high school and had their older daughter and son and then the infertility happened. They are now expecting twins who are due literally any day.

After years of struggling with severe health issues and almost fatal car accident and health problems we found out we were expecting. Baby grew until 9/10 weeks, and I started spotting and having pain so went to see DR. The ultrasound showed the baby’s heartbeat stopped (we had just gone for ultrasound the day before that, and baby was doing great). We then started trying for another and again got pregnant but had another early loss and another … We were then put on fertility treatment and again had three more losses. My kids were so upset from the first one, so we tried not to tell them until after we were in the clear. After so many losses, the doctor changed my fertility treatment and added other meds and vitamins for conception. I got pregnant right away and went for first ultrasound and baby was doing great. They had me go back a week and a half after and to my surprise there were two in there this time. Somehow, I ended up ovulating twice (a week apart) and both babies stuck. We were in such shock but after 6 losses we were so happy and started our twin pregnancy journey.

Her favorite thing about the pregnancy is that she has always dreamed of having twins because she is a twin. They were both worried at first because of previous losses and health issues which made her very high risk for this pregnancy. They have made it to 35 weeks so far and everything is looking great!

The worst part about the pregnancy was “Very very high-risk pregnancy because of my health issues, I’ve been having to get weekly hydration / iv fluids and meds to keep blood pressure up as drops low. It’s been hard to walk / stand as I have severe back issues but staying positive and pushing forward.” She has pushed through, and the twins will be here very soon.

If she could go back in time to prepare her younger self for the losses, she went through she would tell her, “Everything happens for a reason and with god everything is possible. I know we will see the babies we lost again one day but until then I know my grandmother that raised me is watching over them in heaven.” What an amazing sentiment to share and so true! Those little ones will be watching over her and her family while they are here.

Losing 1 baby is hard, losing 2+ is even harder, especially when it happens in a row. To have so much hope and faith to keep trying is inspiring. Thank you, Tina, for sharing your story!