My Rainbow Baby, Riley

Written by: Gina A.

My rainbow baby story is a little different than most. I had what is called a partial miscarriage. So, although I suffered a miscarriage, I gave birth to a healthy baby girl in the same pregnancy. 

My husband and I had fertility struggles and it was finally decided that in vitro was our only option. We were a success story by getting pregnant on our first try and with twins. We were beyond excited and a little bit scared. Because of my age (mid thirties) my doctor wanted to do several ultrasounds. At 12 weeks, everything was perfect. At my 16 week ultrasound, everything changed. I’ll never forget seeing the baby on the monitor and knowing something wasn’t right. The baby was not moving. My doctor, who was doing the ultrasound, silently moved over to the other baby. That baby was significantly larger than the other one and was very active. He didn’t have to say anything for me to know what happened. I will say that my doctor was a very caring and compassionate man and he so gently told me one of my babies had died and that I had done nothing wrong. He assured me that it was a genetic abnormality that prevented the fetus from developing. There was nothing I could have done to prevent it. 

I had to drive about a half hour home alone. My husband had taken so much time off work for all of the fertility treatments that I went to this appointment alone. I cried all the way home. 

I remember my doctor telling me that my pregnancy could go either way. My body could recognize the miscarriage and I would lose the other baby. Or it would recognize that I was still pregnant.

The next few weeks were emotional and scary for sure. But after a while, we knew that it would be ok. I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl at 40 weeks. The only sign of the other baby was a black spot on my placenta. My body had absorbed the other fetus. 

My daughter is 12 now and surprisingly I had 2 other children with no fertility treatments.  I often think of the baby I lost but am so grateful and blessed for the baby I got to have. 

I know mothers who have had single miscarriages and complete loss of twins. Those experiences are devastating and mine cannot compare. Although my experience was very sad, I still got to give birth after my miscarriage. I don’t know how common this is but I’m sure it happens often. I do consider my daughter a rainbow baby because she survived after a miscarriage. It just all happened in the same pregnancy.

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Gina is a wife and mama to 3 tiny humans. Her and her family live in sunny SoCal. They enjoy hiking and being in the great outdoors together. To read more from Gina, click here.