A rainbow signifies different things to different people, but to many it means new beginnings because the rainbow appears when the sun pushes through the clouds after rain.
A rainbow baby then, refers to a baby born after a miscarriage, a stillbirth, a neonatal death or infant loss. Many parents rally around the term as a way to share their stories of loss, and to celebrate the babies that follow.
Professional US photographer Samantha Packer took this incredible photo of a rainbow baby, surrounded by the many, many discarded syringes that led to her conception.
Captioned '4 years, 7 attempts, 3 miscarriages, and 1,616 shots' the pic quickly went viral on Facebook, and many mothers shared their own stories and photographs in the comments.
See some of the heartwarming photos below:
"This is my IVF baby!!! We were fortunate to get pregnant on our first try with IVF, so we didn’t have that many needles.. so I thought this would be a heart touching picture! The picture right by her head was her embryo picture" - Mandy
The journey of the pregnancy after the IVF shots (Photo supplied by mom Mandy)
"This is my Lovenox love shot pic. I wish I could’ve done it with a professional like yours! It’s beautiful!" - Stephanie
This mom had to take one round of the shots (Photo supplied by mom Stephanie)
"This is our rainbow baby!!! We lost two babies and both of my tubes before we started our IVF journey. Our first round of IVF failed but was able to freeze one embryo 11 months later we went through the frozen embryo cycle and transferred that embryo." - Christina
A rainbow baby after losing two babies ( Photo supplied by mom Christina)
"This was her newborn picture but she’s a 15-month healthy baby girl now". - Sarah
LoveNox shots (Photo supplied by mom Sarah)
"All I can say it eek.... all those Lovenox shots!!!! That is the most painful shot ever and can't wait till I can finally stop mine" - Heather
Mom still was still taking the shots (Photo supplied by mom Heather)
"This is beautiful. This was my announcement in 2016; we were fortunate to have success in our first IVF & currently doing another IVF to give her a sibling" - Dianna
The ice age shirt symbolizes her frozen embryos before transfer (Photo supplied by mom Dianna)
Such beautiful photos of hope, and of beauty after the storm.
Compiled for Parent24 by Sinaye Mvumbi
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