Melinda and Daniel’s journey to holding baby Winnie is filled with heartbreak and joy.
In Melinda’s words… after ‘a few months, finally we were pregnant and we were so so happy. I had the worst morning sickness! I was so excited to share the news with everyone but we waiting for the 12 week mark, I don’t know why I was itching to share it but I was!!
We were in QLD and we took beautiful reveal pictures on the beach and I couldn’t wait to share them. We got home and I had my 12 weeks scan, after this scan I was going to upload them.
My partner said to his daughter (my step daughter) ‘look can you see the baby looking up on the screen’ and the lady just looked at me and said ‘sorry there’s no heart beat’ and I would have to go straight to the hospital. With no pre-bleeding or any hint that this would happen the shock was massive; I didn’t even really understand what she had said to me. We were heartbroken.”
Melinda and Daniel tried again and fell pregnant for the second time. This time, Melinda was a lot more ‘numb’. Given her first experience, she was worried that at any time without warning she would loose her baby and unfortunately their second bub stopped growing and they mourned another loss.
Their third pregnancy took the longest to conceive, which gave them time to be truly ready. They were also armed with a diagnosis to explain the two miscarriages, a clotting disorder that required daily injections throughout pregnancy. They listened to Winnie’s heartbeat every two weeks and as the weeks passed they grew more and more confident. Winnie arrived in the world at 5.33am on May 30th 2019 surrounded by love with her mama, daddy and big sister Addison (oh and pup Prince).
Winnie is a Rainbow Baby – a beautiful bright rainbow appearing in the midst of the darkness and clouds. A Rainbow Baby is a baby welcomed into a family after there has been a loss experienced due to miscarriage, still birth or premature birth and is the understanding that the beauty of a rainbow does not negate the ravages of the storm. When the rainbow appears it does not mean the storm never happened, or the family is not still dealing with its aftermath.
Unfortunately, Melinda and Daniel’s story happens to many families around the world. It is estimated that 1 in 4 pregnancies will result in a miscarriage (most likely higher due to early miscarriages in the first few weeks). Someone you know has experienced this. But many people do not feel that they can share this with the world. This is something I want to change. It is why I started the Rainbow Baby Initiative.
You can read more about the Initiative here.
Thank you Melinda and Daniel for allowing me to share your story, to initiate the discussion on infant loss.
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