Welcome to the very first post in the My rainbow baby blog series.

I have created this series in the wish that it will give hope to anyone who has experienced baby loss.

Little Miss H and Little Mister H are not the only rainbow babies. There are many of them. And I want to share the beautiful and poignant tales of these special little rainbows.

I am inviting others to tell these stories. To talk about these precious children in their own words. And I will collate them on my blog so that there is a shared space where these stories of hope are held.

 

I am honoured that today I am joined by Rachel from Mummy in training, who will be sharing the story of her identical twin daughters.

Rachel’s blog is lovely. She writes beautifully about life with her four-year old son, being a mummy to twin girls and her journey through parenthood.

She recently wrote a very touching post about her strength and how she finds the will to carry on.

You can also follow Rachel on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

I will now pass you over to Rachel.

My rainbow baby – Lydia’s story

A rainbow baby – a baby that brings a rainbow to your life after a storm. A storm of heartbreak, sadness and loss.

This couldn’t be truer for my little girl Lydia.

The day I found out I was having identical twins my heart burst with pride, joy, love, excitement and pure fear. How would I cope? How would I manage with my 4-year-old and two new babies? Even with all the worries I couldn’t wait to hold my precious girls.

Then at the end of July 2016 everything changed. One of my girls stopped kicking and before I knew it I was on an operating table having a c-section and delivering my beautiful babies.

My gorgeous Heidi was born sleeping and her younger sister by a minute, Lydia was rushed to Neonatal.

9 weeks later she came home and a rainbow appeared.

There are no words for the grief I felt losing my baby girl. But still having Lydia was the most special gift. She bought hope to our family when we thought we would never get back up off the floor. She gave us strength we didn’t know we had. She kept her sister’s memory alive, after all my twins were identical so I only have to look at Lydia to know what Heidi would have looked like.

Although Lydia was 11 weeks early and spent the first 5 weeks fighting hard to stay with us she is feisty. She even got the nickname ‘Princess’ on the Neonatal ward. When she wanted attention she got it and all the nurses became attached to her and loved her just as we did.

People ask me where I draw my strength from, how I get through each day when only a few weeks ago I lost my child and all I need to do is point to Lydia. She is my rainbow, my tower of strength. She along with her older brother gives me a reason to get up in the morning and a reason to try to be the best Mum I can be.

A rainbow is a beautiful thing; a sign of storm passing and something beautiful appearing. I don’t think my storm will ever fully leave me but my beautiful rainbow will keep me going through the hard times. Our family will never be quite the same but Lydia has bought us nothing but happiness. Our rainbow. Our Lydia.

 

Rachel, thank you for being the first person to feature on My rainbow baby. And thank you for sharing the story of Lydia and Heidi, your beautiful twin girls.

Next month I will be joined by Jo from the blog Miracle Max who will be sharing the story of her rainbow baby.

This post will go live on Wednesday 7th December and will be followed by future posts on the first Wednesday of every month. Please pop back to the blog to have a read and give this series your support.

If you would like to contribute to My rainbow baby then please leave a message in the comments or email me on mrs.hs.fav.things@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you.

Hugs

Lucy

xxxx

Resources

If you have experienced baby loss or are pregnant after a loss then you do not need to feel alone. There are people who you can reach out to. The following charities are a fantastic source of comfort, support and can provide you with resources to help you through this difficult time.

• Tommy’s funds research into stillbirths, premature births and miscarriages. They also offer advice to parents-to-be. The website’s pregnancy information pages have been written by midwives and are full of practical advice. Tommy’s has a Facebook page run by midwives. Or if you would prefer to speak to a human being then you can call their midwife run pregnancyLine on 0800 0147 800.
• The Miscarriage Association is devoted to supporting those who have experienced miscarriage. The website is a fantastic resource. They have produced a very helpful leaflet called Thinking about another pregnancy. Which has lots of hints and tips on how to look after yourself and reduce your risk of having another miscarriage. They also have a helpline on 01924 200 799, which is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm.
• MAMA Academy is a charity which supports mums and midwives to help babies arrive safely. The Royal College of Midwives have approved all the content on their website. MAMA Academy also produce Wellbeing Wallets which are full of easy to understand information that will guide and help you in your pregnancy.