Skip to content

Top Navigation

PEOPLE.com PEOPLE.com
  • News
    • Coronavirus
    • Crime
    • Human Interest
    • Politics
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Country
    • Awards
    • Sports
    • Theater
    • Books
  • Coronavirus
  • Royals
  • Lifestyle
    • Style
    • Fashion
    • Beauty
    • Health
    • Parents
    • Home
    • Real Estate
    • Pets
    • Food
    • Shopping
    • Tech
  • PeopleTV
  • Shopping
    • Coupons

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Premium
Login
Logout
Subscribe

Explore PEOPLE.com

PEOPLE.com PEOPLE.com
  • Explore

    Explore

    • Every Tiara Worn at a Royal Wedding

      From Princess Beatrice to Meghan Markle Read More Next
    • Engineer Creates App To Translate Your Cat

      Find out what your cat is trying to tell you with a new cat app Read More Next
    • The Sweetest Photos of Princes Harry with Diana

      Princess Diana died when Harry was just 12 years old Read More Next
  • News

    News

    See All News

    Sean Connery's Cause of Death Revealed Weeks After He Dies at Age 90

    Sean Connery died on Oct. 31 at age 90
    • Coronavirus
    • Crime
    • Human Interest
    • Politics
  • Entertainment

    Entertainment

    See All Entertainment

    Coyote Ugly Turns 20: Where Is the Cast Now?

    • Celebrity
    • TV
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Country
    • Awards
    • Sports
    • Theater
    • Books
  • Coronavirus
  • Royals
  • Lifestyle

    Lifestyle

    See All Lifestyle

    Introducing ... PEOPLE's Products Worth the Hype

    • Style
    • Fashion
    • Beauty
    • Health
    • Parents
    • Home
    • Real Estate
    • Pets
    • Food
    • Shopping
    • Tech
  • PeopleTV
  • Shopping

    Shopping

    • Coupons

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Premium
Login
Logout
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

People is on Community!
Text us for exclusive photos and videos, royal news, and way more.
Text: 212-479-1704
  1. People.com
  2. Human Interest
  3. Celebrate Mother's Day with These Amazing Stories of Rainbow Babies and Their Moms

Celebrate Mother's Day with These Amazing Stories of Rainbow Babies and Their Moms

Take a look back at all the remarkable rainbow babies — a child born after a miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death or infant loss — that PEOPLE has covered
By Lindsay Kimble
May 10, 2018 02:11 PM
Skip gallery slides
FB Tweet

1 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

JESSICA MAHONEY

Credit: JoAnn Marrero and Mary Maloney

After suffering six miscarriages, Jessica Mahoney wanted to capture her second successful pregnancy with a maternity shoot that would not only pay tribute to her child-to-be, but also to those she had lost.

Birth photographer JoAnn Marrero was commissioned by Mahoney's husband to photograph his expectant wife and "make it really, really special."

Marrero orchestrated the shot with rainbow smoke bombs.

1 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

LESLEIGH CETINGUC

Credit: Kelley Chance/kelley-photo.com

Lesleigh Cetinguc experienced two miscarriages before having her second child. To commemorate the journey to the arrival of her son, Tolga, in December 2017, the new mom used the materials from her in vitro fertilization journey to create a stunning photo.

Lesleigh told PEOPLE she’ll never forget the moment she held her rainbow baby for the first time. She said, "I pulled Lennon close, soaking in the moment knowing it was his first moments in this world and likely my last time to experience firsthand the miracle of birth."

2 of 10

3 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

JENNIE HILL

Credit: Thea DuBose/Naturally Posh Photography

Over the course of 15 years, Jennie Hill dealt with devastating fertility struggles, suffering five miscarriages, discovering a genetic disorder and even going through a divorce.

Hill told PEOPLE, “When I found out I truly was pregnant and the [in vitro fertilization] really worked, I remember just balling my eyes out, thinking, ‘This really worked?' "

Her daughter, Harper Grace, was born on Jan. 25, 2017.

3 of 10

Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

4 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

JENNIE HILL

Credit: Thea DuBose/Naturally Posh Photography

Of sharing her and Harper's story, Hill told PEOPLE, "If I can give one person hope because they think, ‘I just went through this loss and I’ll never be a mom.' I want them to know, don’t give up on that dream if that’s in your heart because it can happen. One way or another it can happen."

4 of 10

Advertisement

5 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

SAMANTHA GADD

Credit: Nicole DeHoff Photography

After suffering a miscarriage in August 2016, Samantha Gadd was overjoyed when she learned she was pregnant just months later in October.

“She was going to be our baby after the storm; our baby after the miscarriage,” Gadd told PEOPLE. “We had clothes and we started preparing. I felt her kick. We saw tons of ultrasounds, we knew she was a girl. I felt her hiccups! But she passed away also.”

When Gadd became pregnant, again, with a girl in April 2017, she said she was nervous but excited. She decided to honor her daughter who passed away by posing in a maternity shoot with rainbow glitter when she was five months along.

5 of 10

6 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

SAMANTHA GADD

Credit: Nicole DeHoff Photography

Gadd welcomed baby Abigail on Dec. 14, 2017.

6 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

7 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

JAMIE OTIS

Credit: Courtesy Otis Hehner Family

Married at First Sight's Jamie Otis and Doug Hehner lost their son — whom the couple named Johnathan Edward — four months into Otis’ pregnancy.

On Johnathan’s due date in December 2016, the couple found out they were expecting their daughter: Henley Grace, who was born in New Jersey on Aug. 22, 2017.

“I’m not usually superstitious, but I definitely think Henley was a gift from her big brother," Otis told PEOPLE.

7 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement

8 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

BETH GAUDINO and ANNA HOWAT

Credit: JoAnn Marrero Photography

After the heartbreak of losing twin newborns, Beth Gaudino conceived a child through surrogacy via her sister, Anna Howat, who previously experienced miscarriages herself.

The sisters participated in a “rainbow baby” photoshoot organized by birth and newborn photographer JoAnn Marrero.

8 of 10

Advertisement

9 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

BETH GAUDINO and ANNA HOWAT

Credit: JoAnn Marrero Photography

“Doing complimentary, annual rainbow sessions is important to me as I lost a baby prior to having my son Michael. As a professional birth photographer, I see so much joy, yet at times, a lot of sadness,” photographer Marrero told PEOPLE. “This year alone I have photographed over 200 babies. It’s heartbreaking when you photograph a baby and then get the news that several hours later they passed away.”

9 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

10 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

LILA MCDERMID

Credit: Natalie Bee Photoghapy

Lila McDermid had an ectopic pregnancy, in which the egg implants within a fallopian tube, in January 2016.

“It was incredibly sad,” McDermid told PEOPLE.

“Both excited and scared” to try to conceive again, McDermid became pregnant again in May 2016.

“I was nervous because I only had one fallopian tube and one ovary,” she told PEOPLE. “I didn’t know if it was going to take a long time or were we going to be able to get pregnant again."

On Dec. 30, 2016, McDermid gave birth to daughter Audrey.

10 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Lindsay Kimble

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 10 JESSICA MAHONEY
2 of 10 LESLEIGH CETINGUC
3 of 10 JENNIE HILL
4 of 10 JENNIE HILL
5 of 10 SAMANTHA GADD
6 of 10 SAMANTHA GADD
7 of 10 JAMIE OTIS
8 of 10 BETH GAUDINO and ANNA HOWAT
9 of 10 BETH GAUDINO and ANNA HOWAT
10 of 10 LILA MCDERMID

Share options

Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Login

PEOPLE.com

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing
  • Sitemap
  • Student Offer this link opens in a new tab

Connect

People is on Community!
Text us for exclusive photos and videos, royal news, and way more.
Text: 212-479-1704
Newsletter Sign Up
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
© Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporationthis link opens in a new tab. People is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab Manage Push Notificationsthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab

Manage Push Notifications

If you would like to opt out of browser push notifications, please refer to the following instructions specific to your device and browser: Google Chrome and Android, Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge.
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://people.com

View image

Celebrate Mother's Day with These Amazing Stories of Rainbow Babies and Their Moms
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.