Rainbow babies are those born after a ᴍɪsᴄᴀʀʀɪᴀɢᴇ, sᴛɪʟʟʙɪʀᴛʜ, or ɴᴇᴏɴᴀᴛᴀʟ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ. They are called that because, after the sad and stormy ʟᴏss of a baby, they come to fill the lives of the parents with life, hope and color.
When these babies are born, it is common to have a photo session afterward, but on this occasion, a photographer brought together 40 mothers and their rainbow babies, not only to celebrate their lives, but also to honor the memory of the babies they ʟᴏsᴛ.
Ashley Sargent is a photographer from Alabama, United States, who has done several photo sessions with families and newborn babies, many of whom are rainbow babies, over the course of her career. Although she has never ʟᴏsᴛ a baby, she had infertility problems for many years, so she identifies a little with those mothers who have gone through it.
On one occasion, after publishing one of the images from the photo sessions of these babies, she began to receive comments from other mothers also celebrating the birth of their own rainbow babies. Seeing how many mothers were commenting on her, she was inspired to do a great photo shoot.
He had the idea of bringing together dozens of mothers and their babies and children, dressed in the different colors of the rainbow, to celebrate their arrival. Usually, photo shoots of this type are only for pregnancy or newborn babies, but she decided to include mothers and children of all ages.
On his Facebook page, where he published the album with all the photos of the sessions he took with 40 mothers and their rainbow children, he said, “In my mind, this idea would be a vision of hope.”
The models for the shoot were many of her own clients, and she was immediately told by many women that they wanted to be part of the shoot. Ashley instructed them to choose a color to wear for themselves and her children, and asked them to prepare to share her story, which was published in the individual photos she took of each mother with her children.
Ashley had originally only told the moms that she would be doing a photo shoot with their rainbow babies, but she had a very special surprise in store for them. After finishing the group photo with her children, she gave each mother a balloon, which symbolized the baby she had ʟᴏsᴛ before her rainbow children.
“I asked them to take the balloon and remember the baby that they had ʟᴏsᴛ, and let go of all those feelings of pain that they had gone through, and let go of the balloon,” Ashley said. “It was the most emotional moment of the session.”
“I told the mothers who participated that they must be willing to share their stories and let their voices be heard. But it wasn’t just for the purpose of going viral. It was for the purpose of sharing and raising our voices, and sending a message of hope and awareness, and simply giving love and positivity in this world that we now find ourselves in.”
The photo session, which has been published in various media and has been filled with positive comments, is undoubtedly a beautiful way not only to honor those babies who unfortunately could not continue with their mothers, but also to celebrate the lives of the children who came later to fill the lives of their family with color and joy.
