Today marks a very special day for so many parents! August 22 is Rainbow Baby Day, a day where parents celebrate and honor their rainbow babies. The term isn't one all parents know, but the meaning behind rainbow baby day is one everyone can take a moment to honor. A day for celebration and reflection and to give thanks for the beauty after the storm.

What Is A Rainbow Baby?

The term Rainbow Baby is used for a baby that is born after a loss from miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal loss (specifically in the first 30 days of life). The term is meant to signify the happiness after the storm, or more commonly the happy life of a healthy, living child, after the trauma and grief of a child gone by miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death.

When Is Rainbow Baby Day?

National Rainbow Baby Day started last year in 2018 by What the Fertility, a site dedicated to navigating the struggles of fertility. They started the movement and encourages parents to celebrate the life after struggle and to show the world our rainbows.

Rainbow Baby Day: How To Celebrate

There are so many ways grief parents and rainbow baby parents cam help celebrate the happiness of getting their rainbow after the storm. The biggest way parents are particiating is through sharing their rainbows. Parents are coming together all over social media using the hashtag #NationalRainbowBaby to brighten our day with their beautiful babies, share the stories of their children who are no longer here, and bring the conversation of loss and healing into the conversation today.

The reality of parenthood is not always straight forward. For so many of us, that means struggling with infertility, miscarriage, stillbirth, and all the stress and grieving that comes with it. For so many of us, the rainbow baby is a fight to get through that grief. To push back the fears that we're holding on to from our past pregnancies. To navigate through anxiety and fear and anger that our baby has been forgotten. Then to be hit with so much love when you're able to look your rainbow baby in the face and realize that there is bright and happy in the world again.

Rainbow Baby Day Can Be Painful, Too

As mentioned, the path to parenthood can be very complicated for people. This also means that despite wanting to always have our happy ending, or the rainbow after the storm, this doesn't always happen. Today, we honor and hold place for those parents with empty arms still wishing for their turn. We support you and are here holding understanding for you.

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If you or someone you love is struggling with grief after miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death, check out UnspokenGrief.com for support.