The road to becoming a parent is rarely a straight forward one. Ask any mother or father and it’s likely they’ll have a unique tale as to the journey that led to them welcoming a little life into the world.
For some the adventure can be straight forward; for others it’s a rollercoaster of heightened emotions and experiences, not all of which are thoroughly positive.
Hunter and Hope Madden can attest to this. The couple, from Texas, saw their story make headlines in 2017 after they welcomed their rainbow baby – the name given to a baby born after the loss of a pregnancy.
As per reports, Hunter and Hope were forced to endure three miscarriages on their quest to become parents.
Two of those occurred early in the respective pregnancies, but one of them came much later, when a sonogram of their baby boy, Owen, revealed that there was no heartbeat.
Speaking to TODAY in 2017, Hunter said: “Losing our son was very hard on both of us.
“It was just such a gut punch … I think one of the worst things to come from losing Owen, other than his loss, was the way I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop with our daughter.”
Naturally, when Hope fell pregnant again, the couple approached things with a cautious optimism. The pair had wanted to become parents for a long time, but after several cycles of fertility treatments – coupled with the aforementioned trio of pregnancy losses – they had started to lose hope.
As fate would have it, that was when Hope fell pregnant again.
“We were very much prepared for the worst,” she explained. “And I think my entire pregnancy was that way. We just kept waiting for the floor to fall out from underneath us every second.”
When the pair finally welcomed their rainbow baby, a little girl named Evelyn, they had a birth photographer on hand to capture their special moments post-delivery.
Needless to say, the photos convey all the emotions felt by Hunter and Hope as they finally got to hold their daughter.
The photographer, Leilani Rogers, said: “Birth stories aren’t just about laboring mothers, or brand new babies. They are about becoming a family.”
“I will never forget catching her as she was being born and the immediate, unconditional love I felt for her,” Hunter said.
“That’s what you’re seeing in those pictures, my love for Hope and our daughter.”
A particularly poignant picture shows Hunter holding little Evelyn to his chest, in front of a tattoo intended to pay tribute to his late son.
He added: “I could not believe I was allowed to hold something so perfect and I was overwhelmed with thanksgiving for finally getting to be a father.”
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