Lindsey T’s Story

Hello, my name is Lindsey. I am 28 years old and I am a proud mother to my son, who is my rainbow baby and I also have a stepdaughter who is 7.

My journey to my rainbow was heartbreaking to say the least and I am sure a lot of you can relate. I have had 2 pregnancy losses while trying to conceive in a previous relationship, a failed adoption, and I had 1 loss with my significant other very early into our relationship. We weren’t trying to conceive when I got pregnant and after learning of this pregnancy loss, I did decide to go on birth control. Although we were not trying to get pregnant nor were we married at the time, I continued to focus on my physical health, so I was in a good place physically for when we did decide to have kids if we decided to do so.

I worked closely with a team of three doctors to try to restore my cycles, and we discovered that my PCOS was managed when I was below 210lbs so I continued to lose weight and go to the gym and I was also working on my spiritual health at the same time. Rebuilding my relationship with God was something that I put before everything else. As I was rebuilding my relationship with God, I came to realize and accept that if I don’t get to have a child of my own, my stepdaughter was enough. I didn’t want to live the rest of my life desperate for a child even though it’s a dream that I have had since I was a young girl. That is when some things shifted in my life. I had lost hope but at the same time I tried to embrace the people and things in my life that I do have that seemed so far out of reach at one time in my life.

Fast forward to April of 2025, I am still on birth control, still working on my physical health but I had hit a plateau in my weight loss journey so my doctor had prescribed me a medication that would minimize the “food noise” and reduce cravings. She also said that there was a chance that this medication would reduce the efficacy of my birth control and I wasn’t worried about it because I truly believed that there was no way that I could get pregnant and stay pregnant. So, I started the medication and kept doing what I was doing.

I was in the best shape of my life physically, mentally, and spiritually and I was content with where my life was.

Mother’s Day quickly came and I was dreading it. I was already in a sour mood because I was experiencing another Mother’s Day with empty arms. I woke up early, got ready to go to church with my mom, and while I waited for her to get ready, I went to Walmart to pick up a couple of things and for the first time since I had lost my first pregnancy while trying to conceive, the lady who worked the register handed me my receipt and a flower and said “Happy mother’s day”. I felt like I had been stabbed in the chest, but I accepted the flower and smiled back and told her, “Thank you, you too!” But as I walked away, I was thinking to myself “if she only knew…”.

We go to church and everyone is so happy and cheerful. We had someone share their testimony with their mom and they also experienced infertility. I was beginning to feel seen and heard because I knew that I was among many other women who may not know what it is like to experience pregnancy loss and infertility, but they saw me and all of my pain. Our pastor got up at the end of service and said a beautiful prayer over all the moms who had children, who were grieving the loss of their mothers, children, and for mothers who haven’t been able to hold their babies. I sobbed, and ugly cried and all the woman around me put their hands on me and prayed over me. I was so grateful, but I was also emotionally drained and felt so outside of myself.

3 weeks later, Memorial day weekend I realized that I was very emotional, and my sense of smell was very heightened and I decided to take a pregnancy test and I didn’t think anything of it cause I figured it would just be another negative test and I went back to look at it and there it was, the second pink line.

I immediately called my doctor and got in for blood work the next day and my HCG numbers were only 15 and assumed that I am clinically considered pregnant, but my levels were so low that it was hard to “confirm” pregnancy, and they would test me again in 48 hours. They did the repeat and the numbers began to climb, and I was put on progesterone this time to help maintain the pregnancy. I was 3 weeks and 4 days pregnancy when I found out I was pregnant. The amount of anxiety I had was unreal and I couldn’t and wouldn’t believe that I was in the clear until I got to hold my baby.

At 5 weeks I got my first ultrasound to confirm the location of pregnancy and this time, I did not see an empty womb. At 7 weeks, I had another ultrasound due to spotting and for the first time ever, I saw a heartbeat. Then we had our first appointment at 11 weeks and saw this little thing just wiggling around inside. As time went on, we saw and did all the things. The NIPT testing, the gender reveal, 3d ultrasounds, baby shower, Iron infusions, more ultrasounds and after all the things were over, we got to really soak in the last moments of being a family of three to being a family of four.

On January 30, 2026, I was on my way to the chiropractor when I started having contractions days before our scheduled induction. I did my adjustment and was on my way home when I realized that my contractions were already 3-5 minutes apart and my delivery hospital was an hour away. I called my husband, went home, called the hospital, took a shower, did some laundry and before we knew it, we were on our way to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital, my contractions were 1-2 minutes apart, but I was not dilating. I labored in the tub for a few hours and then they came to put in the balloon to help me dilate. I went back into the tub to labor some more, and I tried the laughing gas for a couple hours before I opted in for the epidural. After the epidural was in, I was so relieved to still have control over my legs, and I could still feel the pressure of my contractions, but I wasn’t in any pain. I slept from 2am-6am and they took out the balloon, and I was still only at 4 so they went to get an order for Pitocin. When they came back with the Pitocin about an hour later, I felt like I had to push and the nurse checked me and I was at a 10 and ready to push.

After an hour and a half of pushing, my son was born and my anxiety and fear immediately dissipated as I held my son who just looked up at me. He is and was the calmest baby with this soft whimper cry. A head full of hair and wasn’t nearly as big as they thought he would be. He was born 7lbs, 2 oz and was 19.5 inches long. Postpartum recovery was beautiful and we left the hospital the next day and took our son home.

Being a mom is everything that I have ever dreamed of. My son is happy, perfectly healthy and is everything that I have ever wanted and more. I still wonder what life would be like had all my other pregnancies had different outcomes but becoming a mom, I have accepted that everything happens for a reason and God’s timing is perfect. I am hopeful that God will bless us with one more someday.

Thank you for taking the time to read a shortened version of the most beautiful part of my life. Getting my rainbow.