A Westmoreland County couple is celebrating a season of firsts after welcoming their first child, a baby girl they refer to as their “double rainbow baby” after two pregnancy losses.
A rainbow baby is a healthy child born to a family who suffered a previous pregnancy or infant loss, such as miscarriage or stillbirth.
In a series of stories titled “The Colors of Hope,” Channel 11 is telling the stories of a group of local women who have experienced pregnancy loss and sharing the hope their stories can offer others.
The project, led by photographer Amber Bowers of Shutterbean Photographs, aimed to capture each mother’s journey through loss to new life. It unfolded over several months, with Bowers recruiting women who were all due within a few weeks of each other.
“So many women have gone through this, and I just want them to have an outlet,” Bowers said.
The project is a labor of love for Bowers and an outlet for her, too.
Her daughter Tallia is a rainbow baby. Bowers suffered a pregnancy loss almost a decade ago.
“That was a very rough time for me,” Bowers said. “I had gone to the hospital and I was pregnant and there was nothing there.”
Bowers said she chooses to focus on the babies she welcomed after her losses, rather than the grief. She hopes that participating in the photo shoots will help the other women heal.
“We’re getting to know each other. We’re going to be family at the end of this, because we’ve all experienced it,” Bowers said.
One of the women featured in the photography project is Kaitlin Blake, a case manager from Irwin.
She married her husband, Adam, in 2025. The two bonded over their love of exploring, traveling and adventure. They planned to start a family quickly, but things did not go as planned.
“This project means a lot to me, because I had two miscarriages,” Blake said. “I thought it was great to represent. I think it needs more attention. I think it’s not talked about enough, and there should be more support around the subject… People go through miscarriage and they still clock into work the next day.”
Even after they were ready to try again, the emotional turmoil continued. The couple became pregnant again with a little girl, due in June 2026.
“It takes the joy out of most of it, but definitely the first trimester. All of the anxiety. You’re scared to announce. You’re scared to, you know, be excited,” Blake said.
She gave birth to baby Adalyn on June 4.
“I was like a week and a half late, a week late. Scheduled induction. And then we labored for about 37 hours and then an emergency C-section. They say don’t plan a birth, so I didn’t, but I will say that was the complete opposite of anything I planned. So that part is hard too whenever you spend nine months dreaming of your labor and then it is different, but it still was very much worth it to bring her here,” Blake said. “No problem, I’d do it again.”
They waited until birth to find out their baby’s sex.
“We thought it was a boy so we were surprised, definitely, but I was excited! I wanted either, but a girl is super fun to create a little mini,” Blake said. “She’s my double rainbow baby.”
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