Celebrity Stories
Rainbow Baby Day (& why we’re over the moon for Chrissy Teigen)
Eloise Edington | 19 Aug 2022
For FHH editor Jessie Day, Rainbow Baby Day holds special space.
After repeat miscarriages, Jessie welcomed her rainbow baby girl, Jude, in 2018, and a baby brother, Coren, in 2020. For Jessie, sharing her experience was an essential part of the healing process. Even when (especially when), truth was met with discomfort. Now as a mum, Jessie’s working hard to build a culture of openness around the path to parenthood. Because as we know, rainbows aside, this isn’t always straightforward.
It’s just one of the reasons we’re celebrating Chrissy Teigen this Rainbow Baby Day (22 August, 2022). Rainbow baby mama-to-be, and bravely destigmatising pregnancy loss after her second trimester stillbirth in 2020, Chrissy has done so much for this very special corner of the TTC community.
Here is her story so far, and why we honour Chrissy.
Words by Jessie Day
Rainbow baby joy for Chrissy & John Legend
They’re social media heavyweights and one of Hollywood’s most famous power couples. But glitz aside, Chrissy Teigen and John Legend have discussed their fertility journey openly for years now.
Chrissy suffered a devastating second trimester pregnancy loss in 2020, and has had several rounds of IVF treatment as part of the couple’s family-building journey. This August, they confirmed the joyful news that a rainbow baby is on the way. The couple already have two children (Luna, 6 and Miles, 4), and their new arrival is due in early 2023.
Chrissy Teigen’s fertility journey
Chrissy announced her first pregnancy in 2015 on Instagram, and welcomed their daughter Luna in 2016. In May 2018, the model gave birth to a baby boy, Miles. Both children were conceived through IVF. The couple broke the news of their third pregnancy in John Legend’s Wild music video in 2020.
Responding to a follower’s question about her fertility journey, Chrissy commented on Twitter,
“Anyone who knows me knows I have taken a pregnancy test nearly every month since I was 21. I know it’s weird. I just always, always wanted to see a positive. This was the time!”
This absolutely resonates, at FHH HQ.
But weeks later in September 2020, a heartbreaking announcement hit the headlines. The couple’s baby boy, Jack, was stillborn in Chrissy’s second trimester. Despite bed rest and multiple transfusions after excessive placental bleeding, doctors weren’t able to save the couple’s second son.
“We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about, the kind of pain we’ve never felt before,” Chrissy posted on Instagram. “We are so grateful for the life we have, for our wonderful babies Luna and Miles, for all the amazing things we’ve been able to experience. But every day can’t be full of sunshine. On this darkest of days, we will grieve, we will cry our eyes out. But we will hug and love each other harder and get through it.”
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Destigmatising pregnancy loss
It’s the unthinkable. And yet, there are around 24,000 stillbirths in the USA every year, according to the CDC, and 2,500 in England and Wales. We’re not about shock or trigger content at FHH, and we always aim to provide supportive information. But this number is significant – and big enough, surely, to warrant a broader, more open conversation. More openness, less isolation and more support for parents who are going through it.
Which is what Chrissy Teigen is doing, even now while pregnant with the couple’s rainbow baby, and why we 100% back her candid stance. Chrissy has faced harsh criticism – and in many cases, hate – for her choice to share pictures from her hospital bed, documenting the couple’s grief and experience.
Narcissistic. Exploitative. Shameful. All words thrown at the couple for their public position on private grief, with Chrissy in the firing line. How dare she?
But for me, as a mother of two living children and with two ‘failures’ on my scorecard, Chrissy’s process of sharing, destigmatising and having the bravery to try again is vitally important. We don’t just need success stories, ending with a healthy, bouncing baby. To understand what a rainbow baby means to a parent-to-be, or family, we need the stories of what came before – the losses, and the pain that became hope.
So I honour Chrissy and John. I’m grateful that they shared, and continue to share.
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When is Chrissy Teigen due?
Around a year and a half after her loss, Chrissy spoke openly about her decision to restart the IVF process.
Chrissy said that she wanted “to save as many eggos as I possibly can and hopefully make some strong, healthy embryos”.
You’ve got this, mama, I thought.
And just weeks ago, Chrissy announced her amazing news – another baby is on the way and due in January/February 2023.
It’s not easy to announce a pregnancy, after a loss. You’re navigating people’s happiness for you, clouded with their (often kindly meant) fear for your hopes and dreams. But as Chrissy has mused on Instagram,
“Every appointment I’ve said to myself, ‘ok if it’s healthy today I’ll announce’ but then I breathe a sigh of relief to hear a heartbeat and decide I’m just too nervous still. I don’t think I’ll ever walk out of an appointment with more excitement than nerves but so far, everything is perfect and beautiful and I’m feeling hopeful and amazing.”
Do you have a rainbow baby? We’d love to feature a few stories from our amazing TTC support tribe. DM us on Instagram, being sure to mention rainbow baby.
