OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. An Omaha photographer holds an annual photo shoot to honor the roughly 1 in 4 families who experience these kinds of loss.
"When I was younger, and I was going through that, I didn't have these resources, they weren't available to me," Penny Layne of Penny Layne Photography says she has experienced miscarriages. She wants to provide a sense of community for other moms coping with loss.
About 100 women and their families came out to Walnut Creek Park in Papillion. Penny Layne took a group photo of the families wearing white with their children wearing colors.
She then did a group shot for women who are either pregnant or recently had their rainbow baby which is described as a baby born after the loss or the rainbow after the storm. Penny Layne provided bright-colored gowns for the women and their babies wore white.
Jennifer Sommer came to the photo shoot, as she has in the past. "We had three losses: A.J., Joy and Grace, and it was through the loss of our kiddos we found our community just needed a place for support and healing." She founded a group called HEALIng Embrace (Helping Everyone After Loss).
She said the day of the photo shoot was emotional as she looked at her baby, Eloise. "On our drive here, she was falling asleep. I just looked at her and I was so thankful for her. It's still pretty surreal that we're here, we never thought that we'd have any living children," Sommer said.
Kristin Burns' son, Brycen, spent most of his life in the hospital and died at 7.5 months. She wanted to share this day with her baby Nolen.
"It can be a pretty lonely feeling, but then when you meet a community like this and know you're not alone," Burns said it gave her comfort to be around others.
Penny Layne shares the photos with the family at no cost.
She plans to hold this photo shoot every year.
