When Colin and Brayden Balfe walked into a Boise hospital at 39 weeks pregnant, they expected reassurance.

Their daughter, Miclaine, had simply been unusually quiet that evening. Colin had tried juice, movement and anything else she could think of to encourage a kick. Brayden remained hopeful that their baby girl was only making her parents nervous before finally arriving.

Minutes later, the room became silent.

Doctors could no longer find Miclaine’s heartbeat.

The daughter whose nursery was finished, whose car seat was installed and whose hospital bags were already waiting by the door was gone.

That loss began a devastating journey through four more pregnancies that ended too soon. Yet less than two years later, Colin and Brayden would find themselves holding two babies born fewer than six months apart—one through adoption and one through pregnancy.

Their path to parenthood became a story not of replacing what they had lost, but of learning that grief and joy could exist in the same family.

Their First Pregnancy Arrived During Another Major Shock

Colin and Brayden had been married for three years when they moved from Washington State to Idaho.

They were enjoying their new life in downtown Boise and expected to wait until around age 30 before seriously focusing on children.

Then, in November 2021, their plans changed twice in two days.

Brayden learned that his job was being eliminated.

The following day, the couple discovered Colin was pregnant.

The timing frightened them, but excitement quickly took over. Brayden found another job, they bought their first house, began budgeting for parenthood and attended childbirth classes.

Their baby was a girl.

They named her Miclaine.

Colin described the pregnancy as relatively easy. By the final weeks, the couple had celebrated two baby showers and prepared everything they expected to need.

Then, at 39 weeks, Colin noticed Miclaine had stopped moving normally.

She went to the hospital.

There, the future they had spent months preparing for disappeared.

They Had Only Hours With Their Daughter

Colin delivered Miclaine by cesarean section.

Brayden saw their daughter first and reacted with an emotional gasp. When Miclaine was brought to Colin, she pressed the baby’s cheek against her own.

Nearly three years later, Colin said she could still imagine feeling that cheek against her face.

Miclaine had dark hair, thick eyelashes and full cheeks. To her parents, she was beautiful and complete.

They were allowed to hold her for several hours.

Then they had to leave the hospital without her.

The days that followed forced them into tasks no expecting parents had imagined: arranging a burial, attending a funeral and packing away the nursery they had prepared so carefully.

Doctors never gave them an explanation for why Miclaine’s heart suddenly stopped.

Brayden, grieving himself, focused much of his energy on protecting his wife. He contacted relatives, arranged the cemetery, monitored Colin’s medication and made sure she attended counseling.

Colin eventually turned part of her grief outward.

She created Miclaine’s Mission, a foundation that provides personalized gifts and grief resources to parents who have lost children.

Nothing, she knew, could remove the pain.

But she wanted grieving families to know their babies were remembered.

Four More Pregnancies Ended in Loss

Once Colin’s doctor cleared the couple to try again, they did.

The desire for children had changed after Miclaine’s death. Before pregnancy, they had been content waiting. After knowing their daughter, they desperately wanted to raise a living child.

Getting pregnant was not the problem.

Staying pregnant became one.

Colin experienced a chemical pregnancy in November.

In February, she had a missed miscarriage at nine weeks.

In May came an ectopic pregnancy.

The couple sought fertility specialists and underwent genetic testing, but the results did not identify a clear explanation.

Doctors recommended IVF.

Colin began medication in July, underwent an egg retrieval in August and had a successful embryo implantation in September.

At nine weeks, she miscarried again.

Including Miclaine’s stillbirth, Colin and Brayden had now experienced five consecutive losses.

They felt exhausted and defeated.

But while navigating fertility treatment, another path to parenthood had slowly been taking shape.

Adoption Had Always Been Part of the Conversation

Colin and Brayden had discussed adoption early in their marriage.

They never knew exactly when or how it would happen, but during the long months of pregnancy loss they began taking the idea more seriously.

They attended seminars, spoke with adoptive parents and researched agencies.

Eventually, they chose a local agency called A New Beginning and formally entered the adoption process in February 2024.

By late April, they had completed training, interviews, background checks, medical appointments, counseling and their home study.

They were told the wait could be long—approximately two years on average.

Then, in mid-May, they received their first opportunity.

A young mother in nursing school was considering adoption for the son she was expecting any day.

Colin and Brayden agreed to have their profile presented.

Two days later, the agency called.

The expectant mother had chosen them.

She did not want to interview other couples.

Her baby was scheduled to arrive within days.

The couple suddenly had to prepare for a newborn boy.

But something else had happened almost simultaneously.

On Mother’s Day, Colin Saw Another Positive Test

The day after Colin and Brayden agreed to be considered for the adoption—and the day before learning they had been chosen—Colin discovered she was pregnant again.

It happened on Mother’s Day.

After five losses, she was carrying another baby girl.

Within roughly 48 hours, the couple went from waiting for parenthood in two different ways to preparing for two children.

Their adopted son would be born first.

Their biological daughter was due less than six months later.

The emotional contrast was almost impossible to absorb.

They had spent years repeatedly losing pregnancies.

Now they needed to prepare for two babies at once.

Callum’s Birth Returned Them to the Same Hospital

The expectant mother had been calling her son Cooper.

Colin and Brayden loved the name Callum, so they chose Callum Cooper—preserving the name his birth mother had given him as his middle name.

She invited the couple to the hospital for his birth.

That hospital carried painful memories.

It was the same place where Miclaine had been born still.

While waiting, a photographer approached Colin after overhearing that the couple was adopting. As Colin began explaining their story, the woman recognized her.

She knew Miclaine’s name and had been following the family’s foundation.

For Colin, hearing someone identify her simply as Miclaine’s mother was deeply meaningful.

Then came another moment she had once feared she might never experience.

Callum was born, and Colin heard him cry.

She had longed to hear that sound from Miclaine.

This time, it filled the room.

Colin stood beside Callum’s birth mother during labor, cut his umbilical cord and began bonding with the baby who was becoming her son.

The adoption remained open, allowing his biological mother to remain part of his life.

When Brayden first held Callum, a large rainbow appeared outside the hospital window.

To the couple, it felt like another connection to the daughter they still carried with them.

Six Months Later, Callum Became a Big Brother

Callum came home with Colin and Brayden and quickly settled into family life.

The couple described him as calm, cheerful and easygoing.

In October, his adoption became legally final.

Only weeks later, his little sister arrived.

Remy was born as the couple’s rainbow baby after Colin’s long history of pregnancy loss.

Her personality quickly proved different from her brother’s. Where Callum was calm, Remy was spirited and stubborn.

Life with two babies so close in age could be chaotic.

It was also the life their parents had once feared they would never have.

Callum began showing affection toward his little sister, holding her hand and crawling toward her with a pacifier when she cried.

The couple had gone from having no living children at home to raising two babies born less than six months apart.

Yet Miclaine remained part of the family.

Their Happiness Did Not Erase Their Grief

Colin and Brayden do not describe Callum or Remy as replacements for the daughter they lost.

They still wish Miclaine were there.

They intend to make sure both younger children grow up knowing about their older sister.

They also want Callum to understand his adoption story and know that he is loved by both his adoptive parents and his biological family.

Their journey contains several forms of love at once: the grief of parents who buried a daughter, the courage of a birth mother making an adoption decision, the anxiety of pregnancy after repeated loss and the overwhelming gratitude of finally watching two children grow.

The family they have today bears little resemblance to the one Colin and Brayden imagined when they first learned they were expecting in 2021.

There should have been one little girl named Miclaine running through their home.

Instead, there is a daughter they remember, a son who joined them through adoption and a younger daughter born after years of loss.

Five pregnancies ended in heartbreak.

Then, within six months, two babies arrived.

For Colin and Brayden, joy did not come because grief disappeared.

It came alongside it—making room for Callum and Remy without ever asking them to let Miclaine go.