For years, Brayden and his wife imagined becoming parents someday. They never expected that their journey would begin with devastating loss—and eventually lead to two babies arriving less than six months apart.

Their first daughter, Miclaine, was stillborn at 39 weeks after an otherwise uncomplicated pregnancy. The loss left the couple grieving a nursery already prepared for her and a future they had expected to begin within days. In Miclaine’s memory, her mother later created Miclaine’s Mission, providing personalized grief boxes to other families experiencing pregnancy and infant loss.

The couple continued trying to grow their family, but endured four more pregnancy losses, including miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy. After fertility testing and IVF failed to bring the outcome they hoped for, they moved forward with an adoption process they had considered for years.

In spring 2024, only weeks after entering an adoption waiting pool, they learned that an expectant mother had chosen them to parent her son. Then came another extraordinary development: almost simultaneously, they discovered they were pregnant again.

Their adopted son, Callum Cooper, arrived in May. His middle name honored his birth mother, with whom the family maintains an open adoption. Months later, Callum’s adoption became legally final.

Soon afterward, his baby sister Remy was born.

After five losses and years of uncertainty, the couple had gone from longing for a living child to raising two babies together. Miclaine remains central to their family story, and they intend for both children to grow up knowing about the sister who came before them—and whose memory continues shaping the way their family loves others.