After Tragedy, Dad's Joy for 'Rainbow Baby' Goes Viral

Andrew Hanson knew joy of birth could quickly turn tragic
By Shelley Hazen,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 1, 2014 11:47 AM CDT
Updated Jul 5, 2014 4:10 PM CDT
After Tragedy, Dad's Joy for 'Rainbow Baby' Goes Viral
   (Shutterstock)

When Andrew Hanson heard his son, Karson, cry for the first time, "it was like he knew that we needed to hear him," he tells the Today Show. The new father grabbed the man who’d just delivered his son safely, Dr. Bryan Hodges, and both men dissolved into tears in an image that's since gone viral. Karson's birth was bittersweet: The year before, the joy of the Hansons' first son's birth ended in tragedy, making Karson what's considered a rainbow baby, explains WWBT—a birth that follows a miscarriage or newborn death. This time around, mom Amanda says she felt the presence of her firstborn in the delivery room.

The Hansons had suffered fertility issues for two-plus years before getting pregnant, but despite a normal pregnancy baby Klayton wasn’t breathing when he was born. By the time he was resuscitated, Klayton was brain dead; He died six days later. "We tried to fit a world of love into that little short time. We just got as much time as we could," Amanda says. Now four months old, Karson is healthy and happy. His middle name? Klayton. "Looking at Karson, I try to imagine where Klayton would be at this point and some days it just hits me like a ton of bricks that he’s not here," says Amanda. "I just wish he was." (A woman in Pennsylvania recently had her own miracle birth.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X