Baby Loss: Our Story

October 15th is here, baby loss and miscarriage awareness day. The day that I wonder if this is the October that I will share my story. The 6th October since losing our sweet first baby. So here it is, the story and the feelings that have been lingering in my thoughts and my soul, that I have long anticipated writing for myself, and for you.

We became pregnant quite quickly and waited the obligatory twelve weeks before announcing our expected bundle. It was an uneventful pregnancy that consisted of routine doctor appointments and ultrasounds, We were always relieved to hear the word “normal” at every visit, the word all parents hope and pray to hear throughout pregnancy and continue to hope for as their children grow.

Each week as my pregnancy progressed I checked the baby loss statistics, comparing the percentage of survival to the week before it. I felt secure in the numbers as they surpassed the 99th percentile. We did some light research, followed by some shopping and we prepared a nursery.

At week 35, in the very early morning of my husband’s birthday, my water broke, while lying in bed. We were anxious as we headed to the hospital, unsure of what to expect in labour and delivery and only slightly concerned about our baby coming a little early. Upon arrival we were shown through the NICU, just in case our little one would need a week or two of breathing help and monitoring. Walking through the NICU I saw tiny babies who presented quite well and I knew we were in the right place.   If these little little ones were doing alright, a 35 week baby would be just fine.

He wasn’t.

Labour did not progress, and I was induced. With each contraction our little one’s heart would slow down, but would pick up again after the contraction had subsided. After awhile it was decided that a caesarean would be a wise choice for our circumstances.

In surgery my uterus was very contracted, our little one’s head was stuck in my pelvis and the cord, up by his ear, had a great deal of pressure on it. They couldn’t get him out. Panic filled the room as all of the medical professionals available tried everything they could think of. Amidst all of the panic, I was calm because I knew, I just knew, that they could figure it out. My husband was removed from the room and right before I went under general anesthesia I heard from a doctor, “I don’t know what to do.”

I woke to very somber medical staff, their faces displaying the gravity of the situation, and still I was completely ignorant of just how wrong things had gone. Staff broke protocol and wheeled me into the NICU to see my little one. There he was; I got to lay eyes on the one that I had dreamed about, the one that had kept me up at night, the one that had made me so uncomfortable, the one I loved so fiercely from the moment I first felt him, and I was proud. There is nothing quite like meeting your first baby, the one that makes you a parent, the incredibleness of it all as you study their tiny body and marvel at the mystery that is life. Aside from all of the wires and tubes, he was breath-taking and incredible, he was perfect.

A medical transfer via helicopter should have been my first clue that things were not going well, but it wasn’t until we arrived at the children’s hospital a few hours later and saw my sweet baby, looking very unhealthy that I realized that this story wasn’t going to end the way I had dreamed that it would.   This day wouldn’t be just a story we told him each year on his birthday, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

His head was so swollen. There was a bleed in his brain, caused by the pressure from the vacuum the medical staff needed to use to get him out.   Medical staff was busy, wracking their minds and trying everything they could think of to save his life. Unfortunately the trauma his tiny five pound, five ounce body had received was too great, and he passed away after eleven hours of life, surrounded by love and in our arms.

Confused, exhausted and broken we left our little guy in the hospital and returned to the quietest house in the world. Empty body, empty arms, empty nursery. I was so lucky to have a husband that I was able to cling to through all of it. Thankfully our home was soon filled with family and friends and flowers and food, everyone took such great care of us, we will be eternally grateful for the kindnesses we were shown after losing our son.

If you are brave enough, determined enough and fortunate enough to get to do it all over again, the stats are refreshed and your chances at heart break are just as likely as they were the last time around, except they feel overwhelmingly like 100% because I lost 100% of the babies I carried. It feels like life should owe you a pass, because when you’ve been one in one thousand, that feels like enough.

And you’re aware. So. Much. More. Aware. Of every single thing that can go wrong. In order to feel normal you seek out people that are like you, that understand you, that get you completely and you surround yourself with them. I was so fortunate to connect with a supportive community of women online, who had all lost their babies within a few months of us losing our sweet son. We helped each other through the hurts and the healing and we have remained friends over the years.

It goes excruciatingly slow. Agonizingly slow. Painstakingly slow. Each hour is torturous and there were countless times I wanted to ask my obstetrician for a medically induced coma, or a crystal ball. I could endure the 40 long weeks of pregnancy if I KNEW it would end in crying that would interrupt our sleep for years to come. She could provide nothing, besides a somewhat unsure assurance that what had happened would not repeat itself. But it should never have happened in the first place. They say lightening doesn’t strike the same place twice but whoever said that doesn’t understand my luck, and just uttering those words felt like challenging destiny.

So when we lost our second baby, another boy, at 15 weeks pregnant, after having a healthy ultrasound the day before, I wasn’t surprised. Because life. Because stats. Because history. Simply, because.

Determined to have a family, we gave it another shot. And the stats began again, we were at the mercy of the numbers. It’s a weird place to be, hopeful but detached, wanting to give this baby all the positivity in the world, yet preparing to announce another baby’s passing. There is a weird peace that comes from admitting powerlessness in circumstances where you would very much like to control the outcome.

But this time we were able to bring our baby home. Our little ball of sunshine, bright and beautiful, our daughter.

 

13 Replies to “Baby Loss: Our Story”

  1. Thank you for sharing your very personal story of loss. I’m so sorry that you couldn’t bring home your first two babies. I know the heartbreak of losing a child too.
    Congratulations on the birth of your daughter. ❤️May she bring you endless joy and blessings and may you live with the hope of seeing your other babies again someday.

    1. Hi Megan, thank you for commenting. If you are who I think you are, I was very touched by your family’s story and your sweet son.

      hugs

  2. Thank you for sharing your story. I am so glad for the friends and family you have had to support you. What a difficult experience. Your words are painful raw and touching.

  3. Wow, Natasha. You really open up your heart and let it spill onto the page. You gift us all, with your words.

    The doctor you heard saying, “I don’t know what to do…” must have had his/her own hell to go through that day and likely for weeks after. It sounds like it was a very difficult situation, that wasn’t covered in med school.

    My wife and I had a taste of the “I don’t know what to do” with our third son’s birth. He was presenting feet-first… which freaked out the inexperienced doctor. Add to that: it was sundown on Halloween, 1986.

    Thankfully Dr. Dave stepped in and was able to confidently pull our blue-toed gremlin to safety, with no complications. It was a tense few moments, though.

    * * * *

    I remember sharing a grade 4 class with you in 2011-12 in Hope — and your coming along on a class hike at Camp Squeah in June of that year, noticeably pregnant but in good health.

    One of our students, Savannah, called you the “Pregnant Super Hero!” and had made a painting for you. Do you still have it?

    I’m still using the computer I had in 2012 and unless they’re basic trash, I let a lot of my e-mails just sit in the in-box, for future reference. I checked, tonight — and yes, I still have your e-mails to our staff, from that year. The first one “announcement :)”, announcing your pregnancy and your second one, “update” telling us of Benjamin’s passing.

    Not easy reading.

    I’m so glad that you and Joel persevered and came through with a happy outcome — twice.

  4. Thank you for sharing your story too, Barry 🙂 Birth is so scary, anything can happen and the outcome is so incredibly important. I’m so glad your little “gremlin” made it safely.

    Our loss devastated our whole medical team, it wasn’t something they saw coming. They deal with complicated deliveries quite regularly, but from what i understand they’ve never experienced something quite like this. We have a personal connection with that particular doctor, he’s a wonderful person and I feel badly that he was there that day, because I know it pained him greatly.

    I can’t believe you still have all of those old emails! That was a hard one to write. And I DO still have that painting… It’s in a box somewhere, but how could I throw that one away hahaha!

    That was a such a great year in Hope, only fond memories. I was so grateful for all of the cards and kind emails I received from you guys there.

  5. Wow…what a story. The way you tell it is so raw and full of emotion. The way you express the denial you felt when you were losing your baby was heartbreaking. I think it is normal to be in denial when something is going wrong, to keep thinking that it can’t be happening. I remember talking with a man who experienced three miscarriages with his wife. He still remembered how old they would have been if the babies had lived. It’s a very hard thing to go through. I’m very happy you were able get the child you and your husband always wanted. She’s a special little miracle child for sure.

    1. Thank you. Yes, the denial was so real, pregnancy isn’t supposed to end that way (or so it seems). We are very lucky to now have three amazing crazy girls.

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