GIVE FOR GRACE
Your Subtitle text
Grace's Story
We couldn't have been more excited to find out that we were pregnant with our first child in December of 2007. We had been waiting for that moment for so long. We had a wonderful, easy and exciting pregnancy. 38 weeks went by with no complications and every appointment went perfectly. The baby was always moving, the heartbeat was always strong. We dreamed about the future he or she might have. We dreamed about our family and how it was all about to change. It's amazing how quickly you can fall in love with someone that you haven't even met.
Finally the day arrived. Contractions started in the middle of the night. While labor seemed to progress slowly, it continued right on track. We were in labor for about 24 hours before we were ready to head to the hospital. When we arrived, the monitors were started and our baby was doing perfectly. Her heartbeat was strong and steady. There was never any indication that she was in distress. After several more hours of increasing intensity of labor, it was decided that we would do a non-emergent c-section. On the operating table, they placed the monitor on my belly one last time to get that reassuring heartbeat, and there it was. Strong and steady. In less than 5 minutes, our baby girl was delivered with no heartbeat, not able to take a breath. The neonatologist tried desperately to revive her, but our daughter, Grace Elizabeth, did not survive.
There was never any explanation of what happened to Grace. Our case was reviewed extensively by multiple specialists with no suggestion of what went wrong. Regardless, our journey of losing Grace started that day and continues. It has been a long road of grief, anger, frustration, sadness and loneliness. Our hearts ache for our daughter daily as we think about what could have been.
Finally the day arrived. Contractions started in the middle of the night. While labor seemed to progress slowly, it continued right on track. We were in labor for about 24 hours before we were ready to head to the hospital. When we arrived, the monitors were started and our baby was doing perfectly. Her heartbeat was strong and steady. There was never any indication that she was in distress. After several more hours of increasing intensity of labor, it was decided that we would do a non-emergent c-section. On the operating table, they placed the monitor on my belly one last time to get that reassuring heartbeat, and there it was. Strong and steady. In less than 5 minutes, our baby girl was delivered with no heartbeat, not able to take a breath. The neonatologist tried desperately to revive her, but our daughter, Grace Elizabeth, did not survive.
There was never any explanation of what happened to Grace. Our case was reviewed extensively by multiple specialists with no suggestion of what went wrong. Regardless, our journey of losing Grace started that day and continues. It has been a long road of grief, anger, frustration, sadness and loneliness. Our hearts ache for our daughter daily as we think about what could have been.
