by Callie · posted by Rachel's Gift Thank you to Callie and Andrew for sharing your sweet Ellie with all of us.  My sweet Eleanor Hope, you were so wanted. We went through so much to bring you here. You are so loved.
On Monday, April 8, I visited the doctor for high blood pressure - a first for me. I was put on medicine and had to get bloodwork and pee into a giant jug for 24 hours (a super-fun task), but I got to hear your heartbeat, which was perfect - just as it always had been. I was scheduled for a follow up on Thursday. Thursday morning, April 11, I got up and got ready. The appointment was something I had to tell myself not to forget about - it was just in the back of my mind. I had no idea my world was about to change. My blood pressure was still very high. When the nurse used the doppler on my belly to listen to your heartbeat, she had trouble locating it. It had taken a long time in a previous appointment, so I tried not to worry. As time went on, she asked, “Does it normally take this long to find the heartbeat?” I had to respond with a "no" as I began to cry. She used different wands to make sure it wasn’t a machine error. She brought another nurse in to try. She couldn’t find your heartbeat, either. She told me that sometimes the baby hides behind the placenta and not to worry, but that they were going to go ahead and do an ultrasound. After I gathered myself and stopped crying from sheer terror, I was sent to the waiting room. I thought that was the longest wait of my life. I was wrong. by Jennifer · posted by Rachel's Gift Thank you to Jennifer, Timothy, Logan, and Freyja for sharing Ryan with all of us for this month's Angel Story. This moth's story features a poem written by Jennifer. Birthdate: May 2, 2018 👼 7 inches, 3.5 oz Parents: Jennifer & Timothy Siblings: Logan & Freyja  My pregnancy was an easy one just like my first 2 children. No complications, no nausea, easy peasy! At my 16 week visit I was having a little pain that my doc waved off as normal round ligament pain, and though they had difficulty finding the heartbeat after pressing firmly (and painfully) the nurse was able to get it and no ultrasound was performed.
The weekend before my 19 week ultrasound in which we were finding out the gender I started spotting. I was so scared but after I contacted the doctor she wanted me to take it easy and just follow in the morning for my ultrasound. I was never more relieved than when we got the ultrasound and everything looked perfect. The nurse did a few scans and left the room to get the doctor to give us the big news...only the news wasn't the gender as we expected. We were told there was no heartbeat and the baby was measuring at 16 weeks, not 19. The next day I had to deliver and after 13 hours (and on my birthday) this tiny little angel was lying so peacefully swaddled in a blanket.
Our baby boy Asher Gangadharan Krop was born on August 28th, 2015 beautiful and healthy. As we settled in for the night I remember being so happy and looking forward to the girls meeting their brother the next day. As Asher grew up, our love for him grew too. Elliot and I felt a special connection with Asher and he made our family feel complete. Adia, our oldest, was a second mom to him, holding him and watching him when I needed to go to another room. Ayla, the middle sister, was his playmate and competitor for attention. She loved hugging and manhandling him.  On December 10, 2016, when Asher was 15 months old, he had a fever. I was out of town and the kids were home with Elliot. We thought it was a cold and he would be better in a few days. The next morning, Asher still had a fever and when speaking to Elliot over the phone I could hear Asher’s breathing. I asked Elliot to count his breaths and his breaths were 80 per minute, which was way too high. Elliot rushed Asher to the children’s hospital, and soon after arrival the doctors made the decision to intubate as Asher’s oxygen saturation was too low. Upon hearing this, I booked the first flight back to Atlanta the next day as I was out of town visiting my father in the hospital. Asher was diagnosed with pneumonia due to human metapneumovirus (HMPV). HMPV can cause upper and lower respiratory disease in people of all ages, and is in the same virus family as the more widely known RSV (respiratory syncytial virus.) Over the course of the next few days in the hospital, Asher’s health went up and down all the while I was reassured that Asher would be okay since he was a healthy boy with no known pre-existing conditions. I accepted the reality that Asher was very sick but that in some time this would all be over and he would come home.
by Tiffany · posted by Rachel's Gift Birthdate: October 4, 2012 Parents: Tiffany & Chad  Nashton James Hood was born on October 4, 2012 at 3:30 p.m. He was 8 lbs. 4 oz. and 20" long. He was perfect. He had his grandfather's beautiful skin color and dark hair. Much different than big brother, Bexton, who is very fair skinned with light blonde hair. Bexton loved his little brother so much! He wasn't even 2 yet. We were over the moon to have 2 boys. We loved our little chunky boy! Turns out Nashton was very colicky and inconsolable for the first three months. He threw up a lot and Bexton gagged. We thought it was funny! Between his third and fourth month he became happier. We were finally getting in the swing of two different babysitters and me going back to work. Everything was going good! I was so excited to take his 4 month photo in a few days, because he most likely wouldn't be crying this month!
Birthdate: December 13, 2017
Parents: Cynthia & Andrew 
On December 12th, 2017, I went in for my last OB appointment at 40 weeks pregnant, to check on our sweet baby boy. I notified my doctor that I had not felt my baby move much all weekend. She checked for his heartbeat for what felt like hours, then she tells me that his heartbeat wasn't as loud or as strong as she needed it to be. I was then sent to the hospital to check on everything. When we got to the hospital, they tried to find the heartbeat with the heart monitor and then with an ultrasound. At this point, even after all of this, the thought that my precious child had passed away never crossed my mind. Then my doctor walks in, shuts the door and pulls the curtain behind her and at that moment I knew. She looked at me and said "I am so sorry but he has passed away". I just cried as she sat at the foot of the bed and as my husband held me crying as well.  Did you know?
The first observation of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in the U.S. was October 15, 2002. On September 28, 2006, House Concurrent Resolution 222 was passed in the House of Representatives proclaiming October 15th of each year to be Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in the United States. The full Resolution can be read here: https://www.congress.gov/…/house-concurrent-resolu…/222/text
Birthdate: October 12, 2017
Parents: Nicole & Herman In honor of Ava's 1st birthday. 
My husband and I met in high school gym class, I was just 14 and he was 17, but we immediately fell for each other. We started dating, and after 4 years we had our first son. Shortly after we had our son, we continued to try to grow our little family and had a daughter and another son. Unfortunately, along the way we lost 6 babies to miscarriage and decided it was time to stop trying. Enduring all of those losses was hard, but I had this feeling that we were still missing a piece to our puzzle. That’s when Ava’s story started.
Birthdate: February 4, 2018
Parents: Megan & Matt 
In May of 2017 I married my best friend and we knew we wanted children as soon as possible. We were so happy to find out I was pregnant just a few months after our wedding day. A healthy little boy would be joining our family and we could not have been more excited. As most families do, we waited until we were in the “safe” zone to announce our pregnancy, or so we thought. Absolutely nothing forecasted what we were about to endure in the coming months; you never imagine yourself being that unexplained 1%. |
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