In September 2018 I had my very first frozen embryo transfer. We had one healthy female embryo transferred and a couple weeks later, after many years of struggling with infertility and dozens of failed fertility treatments, we got our very first positive pregnancy test.
For 13 weeks we kept our pregnancy a secret. We joyfully went to several appointments and ultrasounds getting to watch our little girl grow each week. My pregnancy was so smooth, virtually no nausea, I felt great, and our tiny baby was growing great.
On January 2, 2019 I had my anatomy scan. Other than our little girl being as stubborn as stubborn gets with allowing the ultrasound tech to get all the needed measurements everything was great and going smoothly. I saw my doctor and was given the green light to travel to New Zealand for our planned vacation.
Our trip to New Zealand was going great. We traveled in a RV through the North Island and took a ferry to the South Island to continue our travels. On the morning of January 15 I woke up and knew that something wasn’t right. I didn’t know what was wrong, but knew that I needed to see a doctor. Kris took me to the emergency room in the town we happened to be in to be seen. In the ER after speaking with a kind nurse and being seen by a doctor, I felt very confident that everything was going to be fine and that I was being a “overly dramatic pregnant lady”. The ER doctor told me that there was a specialty OB in town covering for a vacationing OB and she wanted me to go to labor and delivery to be checked out by her. I happily obliged and joked and laughed with the nurse who walked us to the labor and delivery department.
I was excited the doctor wanted to perform an ultrasound because it meant we got to see our daughter and make sure for ourselves that she doing fine. As the wand slid across my belly my eyes scanned the screen looking for her heartbeat. I spotted it quickly beating away and finally let out sign of relief, I thought to myself, there she is, she is fine, everything is fine. The next moment changed all that. It was in a labor and delivery room in an old hospital in Greymouth New Zealand that my husband and I’s entire world shattered. The doctor set down the ultrasound machine, put her hand on my leg and said “I’m sorry, you are in labor and you have to deliver. I’m sorry but your daughter will not survive”. “No”, I begged “we can stay here, just admit me to the hospital and we can get far enough along for her to survive”. The doctor responded, “I’m sorry you have an infection and if you don’t deliver in the next 24 hours it will kill you both”.
Next to me sitting in a chair was my husband, tears spilling down his face saying “no, no, God, no. That’s my daughter, that’s my daughter”.
There were no more choices in that moment, it was her life or both of our lives. My husband could lose a daughter, or he could lose both his daughter and his wife. That was the only two choices I saw. We could walk out of this hospital together, or he could walk out alone.
Without my knowledge due to a condition I unknowingly had, my cervix painlessly dilated due to the weight and pressure of my growing daughter. The dilation caused a small tear in her amniotic sac which allowed harmful bacteria to enter and infect her placenta.
We were admitted to the labor and delivery department, and I was given 24 hours to delivery naturally since my labor was already progressing. That evening I was put on IV antibiotics because I was developing sepsis due to the infected placenta.
Early the next morning when the doctor made her rounds it was decided that I would be given medication to help progress my labor.
At 12:25 PM on January 16, 2019 I gave birth to my firstborn, our precious daughter, Evelyn Grace Lindsey. She lived only a short time before going home to her Heavenly Father.
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