Alaina's Story

When we found that I was pregnant in November of 1993, my husband and I were thrilled to death.  We couldn't wait to share the news with our families and friends.  Everyone was just as excited and couldn't wait for the joyous day.

When I went to my first appointment with my OB/GYN, I was told that my due date was July 15, 1994.  My pregnany continued on with no known problems.  At 20 weeks I had my first ultrasound, everything was fine.  My due date was changed to July 17th. 

I was given a large baby shower and received many wonderful gifts. 

At the beginning of July, I developed a rash on my stomach.  The doctor called it PUPPS and I was told it would not go away until I had the baby.  At this time, the doctor was concerned that the baby would be big.  So I was sent for another ultrasound.  Again everything showed up fine, except for the big baby part.

My due date came and went, and still no baby.  We were all getting quite anxious.  On Wednesday, July 20th, I had my last appointment.  I was told that I had not dialated and was only partially effaced.  That afternoon, I had an errand to run at the mall, so I decided to take a walk.  I walked from one end of the mall to the other and back again.  The following night I couldn't sleep, so I worked on the computer.  I started having some mild contractions and around midnight I started to lose my mucus plug.  I was unable to sleep, but did manage a few hours.  After my husband left for work, I lost the rest of the mucus plug.

For the rest of the morning and afternoon, the contractions kept coming but not with any consistency.  When my husband got home from work, we decided to go to the mall.  We thought the walking might help bring on the labor.  It did not help.

I didn't get much sleep Firday night.  Saturday was about the same, the contractions came and went.  Finally, late Sunday morning, I couldn't stand it any more and called the doctor.  I was told to report to the hospital.

When we arrived at the hospital, I was taken to a room, where they examined me.  Not much was going on, but decided I should stay for awhile.  I was hooked up to a fetal monitor and was given an IV.  The monitor showed that the baby was not responding to the contractions in the right way.  Her heart rate stayed the same through out the contraction and did not go up, like it should have.  At this point, no one was concerned. 

When the first IV was finished, a second one was started.  At this point, I was told to lay on my other side.  The nurse then told me to get on all fours.  At this time was when I knew something was wrong.  I heard someone say that the baby's heart rate had dropped and they thought the cord may be around her neck.  I started to panic.  There was alot of comotion going on in the room.  Nurses and residents were all around me.  One person was breaking my water and someone else was shaving me.  I was told that I was going in for a C-Section.  I remember as they wheeled me out of the room, I told my husband to call my parents.  Once I was in the operating room, the doctor told me to start counting and then I was out.

When I woke up after the C-Section, I was being wheeled to a room.  I remember asking the orderly, how the baby was.  He told me that the doctor would be in to see me.  The next thing I remember is my husband telling me that we had lost the baby.  The doctor came in and said that they had done everything possible.  At that point, I didn't even want to see Alaina.  If it wasn't for the urging of the doctor and nurse, I don't know if I would have seen her.

When the nurse, brought Alaina to me, I remember thinking that she looked perfect.  I must have held her for hours, while our family came in to see her too.  No one asked to hold her, mainly because they didn't want to take her away from me.

Alaina was brought into this world and taken from it on July 24, 1994 at 3:41 pm.  She weighed 8lbs 15.5 oz and was 20 inches long.

The autospy concluded that Alaina died due to a short umbilical cord.  Becasue the cord was so short, she didn't receive enough oxygen to parts of her brain and other organs.  The cord was only about 12 cm long, a normal cord is about 50 - 60 cm long.