Amelia Kate: Our Brave Little Fighter

Hello Family & Friends, we want to start off by saying surprise we are pregnant with baby #3. Sadly, this isn’t the way we would’ve liked to tell you.

December 17th, 2024 we found out we were pregnant with our second little girl. We were scared and grateful but as time went on, we found out this was going to be a high risk pregnancy; higher than expected.

We celebrated our little angel early, as we weren’t sure how the rest of this pregnancy was going to go. On April 11th, 2025 we had our anatomy scan, and were told the baby has a deformed rib on the left side. We were sent to a special type of high risk doctor to evaluate the situation. The high risk doctor did an hour and half anatomy scan, then sat us down in the office to let us know, she has isolated malformations of her left rib; extremely rare. Our provider did not think this would have affected her in her future, so we decided to monitor her.

Today, May 13th, 2025, we received the most unpleasant news. Our little girl has an infection. This infection is what caused her rib malformation, and has now spread to her whole stomach. Now this can be, 1 of 5 infections and unfortunately the survival rates are not high for any of them. This infection has affected the baby’s bowels and can potentially lead to a bowel obstruction in the womb. If the bowel obstruction does happen, it can be life threatening for me and the baby.

Treatment plans, there is none until she is here; which can be in 3 weeks, or 15 weeks. Depending on the severity of the infection, she will undergo multiple surgeries, before we even get to hold her, if we get to.

We are sad, we are scared, we are uncertain of the outcome.

Zachery, is getting some time off with work once the baby is delivered, but not much. With her having to undergo many surgeries, he is taking unpaid time off to support me, Braxton, and Brooke.

And as many know, Zach got out of the military June of 2024 and we no longer have Tricare, as his specific retirement did not offer insurance, so we are paying out of pocket.

All funds will be going to our sweet Amelia Kate’s, surgeries, nicu stays, and/ or funeral expenses. We appreciate everyone’s prayers the past month, it’s truly means a lot. Please be respectful during this time, no questions please and we will update as we find out. Even if you can’t donate, prayers are always welcomed.

Thank you,

the smith’s.