Haven and Gideon’s unexpected child loss

SKYLERS STORY

What started as a healthy pregnancy ended in ways that most families do not have to experience

Our pregnancy was healthy aside from some early concerns that Skyler was a bit tinier then he should be, although by week 20 he had made huge progress and we were no longer concerned on any level

On Christmas Day at 12:30am (4 weeks

before our due date) I had concerns of Skyler not making any movements and therefor decided to go to the hospital to check on him

While there they did 30 minutes of checking his heart beat and movement which did not look good, his heartbeat was almost at a flat beat but still there. Next was to do an ultrasound. The ultrasound tech had 30 minutes to give Skyler a score of 0-10 ( 0 being poor health and 10 being healthy ). Skyler received a score of 2.

Once the doctor saw these results he decide to do a rushed C-section. I had one minute to call Gideon for him to get to the hospital with the other kids.

Skyler came out of the C-section not breathing, was instantly given 30 minutes of CPR and then LifeFlighted to another hospital.

Once we arrived at the same hospital as him we were able to learn a lot more about his conditions and how critical the first 48 hours of his life were going to be, we learned that Skyler had been having seizures and discussed giving Skyler a DNR which we agreed to since he had already had CPR and it would’ve been a lot on his tiny body to handle twice.

The medical team needed to get Skyler’s body temperature, blood pressure, oxygen levels and much more to a stable level. He was maxed out on all medicines. The biggest concern of all was that Skyler didn’t have brain activity which is what we needed to see improvement on.

The doctors were able to get his oxygen tank down from 100% to only taking in 26%, blood pressure to a normal range, heart rate up and a healthy heart rate.

However, by 48 hours Skyler’s brain had still not made any progress, ultimately bringing us to the decision of letting him pass on.

Skyler was cared for, loved and comforted until the very end, letting go at 7:25pm on December 27th.

One thing you don’t think of after losing a child or anyone is that life continues to move on. Bills don’t stop, caring for yourself or other kids doesn’t stop.

On top of normal life expenses we also need to worry about post mortem care and ways to keep Skyler’s memory alive.

Gideon works, but doesn’t get the same benefits of being able to pause work and still have an income.

Our goal is for us to comfortable be able to pay for our bills, post Mortem care, keeping the other kids happy and making sure we are staying sane without stressing money on top of the loss we are facing