Hello All,

This go fund me is set up to assist with medical expenses and bills accrued during the pregnancy and loss of Lily Grace, our daughter. Lily Grace, will know no pain or heart break as she now watches over us from heaven above, we will allow that to be a small blessing in this chapter of our lives.

Earlier this year in early March… my husband and I found out our much anticipated rainbow baby would be arriving this November. As many people in our shoes do after experiencing loss, we waited to publicly share the news until after the first trimester. As we watched our baby grow, hearing the steady beating of her heart, seeing her face start to be recognizable, watching her move during ultrasounds. We felt as though it was “safe to share the news”.

When people would ask us “Do you want a boy or a girl” our response was always “We don’t care, we just a healthy baby”.

This July…As we approached our anatomy scan, our heads were filled with potential gender reveal plans, baby shower ideas, mild stressing over the intersection of intimacy and inclusion for the next chapter of our lives with a baby. We were headed into our anatomy scan. Excited. Hopeful. So full of future plans. You see we had began to purchase baby necessities; a crib, a stroller, a car seat, a monitor, a bouncer, a bottle warmer etc… we were nesting. We were preparing. Our minds consumed with an hopeful future. A future that would be entirely rewritten as our doctor informed us that our baby had “multiple abnormalities” probably chromosomal in nature.

It was no longer about the gender reveal plans, the baby shower, the potential for hair bows and envisioning what our mini us would look like. Eliminated was the future we hoped for our rainbow child, what remained was another season of life’s storms to survive.

Multiple Abnormalities. How bad could these really be? That’s what I was thinking when I first heard. Searching for hope, my mind wandered. My non medical brain attempted to soothe myself with thoughts along the lines of “many people live with Down syndrome that’s a chromosomal issue. Maybe it won’t be that bad… she still has a chance.” After being referred to a specialist it was confirmed that she not only had multiple abnormalities, but these abnormalities were fatal.

Sharing our story my intention is not to put fear into potential parents hearts. The odds of a Chromosomal issue in pregnancy are low.

Roughly 3-5%.

What we we’re facing is a bit more complex…. You see humans on a cellular level are created with chromosomes. We all have them, 23 sets (each containing 2 pairs of chromosomes for 46 chromosomes total).

Unbeknownst to me, there was a thing called “triploidy”. What that essentially means is where a baby should have 46 individual chromosomes, they have 69. Where you should have a pair of chromosomes, you get 3. The odds of this even happening in pregnancy are around 2%. And in the 2% a HIGH percentage of triploidy pregnancies will never make it out of the first trimester. I however was 21 weeks pregnant…. So maybe that’s not what’s happening to our baby girl. The odds are too small. The likelihood of a triploidy pregnancy making it to a heartbeat is around 1%. So this couldn’t possibly be what’s happening..

The odds of a baby living a life with “triploidy”? 0%. This is a fatal diagnosis for a baby. About a week after our specialist visit, our amniocentesis results came back. Lily Grace had triploidy. 

This July, we found out our rainbow baby was a girl.

This July, our hearts and world shattered as we lost our daughter to an uncontrollable, unpredictable, devastating diagnosis.

So this August, as we grieve and mourn our baby girl, we attempt to repair what’s been broken. Repair our hearts and begin to reconstruct our future plans moving forward. A future without our daughter.

We have set up this go fund me so that people who seek to support us during this storm can donate, so that we can repay the medical bills and cremation fees.

Lily Grace might not get to know the world, but the world will know her. Just through us, and that will have to be enough.

Thank You for taking the time to read, to share in our grief, to pray for our daughter, and to lessen the burdens we’re carrying.