Support Barrie and Shari After Tragic Loss

My name is Barrie Smith. On 7/22/2024, my 26-week pregnant wife Shari was admitted to the hospital due to headaches and a recurring loss of vision. After being admitted, doctors had done many scans along with blood tests and ruled out preeclampsia. My wife later received a diagnosis of Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension and was told that she had a buildup of fluid on her brain. The doctors performed a spinal tap to remove excess fluid and relieve pressure on her brain.

On 7/29/2024, my wife had a procedure to place a stent in a collapsed vein located in her brain. This would allow the fluid to drain normally on its own. Before the surgery, we were assured that the anesthesia used would be safe for the baby and that the procedure was minimally invasive. We were also told that there would be two teams present, one for my wife and one for our daughter in the event that anything went wrong.

After the surgery was completed, the medical team removed the breathing tube from my wife and began to wake her up. Before she woke up, our daughter's heart rate began to drop and my wife had to be intubated again. An emergency c-section was performed but our daughter was having difficulty breathing. CPR was performed and she was intubated. There was a leak in the breathing tube so she had to be intubated with a larger tube. The medical staff worked on our daughter for 21 minutes. She was transferred to NICU in critical condition while my wife was transferred to ICU for recovery.

Our beautiful baby girl fought for roughly 2 hours but passed away minutes before I was taken to the NICU. About 4 hours would pass before my wife would wake up in ICU asking me how the surgery went and repeatedly asking me why her stomach hurts so bad. It was then that I had to tell her that while she was under anesthesia, they performed an emergency c-section and that our daughter had passed away.

This has been extremely hard on us physically, mentally, and emotionally. Leading up to the surgery, our daughter was always very active in the womb and healthy. I fell asleep every night in the hospital to the sound of her strong heartbeat on the fetal monitor. The night before surgery my wife was making sure we had everything in order as far as her life insurance was concerned, in the event that anything happened to her. We never imagined that we would not get the chance to hold our baby while she was alive… Our world has been turned upside down as we try to fully comprehend what and why it happened. We have made funeral arrangements for our beautiful girl and I have been praying for the strength to continue to support my wife emotionally and physically while working as I am self-employed in the Autobody and collision field.