Support Cleo After Baby Liv's Loss

Hello everyone! My name is Mary Cabarles. April 16, 2025 was the day we were very excited about as we are welcoming the newest member of our family. My sister, Cleo (based in the Philippines), is scheduled for her second C-section on that day to deliver her second child.

All prenatals, which she goes to almost every 2 weeks were normal and good and baby's movement were also very good even up until moments before the operation started. She also did a total of 5 ultrasounds, 2 pelvic, 1 congenital anomaly scan, and 2 of them were done a week and a day before the operation. The last 2 was Biophysical Profile and a non-stress test which evaluates fetal heart rate, breathing movements, body movements, muscle tone, and amniotic fluid volume to determine if the baby is receiving adequate oxygen and nutrients. All results of the ultrasounds were normal including the last 2 BPP's which reassured my sister.

April 16, 2025 at exactly 6:45 AM, they started administering the anesthesia. 7:20 AM was when the operation started. Everything was going well, anesthesiologist even told Cleo, "just relax all your vital signs are looking good". Until Cleo felt 2 or 3 people pushing from her upper abdomen down and she kept on saying she cannot breathe but the anesthesiologist told her they're trying to get the baby out and then all she heard are people seems to be not knowing what to do. She heard someone said to call the Consultant and the exact words the doctor said when the consultant answered was "We're having difficulties extracting the baby, doc" that was the last thing that she remembered happened before she was put to sleep. She didn't see the baby or heard her cry.

When she woke up, still in the operating room, the doctor went to her and told her what had happened. She explained that the baby was brought to NICU as she needed to be intubated because when she's out she was blue, not moving and not crying. She said she was already able to hold the baby but it slipped back inside the uterus and turned so they had a hard time extracting her. She said it took them 9 MINUTES to retrieve her from slipping back. The exact time the baby was out was 8:05 AM.

By the way, they named her Liv Amari.

Heartbroken, my sister has to deal with post-op requirements and meds, including being able to stand up, so she can go see the baby at the NICU. She was able to stand up on her own at night and was allowed to go down to NICU the next day.

This is what she would be greeted to when she comes in to NICU. She's on vent, lots of meds, vitals machines, and she's also given a medicine to calm her down so she would not mess her tube up. Every time they visit, the doctor would tell them she's still in a very critical condition.

Come Friday, April 18, 2025 at around 2:00 PM, they called Cleo and her husband to get down to NICU ASAP. Cleo and her husband was greeted with all the doctors and nurses all around the Liv. The doctor said they can't stabilize her vitals. Her oxygen kept going down as well as her heart rate. They needed to manually bag her so her oxygen would go up but they've been doing it for over 2 hours already. They were also having a hard time extracting blood (to do some tests) from her as her pulse are also hard to find, explains why her arms and legs looks so bad.

The doctors were kind of telling them to prepare themselves for the worse and asked them to sign a paper to Allow Natural Death. They didn't sign it at that time, instead they asked if Liv's sister could come and see her.

Later at night, they were asked to come down again and at that time, looking at Liv's state and hearing all doctors comments and suggestions, they have decided to sign to Allow Natural Death for her. They just didn't want her poor body to suffer any longer. This was the time they were allowed to carry the baby Liv for a very little time.

Saturday morning, the doctor called them again and said Liv was showing so much improvement, its almost like a miracle and that its hard for them to just allow natural death. The parents of course was very happy hearing the news and told the doctors to continue with the medications and everything to save her.

She turned from being very pale to pinkish on that day and all her bruises were gone.

She was doing very good for about four days. Vent settings were slowly put down, other meds were already discontinued, she was peeing and pooping on her own and even started to feed.

But on wednesday, April 23, 2025, on her xray, her lungs was filled with phlegm and the doctors said its another infection, probably pneumonia. They changed her antibiotics and she was on close monitoring again.

Friday, April 25, 2025, Cleo and her husband were asked to sign another paper to Allow Natural Death again. Cleo saw her eyes, she's struggling to breath and obviously was having a really hard time. With a heavy heart, instead of saying "fight, baby", Cleo whispered in her ear "its okay baby. If you're tired, you can go ahead and rest already."

This was the last time she's in her mama's arms. No more vents, meds and vitals monitoring but also with no more heart beat..

OUR BABY DIDN'T MAKE IT!!!

Now the family is faced with another challenge which is clearing off the hospital bill.

After 9 days in the NICU, the total hospital bill went up to Php432,987.09 (USD7,760).

All their savings were used up from Cleo's hospital bill when she was discharged 4 days after her operation, to being admitted again on April 22, 2025 because her BP went up so high. They were also buying baby Liv's everyday supplies and meds out of pocket that was around Php10,000 (USD180) per day.

With mine and other family members help, its still not enough to cover everything.

Anything will help and would be appreciated beyond measure.

Our hearts, especially my sisters and her family, needs the most healing of all.

We ask for your prayers for them and for baby Liv Amari.