Infant and child l.oss is a problem that does not receive nearly the amount of attention and awareness that it needs. It’s tough to talk about a woman who has had a miscarriage or a child who has only been on this planet for a few hours. A mom who had her lost baby daughter in her arms for a short time before passing away has a similar experience.
Alyssa Young and her husband were extremely happy for their first child, whom they named Scarlett. Alyssa Young’s pregnancy was considered to be at high risk because she was suffering from cerebral palsy and diabetes type 2. Justin and Alyssa Young met as teens 7 years ago, and they immediately fell in love and started planning a life together. They wanted to have kids and a lovely family. In September 2016, Alyssa went for an ultrasound. She was pregnant at 19 weeks and 6 days. The baby was alright. Despite being diabetic and with cerebral palsy, Alyssa was doing everything in her power to make sure baby Scarlet was okay.
Doctors insisted she and Scarlett were well, but Alyssa got the feeling something wasn’t right. On October 3, Alyssa was transported to the Labor & Delivery unit, where physicians explained why she was in such excruciating agony.
“When we arrived at the hospital, the kind nurses made sure I was comfortable… Once I was settled in, the on-call obstetrician came in to do an exam. He told us that I was either suffering from Incompetent Cervix or my body was trying to miscarry our beautiful baby girl.”
The doctors performed an ultrasound to make sure the baby was fine and healthy but despite the magnesium in the body, Alyssa’s cervix continued to expand. She was suffering from cervical incompetence which is a condition that affects 1 in every 100 women. At 20 weeks and 5 days, Scarlett was just too young to survive the long past labor. Young’s husband made sure that everyone in the family was present for the procedure to say hello and farewell to their daughter Scarlett. However, for the two hours that Scarlet spent on our world, her loving parents and numerous relatives were present to greet her and wish her farewell.
Special two hours of Scarlett with her family was captured by her own grandmother. Scarlett could not survive for more than two hours, but her mother is inspiring others to come and speak up about cervical incompetence.
She writes, “As I held her, she gasped for breath. I told her that I was so sorry. I told her I loved her. I told her it was okay to let go. Seeing your child dying and knowing that there is nothing you can do to save them, it’s a terrible feeling. You’re helpless. Everyone took their turns and held her. Everyone got to love her. That’s all she ever experienced was love.”
Scarlett survived for just two hours, but in those two hours, she was held and loved and attended to by her entire family and was held and cherished by her mom the whole time.
That’s sad but still nice. They even took many photos of her and started a Facebook page to help out other mothers experiencing the same problem as Alyssa’s. That’s quite an achievement, all in the name of little Scarlet. I like that.
