In January of 2009 we found out that we were expecting our first child. We both were so excited when we saw the test come back postive, 2 actually. Didn't really know what to expect on the first one, so we called the Dr. and made an appointment for January 19th, 2009 to get our due date and see how far along Niki truly was.
On Jan 19th, 2009 we were so nervous but yet excited being this was our first child. At the appointment the Dr. checked Niki but then much to our surprise he did an ultra-sound. We all were aMAIZEd that we could see anything, but we were soon staring at what looked liked a little "peanut" with a strong heartbeat. At that moment I looked at Niki and told her, "We are parents mama."
We had a couple of bumps along the way, but nothing out of the ordinary. The doctor had us check Niki's blood levels at one point to make sure they were in line with where they were supposed to be. That day honestly scared me, you never know how much you can love someone, till you get the thought in your mind of losing them for the first time. But tests came back a-okay ;-)
Finally we went in for the big day to see what the sex of the baby was, 05/18/2009... one of the best days of our lives, when we got to see our beautiful Maizy Lynn for the first time. When I saw her for the first time it honestly made my knees weak and almost made me cry. She looked perfect. I finally got to see what was coming to my hands at night and what i could hear when I put my head on mama's belly!!! So beautiful!! In these 2 photos she is waving to us, and she turned over to look at us!! ;-)
From that appointment to July everything was going smoothly, Niki was starting to feel better. The Dr's even said that it was a "perfect" pregnancy up to this point.
We were on vacation in South Carolina with her family, which was a much needed break. On a Monday night we all were sitting watching T.V. and laughing at Maizy pushing our cell phones off Niki's belly, it truly was the funniest thing ever. Little did we know that, that was the last time we would feel or hear our little baby girl again.
The next morning Niki woke up with a bad headache, and told me that she didn't feel Maizy move around. I was like "that's not like our girl", so we asked her mom and she said sometimes babies need time to rest too. We went about our day, about 2 hours later Niki still wasn't feeling good so we came back upstairs from the beach to lay down. After a little nap still no movement. (As parents we are starting to get worried) but her mom and grandmother did their best to calm us down, and so we went out for dinner that night, but it was still in the back of our minds "Why isn't our lil Maizy Lynn moving around yet?"
The next day, Wednesday, we woke up and still no movement. We began to freak out and decided to call our Dr. back in KY. He told us to go to the local hospital to get an ultra-sound so we can calm down since up till now everything had been fine. We agreed, and plus it would be nice to see how big my baby girl is going to be anyways. We arrived at the hospital in South Carolina and the nurses hooked Niki up to what I call the "Noise Maker". They say they are having trouble telling the difference between Niki's heart beat and what seems to be the baby's heartbeat. Niki's heart rate is pretty high at this moment. We were both feeling a little overwhelmed at this point, but doing our best to stay calm. I remember that they moved the "noise maker" below Niki's belly button and I swore that I heard Maizy's heart beat just from the way it sounded and felt to my hand. They asked me if I was for sure because of how high Niki's heart rate was. I was a little shocked at that question, that's when they said they were going to do an ultra-sound.
They called in the Dr. on call to do an emergency ultra sound. I was pumped to get to see Maizy and her heart beat!?!.. I'll never forget this day!! They turned on a monitor that was no bigger than a 12-inch t.v. The Dr. started at the head where we could still see blood working in and out of Maizy's body, then for some reason the Dr. went all the way to the feet, slowly working her way up. I couldn't help but notice that as she worked her way up it was still "grey"!!! She came up to what I thought looked like the chest, stoppped there, put the doppler down, looked at Niki and I and said the words that NO PARENT wants to hear, "I'M SORRY THERE'S NO HEART BEAT."
At that moment i felt like my life flashed in front of me. I asked her if she was kidding, and demanded she did the thing again only to see the same result. I instantly fell into my wife's arms and started to cry. Our Treasure, Our Angel, Maizy Lynn had passed away as a "stillborn" at 32 weeks!
We flew home that day, and the next morning checked into St. Elizabeth @ 9:00 a.m. on Thursday,July 30th 2009, with Niki being 32 weeks pregnant. They did another ultra-sound to comfirm what was true. They took us upstairs and put us in our room where we met the best nurse in the world, Heather. She stayed with us from beginning till end, and made sure we had everything we wanted and made sure Niki was comfortable and took the best care of Maizy when she was born. She truly was an Angel sent to us.
On July 31st, 2009 @ 10:07 a.m. we finally got to see our baby girl the way we had imagined her to be. She was so beautiful. 3lbs 11oz, 18inches long. She had a full head of dark hair (when/if you look at the slide show on the first page you will see who she looks like.) ;-)
Not a day goes by that we don't think about our baby girl!! We know that she is constantly sending us signs of how she is doing. She knows that we love her just as we know that she loves us! Looking forward to the next sign that she sends to us! Love you so much Maizy Lynn! Love you Forever and always : Your Mom and Dad!!!
