A DEVASTATED woman has revealed that her doctor dropped her stillborn baby on his head during the delivery – and tried to comfort her by saying she “could always have more children”.
Kristal Amezquita was 23 years old when she found out her and her partner of three months Diego were expecting a baby.
In a personal essay for Love What Matters, Kristal wrote: “Since I was a young girl, I knew I wanted to be a mom. I’ve always joked that I was put on earth to be a mom.”
Although Kristal claims her dad was “sad and disappointed” to find out she was pregnant, her parents urged her not to rush into marriage or move out the family home.
After the 12 week scan, Kristal and Diego announced the happy news on social media and had a photoshoot in their hometown of Temecula, California.
What’s more, Kristal recalled how she “had the most normal pregnancy ever” – and only rarely suffered from morning sickness and craved fruit and vegetables.
In April, the couple hosted a gender reveal party and were delighted to discover they were expecting a baby boy and settled on the name Ian Max.
But when she was five months into her pregnancy, the expectant mother began to experience pain in her stomach which she later discovered were contractions.
As she sat down for dinner one Sunday evening, Kristal felt a sharp pain which she knew wasn’t normal and decided to lie down.
“When I woke up, the pain was back,” she recalled. “It was a piercing pain that came every 5-10 minutes or so.”
Considering it was a Sunday evening, Kristal and Diego decided to wait to call the hospital until Monday morning.
Although Kristal was seen by a doctor straight away the following day, she could still feel baby Ian “tossing and turning” and his heart rate came back normal.
As Kristal had her 21-week ultrasound booked the next day, the doctor said it was most likely “growing pains” and that her appointment the following day would highlight any areas of concern.
The next day, Kristal woke up in even worse pain which prevented her from going to work and went back to sleep instead of going to hospital.
She said: “I wish I would have done things differently. I wish I would have just listened to my gut telling me something was wrong.”
When Diego finished work at 5pm, Kristal told him to take her to the ER where doctors informed her that she was already in labour and leaking the amniotic fluid her baby needed to survive.
It was at this point that Kristal was told they could either speed up her labour with medication or allow her body to take its course – she chose the latter.
When her waters broke, Kristal said it dawned on her that she was losing her baby and Ian was born shortly after.
She continued: “After two pushes, I was asked if I wanted to hold him but I wanted to deliver the placenta first.
“I was so in shock, the [doctor] who delivered Ian dropped him when he came out and kept saying to me, ‘It’s okay, you’re young, you’ll have more, YOU are okay.’
“My mom said she felt like he was going to be thrown away with all the trash – the way [they] handled Ian.
“Since Ian was so tiny, he kind of slid right out and they failed to catch him.”
Even though Ian was born before Kristal entered her third trimester, she could tell that he had inherited his dad’s long, thin body even though he was just 10 ounces.
That evening, Kristal’s doctor called her to apologise for not recognising the signs of labour and the grieving mum later found out that she had an incompetent cervix which resulted in an infection in the placenta.
Diego and Kristal remained in hospital for two days before they had to say goodbye to their son.
An overnight nurse at the hospital created a memory box with their son’s things, including a plaque of his tiny hands and feet.
Kristal said: “He is never forgotten and he is always in our thoughts and prayers. I know he is in my heart and that gives me comfort.”
You can follow Kristal’s blog Dear Ian Max here or follow her on Instagram here.
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