John and I were both surprised and ecstatic when we found out that I was pregnant. This was our first pregnancy so we had no idea what to expect. I had a perfect pregnancy with only an occasional queasiness. We would get so excited watching my belly move when our little girl was making her presence known. We would even play guess the body part as we watched her tumble, roll and swoop across my stomach.

In my ninth month, we were just putting the finishing touches on the nursery. My pregnancy had been completely uneventful. Then, late one night I suddenly awoke to a gushing sensation. I assumed that my water had broken, so I jumped out of bed, rushed to the bathroom and was shocked to discover that I was covered in blood! We rushed to the hospital and our baby was immediately put on a monitor. She showed no signs of distress. The bleeding had slowed to spotting by the time we had arrived at the hospital, so the doctor decided to monitor her until morning. When morning arrived, I was sent for a level II sonogram. The perinatologist, while finding no cause for the bleeding, did confirm that we had a robust, healthy baby girl. We left the hospital that morning slightly shaken but also reassured from the doctor’s findings. We were beaming with pride and excitement that it wouldn’t be much longer until we would finally be meeting our daughter.

Later that evening, I was again abruptly awakened by a gushing sensation. Once again, I was convinced that my water must have broken. I quickly made my way to the bathroom. As I turned the lights on, I discovered that I was covered in blood, and this time the blood was still running out of me. We immediately contacted the oncall doctor, who told us not to worry and just go back to bed, assuming that the bleeding had slowed to spotting. We were again pretty shaken, but given the experience we’d had the night before and the doctor’s reassurance, we decided that we would go back to bed. I remember lying there and feeling my baby kick. After several hours of lying wide awake in bed, I finally dozed off. When morning came, I awoke and tried hard to remember the last time I felt my baby girl move. I quickly sensed that something was wrong. I became really nervous as I tried several proven techniques to get her to stir…..drinking juice….no luck, hot shower…..nothing, pushing and poking at her…..still nothing. We immediately contacted the oncall doctor again. He instructed us to meet him at the hospital right away. We knew at that point that something was seriously wrong. With dread, I picked up my hospital bag that we had packed for the upcoming joyous day.

Once we arrived at the hospital, the nurses began attempting to find our baby girl’s heartbeat on the monitor. It seemed like they searched for hours! After several attempts, they mumbled that she must be hiding from them and told us to just wait for the doctor. When the doctor arrived, he began to search for heart activity with a sonogram. It was then that John and I saw our precious baby girl’s heart and knew that she was no longer with us. The doctor continued with the sonogram and then finally confirmed that she had passed away.

At that point our world came crashing down. It had to be a mistake! This can’t be happening to us! We were told less than 24 hours before what a perfect baby we had! With our hearts broken and our heads still spinning, the decision was made to induce labor almost immediately. It was at that point that we had to pull ourselves together and think about how we wanted to spend the short time that we had with our little angel.

The induction began and it was then that we contacted a close friend who had also suffered a similar loss. He quickly came to our support and counseled us from his experience. We had no idea where to even begin. Our nurses also began grief counseling and helped us plan how we would spend our brief moments with our little girl once she arrived. Given that my body was not ready to deliver, I was in labor for 27 hours. Most of that time was a blur and we were pretty numb.

Allison Marie Schryver finally arrived on December 31, 2001. She was beautiful. She weighed 6lbs. 11oz. and had a full head of dark hair. It wasn’t until after her birth that the doctor determined that the cause of death was vasa previa. As we held her and cried, we counted all 10 fingers and toes as any new parent would. She was perfect in every way. We spent some private time with our minister and baptized our little angel. We bathed her and several family members held her and said their goodbyes. John and I spent time just trying to memorize every inch of her, knowing that this little gift was not meant for us to keep. Even though she never breathed a breath of air in this world, it warms our heart to know that our precious little Ally has made a difference in the lives of many people.

John and Kristy Schryver