Our Angel Arich

by Jennifer Hunter
(mommy to Arich)

Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999

Our story begins the week before on November 17 at about 2a.m. I started having sharp pains in my right side under my ribs. The pain got so bad that by 6a.m. We called my mom to watch our 2-year-old son Mykal while we went to the hospital. The doctor admitted me immediately for observation so they could find out what was wrong with me, run some tests, and make sure the baby was ok. I was getting pain pills about every 2 hours for the amount of pain I was in. The test results came back showing that I had a severe kidney infection. So I was put on antibiotics and monitored. About 8p.m. that night I went into labor with Arich. According to the ultrasound that I had had earlier that day I was 35 week along but the doctor wasn't sure because according to his calculations I was only 33 weeks so the doctor gave me Bretelene to stop the labor. The next day everything had been stable for about 12 hours or longer so the sent me home at about Noon on the 18th which was a relief for me and my 2-year-old. I was on almost complete bed rest to make sure that I didn't go back into labor. I was to go back to the doctor on Monday the 23rd for my normal doctor's appointment but if anything happened before that to go back to the hospital immediately. Everything was normal that whole week. For some reason my mom couldn't take me to the doctor (God's blessing) that Monday so my husband took off work to take me.

Everything seemed normal that day ( so I thought) the baby had kicked about 5a.m. and had been quite ever since which was normal for him through out my pregnancy. We finally got into the doctors office and the doctor measured my stomach and was trying to find the babies heart beat but he couldn't tell if he was getting mine or his ( anyone who has been on Bethelene knows that it increases your heart rate to between 100-110 then add on stress and it goes upward to 130). He thought he found the babies so he said he would see me next week just in case is date was wrong and I was farther along than he thought. So I had made appointment and was headed out the door when the doctor stopped us and said he already had someone in labor at the hospital so to follow him just to be on the safe side. We followed him into the doctor's parking lot and he snuck us up to the ob floor and had a nurse hook me up to a fetal monitor and to get a portable ultrasound machine. They were having a hard time finding the babies heart beat on the monitor but that was nothing new for this little one who liked to play hide and go seek already, but by then I was getting extremely nervous because the baby should have been mad and kicking like crazy because of all the poking and prodding. They were acting odd during the ultrasound. The nurse asked the doctor to get this buzzer thing that is suppose to wake the baby. the put the buzzer against my stomach and pushed the button but the baby didn't move. I asked the nurse if she could see the babies heart beat in the ultrasound because I couldn't and she said yes she thought she say some turbulence. The doctor and nurse decided that it would be a good idea if I went downstairs to a more sophisticated ultrasound machine to see what was going on., by then I was extremely scared.

Waiting for my turn was excruciating because I knew there was something wrong with my perfect baby boy. When we finally got in the technician started doing the ultrasound and we could tell by her facial expressions that it wasn't good. She said she would be right back. She came back into the room and the phone rang and she asked if it was Dr. Fernando( my OB/GYN) and gave me the phone immediately. That is when my world started crashing sown around me. He said he was sorry that the baby's heart had stopped beating and that they needed to deliver as soon as possible. I hung up the phone and had to tell my husband that our baby had died. We both lost it.

The technician wanted to take me back up to ob and get things started but I wasn't going anywhere until someone found my mom ( she was suppose to be up in day care with my grandma) but she had already left to go home . I called my grandma's house from the ultrasound room just in case she went there first and my mom answered the phone and I told her about the baby and if she would get to the hospital ASAP. She lost it and said she would be right there and asked my uncle to bring her. After I hung up my husband called his mom and told her and she said that she would be there as soon as she could find a sub( she is a teacher). Then we said we were ready to go to OB. When we got back up there they took me to the labor and deliver room and start getting everything rolling. I asked for an epidural immediately because under the circumstances I didn't want to feel anything. They said no problem they don't blame me and got 1 IV bag in me and started the epidural. By then my mom was there and said she had called and got my sister out of school and that she would be there shortly. She waited until my mother -in-law got there so someone was with us and went to the pay phone to have my dad's work page him and have him call the hospital. He called all right my grandma's room because he thought it was something with her but when he found out it wasn't her he knew he just get his butt for the hospital.

My labor started at 12:30 p.m. on November 23rd the worst day of my life!!! My mother- in-law called our pastor and left a message for her and she came to the hospital as soon as she got it. My mom , mother-in-law, and sister were there by about 2, my dad got there about 3:30 , and our pastor was there at about 5. Everyone that walked into my room I told not to cry because I didn't want to until I had to ( I think I was in denial). My dad left about 7:45 because he couldn't handle seeing me in pain any more.

By 8 they decided things were not progressing like they wanted them to so the doctor broke my water and by 8:45 I kicked everybody out of my room except my husband because our little boy was about to come into this world. At 8:51p.m. Arich Matthew Hunter was born and died. It was the worst thing that can happen to any parent losing a child. They cleaned him off a bit and immediately gave him to us to hold. He was perfect in every way 10 fingers and toes we didn't know why God decided to take Arich. He was our perfect little baby boy except for one thing he wasn't with us he was with God looking down on all of us.

Our family came in and we spent hours holding our baby and morning his loss. Arich weighed 6lb. 2 3/4 oz. and was 18 1/2 inches long. My husband and his mom went the next day to pick out and outfit to bury our son in and had to ask a salesperson to help and she said, "Aww an outfit to bring the new baby home in," and he wanted to tell the lady if you only knew. He got Arich a cream colored outfit with booties the outfit had teddy bears on it. We buried our son on November 27th the day after Thanksgiving. We had a graveside service and limited attendance to immediate family only so we wouldn't have to deal with a lot of people.

Saying goodbye to your child is the worst thing any parent has to go through. We didn't know what happened to our perfect little boy until I went to the doctor two weeks later for my check-up and the doctor told us the pathology lab had sent the placenta to Mayo Clinic in Rochester to be analyzed further and he would call us as soon as he heard anything. That day at about 4:30 in the afternoon the doctor called and said he was told that there was a blood clot in the incoming vessel of the umbilical cord and no oxygen could get to the baby. He also said it was just a freak accident just like a perfectly healthy 40 year old having a heart attack.

Jennifer Hunter
(mommy to Arich)