With Covid, being pregnant during a pandemic has changed this journey significantly, and presented new challenges for expecting mothers especially when it comes to your support system. From receiving the best news of your life to the worst, these women have had to do it without their partners, and friends and family.

For anyone out there that’s suffered from pregnancy loss, you are not alone. It’s hard to imagine anything more heartbreaking than losing a child and not everyone may understand what you are going through. As part of our “Pregnancy Through a Pandemic” maternity photo shoot, mom-to-be Krystal, shared her experience with pregnancy loss.

KRYSTAL’S STORY

In October we found out we were pregnant and were beyond excited at the news. However, there were so many uncertainties because of Covid, we knew this pregnancy may look a little different compared to my previous ones. Making my first doctors appointment was when I knew how different this pregnancy experience was going to be, with the first appointment being a phone call and then the second appointment was a video call, it just felt so impersonal. This was only the beginning of appointments that would look different during these trying times. Heading into my first ultrasound appointment by myself, because my husband wasn’t allowed to come due to covid restrictions was a difficult one. Anxiously laying there while the ultrasound tech moved the wand around on my belly, I asked if there was a heartbeat and she said yes so I sighed with relief, I then asked if there was one or two and with a smirk on her face she said two!! TWINS!! I burst into tears out of excitement but also disappointment because my husband wasn’t there to get to enjoy this special moment with me. I rushed to his office right after and told him the exciting news.

Two months later I started to have some complications and had to go to emergency. My husband brought me in and we were told he could not come in with me. Having no idea if my babies were ok and now I have to sit in emergency by myself because of covid restrictions was frustrating to say the least. I got some bloodwork and an ultrasound done and anxiously waited for the results which felt like an eternity. The doctor finally came to see me after 7 hours of waiting by myself to tell me that one of my twins had Cystic Hygroma. I had no idea what this meant as I’ve never heard of this and asked what it was or meant, he told me it was a growth on the baby and that my doctor would call me in a few days to discuss it and he sent me on my way. Leaving the hospital I have never felt more alone in a moment of need and so much confusion. I called the doctor the next day and he explained a little more and sent us to a specialist at Children’s hospital.

We had a special ultrasound done which showed us that our baby boy was healthy but unfortunately showed us that our baby girl was very sick and had a zero percent chance of surviving. Heartbroken and overwhelmed we had to make a very tough decision and say goodbye to our little girl at 13 weeks. This was the toughest thing we have ever had to do, we are incredibly grateful that our baby boy is healthy but saddened that we lost our baby girl. One of the hardest parts of going through all of this, was not having the comfort of friends and family like we would have pre covid. These were definitely tough times for us and really made us appreciate life prior to covid. Being pregnant through these trying times has been difficult to say the least but we are looking forward to meeting our precious baby boy in July and hoping the world will be well on its way back to normalcy by then.