On August 26, 2017 at 2:30am, Rhonda and her unborn son were rushed to the hospital. Only one of them would come back home alive..
Rhonda, who was 36 weeks pregnant, had a seizure which caused her umbilical cord to be severed from the placenta and her baby died instantly. After delivering the son she just lost, Rhonda began to bleed uncontrollably and went into shock. She too died that night.
Then, the unbelievable happened. Rhonda opened her eyes. She had been revived but the phenomena of being alive again felt bittersweet.
“At first I was angry with the doctors for bringing me back because I got to live and my baby didn’t. I just remember how hurt I was that they (the other mothers) got to go home with their babies and I couldn’t.”
When Rhonda returned home she felt like a shell of herself. How could she persevere? Why did this happen? “Sometimes as a mother when something tragic like this happens you really feel like you lose your purpose”, she said. Rhonda may have wavered but she didn’t crumble. She couldn’t because she had three other children and a husband that were counting on her.
It was then that she decided to refocus her life and honor the memory of the son she lost with a promise: “I will commit to helping other parents who experience the tragedy of losing a child at birth.”
Rhonda would never forget the night she lost her son. “Losing him still hurts, however knowing that I was the only person ever given the privilege to feel him grow inside me helps me everyday.”
“Did I tell you that we got to name him? His name was Carter”
(Rhonda, her husband and baby Carter)