We found out we were pregnant with our second child in June of 2011.  We had wanted our first daughter, Lillian, to have a sibling.  Three years apart seemed like a good age difference, which is how old Lily would be when this baby was born.  The due date was February 25, 2012.

We first hired a doula, as Lindsey wanted a natural birth.  After meeting with the doula and different providers, we decided to have a home birth with a certified nurse midwife for this pregnancy.  Lindsey thought this would be the best way to experience less fear and anxiety during the labor, which would better for a natural birth.  We were also going to have a spa available for water birth to decrease the chance of a tear.  Lindsey had suffered a 4th degree tear with Lily’s birth.

At our 20 week ultrasound, we found out we were having another girl.  Lily would have a baby sister!  Then we got a call from the midwife that they wanted us to have another ultrasound due to the fact that our first one was questionable for a possible cleft lip and some hydrocephalus.  We were referred to a maternal fetal medicine specialist and genetic counseling office.  We had the ultrasound there which was the worst ultrasound experience ever because the ultrasound tech would not say much.  It was like sitting on pins and needles not knowing what they were seeing on the exam.  Then the doctor came in and told us that our baby girl had several birth defects that pointed to some kind of chromosomal abnormality.  We had an amniocentesis that day which later confirmed that our baby was a full trisomy 13.

We were just devastated to learn this and know that there was a large chance that our baby would not live long even if she made it to term.  We knew that she had a pretty severe heart defect which caused her to have only the left side of her heart.  She also had a cleft lip and palate, micrognathia, hydrocephalus, small eyes, kidney abnormalities, and extra fingers and toes.  As we faced the reality of this diagnosis, it was a very difficult time.  Thanks to the prayers of so many people, God granted us with His peace.  We decided that due to the many severe defects of our little one, we would only pursue comfort care after her birth.  Lindsey would continue to carry her until God decided to call her home to heaven.  We decided to continue with home birth as we believed that it would offer us a very ideal setting to spend the precious time with our baby at birth.

God had another plan in mind for us.

At 32 weeks, Lindsey’s blood pressure started to rise.  The midwife was concerned about pre-eclampsia, so she ordered labs and was preparing to refer us back to the maternal fetal medicine specialist group again.  The day Lindsey had labs drawn to determine what was going on, Lindsey developed a severe stomach pain and the blood pressure had shot up to 190.  The midwife told us to go to the hospital right away.  We had all of the testing done again since the original ones were not back yet.  The on call ObGyn was able to confirm that Lindsey did have pre eclampsia.  Lindsey was started on magnesium to prevent seizures.  The doctor stated that Lindsey was one of the sickest patient’s she had cared for in a long time.  The only cure was to deliver the baby.  We made a tough decision to begin induction of labor.  Knowing that the induction might take a long time due to being on a magnesium drip, the physician was concerned about Lindsey’s health.  The next round of labs drawn just 4 hours later showed drastic worsening of the pre-eclampsia and we had to abandon the induction to perform an urgent c-section.

We knew our little girl had a very small chance of survival and the nurses were just wonderful with us.  We were blessed with about 75 minutes to hold and love on her until she died in Lindsey’s arms.  Lily got to hold her baby sister for a short time while she was still alive.  Lindsey got to put her small body skin to skin as well.  We were blessed to have Lindsey’s doula there who helped and took plenty of pictures.  We named the baby Jaycee Rapunzel.  J is for joy and C is for comfort.  Rapunzel is the name that Lily gave her.  The funny thing is, she did have golden hair.

Jaycee Rapunzel Baugh
Born 12/31/11 at 6:56 am
Died 12/31/11 at 8:10 am
2 lbs. 6.4 oz. 15 in.

Joe, Lindsey, and Lily Baugh