The incredible Kristina Karrick, mother to Karolina Joy (Stillborn August 21, 2015)
Kristina and soon to be husband both come from traditional and conservative families. When they conceived their daughter prior to their wedding day, they were worried to tell their families. They decided to make the announcement and tell everyone on Valentine's Day and were thrilled that their families chose to be supportive. Kristina says that it's then she knew everything was going to be okay.
While she was excited to become a mother, Kristina was sick throughout her entire pregnancy. She developed gestational diabetes and was immediately considered high risk as a result. She continued to feel poorly and after finally getting her doctors to listen to her was admitted to the hospital due to concerns of preeclampsia. After a couple of days she was set to be discharged when monitoring showed she was contracting, 6 times in 45 minutes. They decided to keep her thinking she was in labor but she never had any more contractions. She did however, develop diabetic ketoacidosis and her doctors say that those fluke contractions saved her life.
Monitoring showed that Kristina's baby was doing well, but it became emergent to get her out and save Kristina. Karolina had a heartbeat when they took her into surgery but in the minute it took to get her out, passed away. Kristina was in a coma for the next three days but says that she just new her daughter hadn't made it. She was in and out of sedation and her family kept having to tell her what had happened. She thought she was having a nightmare until she came to, saw her dad there and knew it was real.
The cause of Karolina's death has never been fully determined and doctors have not been able to explain how or why Kristina's health took the turn that it did. Knowing she wants to have more children it has been a concern but her doctor has been incredibly supportive and says that they will be right beside her, doing whatever it takes to get her through.
Kristina says that not everyone sees her as a mother but she is one. Participating in this movement, to celebrate her daughter and acknowledge her motherhood is an important step in Kristina's journey.