The heartbreaking moment a doctor dropped a mum's stillborn baby

Kristal Amezquita has opened up about her heartbreaking loss. Photo / Kristal Amezquita

An American has told how her dreams of motherhood were cruelly taken away from her and how one doctor's heartless comments led to her sharing her experience so that other women "never feel alone".

In 2017, Kristal Amezquita was pregnant with her first child, still living at home and in a new relationship with partner Diego.

She was terrified of how her family might react when she shared the news, but they were supportive, with her father telling her: "You are not alone. We are still your parents and our home is your home."

Kristal Amezquita had only been with her partner Diego for three months when she fell pregnant. Photo / Kristal Amezquita

An ultrasound later showed the baby was a boy, revealed when the couple broke open a piñata that showered them with blue confetti.

"We were beyond excited. Although everyone just asks for a healthy baby, we knew we wanted a boy."

The couple named the child Ian Max, she wrote in a personal blog post on Love What Matters.

The pregnancy was straightforward, with Amezquita only experiencing a little nausea, until she suddenly felt sharp pains while eating a meal.

She went to her doctor in the morning who reassured her that everything was okay after an ultrasound showed her baby moving normally.

Early scans showed a healthy pregnancy. Photo / Kristal Amezquita

"He was perfectly perfect, tossing and turning in my belly," she said.

"His heart rate was great and nothing seemed to be wrong. She said I was probably just experiencing growing pains since I was almost 21 weeks."

'I knew in my heart this was not normal'

The morning Amezquita woke in extreme pain, but instead of seeking medical help, she went back to sleep.

"I wish I would have done things differently. I wish I would have just listened to my gut telling me something was wrong," she said.

When she eventually went to hospital that evening the pain was so severe that she could barely move.

"I couldn't take the pain anymore, I started crying, I knew in my heart this was not normal, something was wrong with my Ian Max," she wrote.

After a scan, doctors reassured here that Ian was moving, saying "he's having fun in there! He's jumping around", but the tragic reality of the situation was soon revealed when an examination showed that amniotic fluid was leaking and Amezquita was technically in labour - at 21 weeks.

An infection in the placenta meant that her body was fighting the pregnancy and her baby was unlikely to survive.

"How did I go from being so excited to turn 21 weeks and see my baby growing in my belly to knowing I would not leave the hospital with him?" she said.

"I didn't want to do anything, I wanted this to be a nightmare I'd wake up from. I was really losing my baby – that is when I completely lost it."

'He was going to be thrown away with all the trash'

Amezquita was rushed to another to bed to deliver her son. "All I remember were bright lights and hearing 'Push! Keep pushing! He's almost out!" she said.

After two pushes the tiny Ian Max was delivered stillborn and in a horrifying moment the attending doctor dropped him.

Amezquita wrote: "The OB who delivered Ian dropped him when he came out, and kept saying to me, 'It's okay, you're young, you'll have more, you are okay'.

"How can you tell me I'm okay when I just lost my son?! I couldn't believe what had just happened.

"My mom said she felt like he was going to be thrown away with all the trash – the way the OB handled Ian. Since Ian was so tiny, he kind of slid right out and they failed to catch him."

'I'm so sorry'

When she finally got to hold her son, he was "perfect" and "looked just like his daddy".

When her family left for the night, Amezquita received a call from her obstetrician who passed on her condolences and told her: "I'm so sorry, I never predicted this."

Amezquita said her son was "perfect". Photo / Kristal Amezquita

Lab results later confirmed that Amezquita had an incomplete cervix and that her placenta was covered in bacteria. Her obstetrician told her that her body has chosen her over her pregnancy.

"At that moment I felt a little peace knowing I had an answer, many women experience miscarriages and never get an answer, I at least had that," Amezquita wrote.

'This is my story, real and raw'

Amezquita cries for her son every day and wishes things could be different but knows "God needed him more than I did".

"I cry for him almost every day and it's ironic when people tell me I'm so strong because I feel so weak without him," she said.

Amezquita hopes that by sharing her story she will give support to other mothers facing baby loss.

"This is my story, real and raw. I hope that if anyone else has or is experiencing baby loss, preterm labor, a miscarriage; you never feel alone. I hope my story of my Ian Max helps others and encourages others to share their story. With love, Ian's Momma."