A woman whose first baby tragically died gave birth to her second child at the same hospital exactly one year later.
After falling pregnant with her first child, Rachael Woolsey, 31, was told his brain was growing outside of his skull and medics recommended she terminate the pregnancy.
But Rachael and her husband, Weston, 30, a service advisor, ignored doctors’ advice and continued on.
She gave birth to little Zachary, weighing 3lbs 13oz, at St Joseph’s Hospital, Phoenix, Arizona. The couple spent 18 hours cuddling and spending time with Zachary before he died in their arms the following day.
Four months later, Rachael fell pregnant again, but she says she was left “traumatized” by her first pregnancy, meaning she wasn’t able to enjoy it.
But Rachael had a textbook pregnancy and her daughter, Brynlee, was born exactly one year on, on February 19, at 5.17am, weighing 7lbs 3oz at the same hospital. She was even looked after by the same midwife.
Rachael, a content creator, from Queen Creek, Arizona said: “Part of me felt so guilty. I felt like I should be at the cemetery – I felt guilt that I should be there and not giving birth to another baby.
“I was also excited to be having another baby, there were so many emotions. When we left the hospital, we left through the same door that we left a year earlier. I was so happy we were able to give birth to our baby but so sad we lost Zachary.”
Rachael found out she was pregnant in June 2017 and was excited to start the next chapter of her life with her husband Weston.
When the couple went for their first ultrasounds, Rachael said she expected “everything to be perfect”.
She said: “During the ultrasound, I was talking to the tech and not looking at the screen. All of a sudden, I heard his tone change and my heart dropped. I instantly knew that something was wrong.
“The doctor walked in and told us that his brain was growing outside of his skull – we were just in shock and trying to process everything.”
Rachael and Weston were given the option to carry on with the pregnancy but claimed it was recommended they abort the pregnancy.
Rachael said: “They recommended aborting as they knew it would not be a viable pregnancy. We decided to carry on with the pregnancy even though at every appointment it was recommended to abort.”
Rachael’s water broke in the middle of the night when she was 36 weeks pregnant and she was taken to St Joseph’s Hospital, in Phoenix, Arizona. Zachary was born on February 19, 2018, and died 18 hours later in Rachael’s arms.
Four months later, Rachael fell pregnant with what is known as a rainbow baby – a baby born following a miscarriage or stillbirth.
Brynlee was born three weeks early on February 19, 2019, weighing 7lb 3oz at St Joseph’s Hospital, Phoenix, Arizona.
She said: “It was crazy, the same resident who delivered Zachary was there one year later to deliver my daughter. It was a day filled with mixed emotions. She is four now and she is doing really well.
“We just had another baby born, Beckham, 11 months old, which was hard to process. I didn’t want to know the baby until the birth as I thought it would be really hard to have a boy and them not be Zachary.”
Follow our social media accounts here on http://facebook.com/ExpressUSNews and ExpressUSNews
