Crystal’s Story

My husband Jeffrey and I got married on August 4, 2012. We found out we were expecting our first baby by October and we were beyond excited! My pregnancy was picture perfect—I did not have any problems, I was never sick, and I had tons of energy. In February we had an ultrasound and found out we were having a baby boy and we could not wait!  We started buying everything for a boy, we had baby showers, we tried to narrow down the names on our list of names we liked, we had everything ready for our little guy.

On Friday, June 14 at 38 weeks pregnant I went in for a routine checkup. My entire pregnancy had been perfect, so I just assumed this would be another normal doctor visit. My mom had decided to go with me to one last doctor appointment before we got to meet our sweet boy. That morning I had made the comment to her that I had not felt him moving as much as I normally did. We just decided that he was getting to big and running out of room so he wasn’t moving as much; we didn’t really put any more thought to it.

When they called my name to go back I remember feeling so excited that this could be my last doctor visit before he was born. The doctor came in smiling, asking me how I felt as he got the monitor and put it to my huge belly. Silence. He moved the monitor to a difference spot on my belly as we were joking about how stubborn he was being not letting us be able to hear his heartbeat. Silence again. I could tell by the look on his face this was not a joke. He left to go get the ultrasound machine and I remember asking mom if that was normal. We had no idea what was going on at this point. When he returned with the ultrasound machine and started the ultrasound I immediately knew something was wrong. The ultrasound picture was still. Nothing was moving. The next words I heard was the doctor say were, “I’m sorry. There is no heartbeat.”

That is when the world stopped turning. Everything was a blur and I don’t remember what else anyone said. I was in total shock. I had a perfect pregnancy so how could this happen? This kind of thing does not happen in real life and definitely not to me. My mom called my husband, who happened to work right down the road from the doctor office. I remember him walking into the room with a blank stare and tears in his eyes. Due to there not being any room at the hospital for us right then, we had to wait until Monday to go in to be induced. That was the longest weekend of our lives. We tried to stay busy and not think about what was happening to our family.

On Monday June 17, at 5:30am we checked into labor and delivery. It was a whirlwind of a day. I don’t remember much during the day, just bits and pieces plus what others have told me after the day. There were so many people at the hospital that they gave us the room next door for our guests to wait in and be close to us. We knew since my body was being induced and was not ready for labor on its own that it might take a while.

Tuesday, June 18 at around 3am everyone decided to try to rest since I was not progressing very fast. My mom stayed up sitting beside my bed talking to me in-between my spurts of sleep. Around 4am I told her that I thought I was getting closer, and to get the nurse. They woke everyone up and said it was time to push. Finally, at 4:55am on June 18 Wyatt Dale Lindeman was born. He weighed 6lbs 15oz and was 21in long. He was perfect and the most beautiful baby I had ever seen! I could not believe God had created him just for us! When he was born we learned that his umbilical cord had been wrapped around his neck twice—otherwise, he was perfect.

Though the road has been long and hard, God has been with us the whole way. Even when I felt alone and like He didn’t care, I know He was there and always cared. God has helped me through some very dark days and has given me peace and hope after the worse possible situation.

“Your eyes saw my unformed substance, in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
Psalm 139:16

I have been married to my husband for almost 5 years. We have 2 boys—Wrett here with us and Wyatt waiting for us in Heaven!

We would be honored to share your story as a Hope Mom on our blog. Every Saturday we feature a Hope Mom’s story in order to showcase God’s faithfulness even in the midst of such deep sorrow. If you would like to have your story shared on our blog for this purpose, learn more and submit here.