Pregnancy & Infant Loss - Melanie's Story

Hello, everyone! I’m Melanie, and this is my story.

In 2017, my husband, Juan, and I decided to try and have babies. We had never really been careful with avoiding pregnancy, but we had also not been intentionally trying since we got married in 2016. We were both in Houston at the time, and then I decided I was going to take an amazing job opportunity in Alabama. He moved back to Corpus, and I went to Alabama. I had SO much work to do since it was a lease up (in the apartment industry). It was June when I started to work in Alabama. I would go and visit Juan in Louisiana or Houston, depending on what flights were available for the weekend. It was hard to be long distance but we made it happen.

On Friday, August 18, 2017, I started having what seemed like really heavy period cramps. I brushed it off, because this was the usual every month. But then it started to radiate to my back then down my legs. I immediately thought, “OMG I MIGHT BE PREGNANT!” I was so excited, but scared. I had no idea what normal was. I called my boss and went to Walgreens, took a pregnancy test in the restroom of Walgreens, and sure enough, positive.

I called Juan on FaceTime, and I showed him the test (since I was still in the restroom) and I said, “WE’RE PREGNANT!” We both cried, and we were so happy.

On Saturday, I noticed the cramping wouldn’t go away and I started bleeding heavily, so I went to the emergency room in Alabama. I was absolutely alone. I didn’t know what to expect. They did all the tests and they confirmed I was 9-10 weeks pregnant with TWINS... I was MINDBLOWN. The next thing they said was that it seemed to be that I was going to miscarry. I didn’t know what to think, who to call, what to say. I was just so scared and in SO much pain. I went home to my apartment and I was off on Sunday, so I just stayed in bed with my coco (my Siberian Husky) and also on Monday. Tuesday came along, and I started to feel better. The bleeding had stopped, so I figured I’d go back to work. I went back to work, and since I had told my boss what happened, she told me to take it easy. Around 4 pm on Tuesday, I started getting horrible cramps again. It was making me bend over in pain. One of the owner’s right hand women was in the office with me and saw what was going on. Everyone in the office knew at that point and she said, “what are you doing here, go home.” With the owner’s permission, they booked me a flight that left at 6:30 pm. I backed a travel bag, my coco and Miss Pat took me to the airport.

As I boarded the plane I was still in horrible pain, but I had to seem as if nothing was wrong with me. I don’t know why I thought that, but I put on my strong face and got in my seat. The flight attendant was SO rude to me about coco (she was a service dog, and had her own seat next to mine) but I brushed it off.

I had to switch planes in Houston, then finally got to Corpus. As we were arriving in Corpus, I started to notice my pants had blood on them. I was bleeding so much, it soaked my pants. When I got up, blood was everywhere. I pushed through, wrapped a sweater on my waist, got off the plane with my suitcase and my dog on the leash, until I met my husband and I told him what was happening. We went home, and I showered. When I was in the shower, I just collapsed. It finally hit me. I sat on the floor, and just cried. I cried so hard. I cried so much. I couldn’t believe this had happened to me. I had SO many questions. “Why me?” Was the biggest one.

Juan came into the shower with me and got me out, because I had nothing left in me. He finished bathing me, dried my body, put my clothes on and put me to bed. The next day, Wednesday, I went to the emergency room with my mom and grandmother since the bleeding hadn’t stopped. They gave me a blood transfusion. I had no more babies according to the ultrasound. I put on a strong face and said, “that’s ok, they’re my angels now.”

They took me to Golden Corral (my absolute favorite place) and to the aquarium, then we went home. When we were home, we realized that we’d have to evacuate because hurricane Harvey was going to hit on Thursday as a cat 5. So we evacuated to my in-law’s house in San Antonio. My husband hadn’t told his family about the miscarriage yet, so when we got there, everyone said hello and and immediately there were comments of “are you pregnant yet.” My husband disclosed that I was having a miscarriage. They treated me so well, and cooked me soup. I was in bed most of the time and we watched movies. The hurricane passed and it was devastating. My mother lost her home, and most of the belongings. My husband lived with her so most of his things were damaged.

I felt that since there was another tragic event, my tragic event didn’t matter anymore. The following Monday, we left for Ingleside and started helping out where we could.

A month later everything was back to normal, so I went back to work in Alabama. I came home to SO many gifts, and my office family had sent in housekeepers to clean my apartment. I will forever be grateful for them. 

On September 23rd, I started feeling the same cramps, and had some bleeding again. I ran into Walgreens, took a pregnancy test in the same restroom, and guess what? POSITIVE. I was so happy, but so sad because I knew I was going to miscarry again. I went to the ER and they said the same thing. There was a HUGE project coming on so I had the conversation with my boss about me working from home. They didn’t give me the okay, so I had to make a decision. I quit my job, and we moved to San Antonio where I would have more support, so that I could be on bedrest and save this baby. After about 3 months of bedrest, I was still pregnant. Isabella is now 2 years old and my rainbow baby. 

Thank you for reading my story. 

Melanie Sandoval