Grayson Stone’s Story
On April 26th, 2022 at 7:37pm I gave birth to our first and only son Grayson Stone. He was born still at 27 weeks and 3 days weighing 1 pound and 5 ounces. I believed all of the myths and was also told that around that week of gestation the baby is dropping lower so I thought it may just be harder to feel his movements. I was having trouble feeling his movements and for peace of mind, I used an at home doppler. (A big mistake) It was hard to find something at first, but after drinking some juice I thought I heard the heartbeat racing. Since I had that reassurance I thought he was okay.
I was a first time mom so I didn’t know any better. My whole pregnancy my doctors or other people would make me feel crazy. I often felt all of my questions were dismissed by everyone because I was a worried first time mom. I trusted my gut to late. We went to the emergency room and were told “the reason we can’t find your baby’s heartbeat is because there isn’t one. I’m sorry.” Grayson was born 2 days later perfect inside and out and the doctors could not figure out what happened.
Finally, we received his autopsy results. Intrauterine Growth Restriction. Grayson’s placenta was small and was not giving him the proper nutrients that he needed to survive. At birth it was discovered that Grayson was less than 1 percentile. Because I was not considered high risk and he was measuring fine at past appointments, I was not closely monitored. His placenta was never measured so we never knew it was small. It should have been measured. We discovered from Dr. Harvey Kliman that his placenta had trophoblast inclusions causing it to not grow.
After almost a whole year of seeing multiple doctors and searching for answers of why my son died we figured out that I have an autoimmune disorder called Sjogren’s disease which is why they believe that he had trophoblast inclusions in his placenta that caused it to never form properly. Sjogren’s disease can actually be triggered by pregnancy. My doctor explained to me that it was the “perfect storm” and sometimes with autoimmune diseases, our body cannot take care of both ourself and our baby, so our body will always choose us. Women with autoimmune diseases are at risk for their babies having congenital heart block (where their baby’s heart stops beating) and there is no reason and it cannot be shown on an autopsy. I wish I would’ve known then what I know now.
I founded Grayson’s Footprints Foundation in his memory to help other mamas that have experienced baby loss and to raise awareness.
