A heartbroken Wisconsin mother recently shared photos of her premature twins who were stillborn after 20 weeks in the womb.
Desiree Buhrow-Olson, 21, of Blair, Wisconsin, learned she was pregnant for the first time early this year, the Daily Mail reports. She said she and her partner Tom Gehrke were excited to be parents for the first time. Their due date was in September.
Their excitement turned to shock and grief when their babies died in the womb after Buhrow-Olson experienced pregnancy complications. She decided to share photos of her children online to help her and her family and friends grieve their loss.
“Posting about the babies helps me, looking at their photos and their footprints we had taken, and plaster casts that were made hours after they passed away,” she said.
A few weeks into her pregnancy, Buhrow-Olson began experiencing complications. When doctors performed a scan, they learned that she was pregnant with not one or two but three babies.
Doctors also found a cyst the size of a grapefruit on her left ovary that jeopardized her triplets’ lives, according to the report. They scheduled Buhrow-Olson for surgery in March, but a scan prior to the surgery revealed that one of the triplets had died.
“I had some spotting before but I thought there would have been more blood, losing a baby,” she said. “We called her Madeline and it was hard to take in that she’d died. It was sad to hear, but we were still grateful that the other two were still alive. However, I was nervous about the operation. I didn’t want to lose any more babies.”
The surgery went well, and two months went by. Then, the young mother said she noticed a wet spot on the bed where she was laying.
Buhrow-Olson said she went to the hospital where doctors learned that one of her unborn twins’ sacs had been punctured and was leaking. The next day, she said her daughter Natalie was stillborn. A few minutes later, her son Mason arrived, breathing. But he was too underdeveloped to survive, and he died a few hours later.
Both babies weighed about half a pound. Natalie was 9.25 inches, while Mason was 9.5 inches. She and her partner held the twins and had a photographer take photos with them. They also had footprints made.
The couple had many family and friends who were following them and their unborn babies in their pregnancy journey. So, it only seemed natural to share the babies’ photos online to help everyone grieve.
“I wouldn’t have wanted them not being able to see their grand-babies, nieces, nephews, so I posted the pictures,” she said. “I loved my babies – including our other triplet, their sister Madeline, who died in the womb in February – and there are so many other people that cared for them.”
