One year ago on June 11, 2022, at 2AM Ariel woke up with what we thought might be signs of early labor.

I loaded the car with Ariel, Leona and the hospital bag and drove as fast I could (safely running a few lights) to Alta Bates Hospital, only 1.5 miles up the road. We knew the Birth Center birth might not be happening, Luca would be a few weeks early, arriving possibly at 34 weeks. Ariel’s pregnancy was otherwise very healthy and normal.

Once we arrived to the hospital and vitals were taken, we soon realized one of our worst nightmares had happened. The nurse couldn’t find a heartbeat. We were devastated. Ariel rested for a stillborn labor, a terrible and unfair outcome.

While Ariel was resting, she was abruptly awoken at 7AM and the room was soon full of surgeons, anesthesiologists and nurses. Blood, plasma and platelets were quickly pulled out of coolers and thrown up on IVs. The situation had turned “dire.” Her blood work came back that she had gone into Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC) – a rare and serious condition that disrupts your blood flow and can turn into uncontrollable bleeding. Ariel had a partial placental abruption and the placenta was holding in the pooling blood. To help save Ariel, platelets and plasma were transfused to replace those depleted. She had an emergency C-Section to remove Luca, the placenta, and to clean out the pooling blood. In the end 14 units of various blood products (whole blood, plasma, platelets) were used to save Ariel’s life.

This June 11th, I will donate blood for the third time this year. I’m hoping you will join me this month, in honor of Luca. We might not have been able to save Luca, but his memory will always live on and through our donations we can help save another life.

We are hoping to find 28 donors – double the amount Ariel needed. If you are unable to donate blood please consider a cash donation to the American Red Cross.

Luca’s name meaning – “Bringer of light” – Please help me shine some light on what would have been Luca’s 1st Birthday.