My name is Vanessa Blythe. I was 21 years old when my daughter was born. I had a perfect pregnancy...no morning sickness, no bleeding, no high blood pressure, etc. My only problem was that at 41.5 weeks I was not dialated. My OB sent me in the hospital on Jan. 4, 2000, to place a cervadil tablet on my cervix to help me dialate. Over the course of the night, I dialated to 3 cm. My doctor came in to check me at 9:40 am the following morning. He confirmed that I was dialated enough to go ahead and break my water. That is when the nightmare began.

After he broke my water, he began to push on my stomach to help get the water out. I had no idea anything was wrong until I heard him say "we have to get this baby out. Her heartbeat has dropped to 25." Dr. Fuller and the nurses started working fast...never telling me what was wrong. My husband had stepped out of the room while Dr. Fuller broke my water. He walked back into a room full of madness. They didn't even have time to explain to him what was wrong. He was left alone in the room while I was taken to the operating room.

Once in the OR, the team of doctors placed me on another table, and the CRNA immediately put me to sleep. I did look over at the bed I started out in, and I saw a little bit of blood, but I wasn't aware that the amount of blood on the bed was 80% of Ashtyn's blood. I was still unaware of everything. At 10:08am my daughter was born. She had a very faint heartbeat, but was not breathing on her own. They had to recussitate her and give her a blood transfusion. She was then airlifted to Baptist Med Center in Little Rock. I was left behind at the North Little Rock hospital.

Ashtyn was placed on a ventilator her first day. She was on oxygen and in an oxygen tent for 7 days. On the 10th day, she got to come home. It is still kind of foggy to me to remember those days. I think my brain has tried to block it all out. The doctors did tell me that she would probably have brain damage from going so long without oxygen. They said she would be physically delayed as well. The outlook looked very bad for her. Her first EEG came back abnormal. Her second one came back improved but still abnormal. However, her CAT scan on Jan. 9 (4 days after delivery), came back normal. That is when I started to feel better. Peace came over me, and I just knew that things were going to be ok...despite the negative feedback I was getting from the neurologist and doctors.

Ashtyn came home on Jan. 15, 2000. Her 2 month stay turned into a 10 day stay at the NICU. On Jan. 30, she had her final EEG done. It came back absolutely normal. Evidentally, she was so doped up in the NICU that it had an effect on her test results. She had physical and occupational therapy for 10 months. She graduated with honors from both. She is now a perfectly healthy 2 year old little girl. She knows her ABCs. She can count past 10. She knows all her colors...and how to do sign language with all her colors. Her favorite song is "Hey Baby" by No Doubt.

My family was very blessed. We love her more than life itself. She doesn't spend too much time away from Mommy and Daddy. We know how lucky we are. I wish all VP cases could turn out as good as ours did. It doesn't seem fair that so many "healthy" babies in the womb can tragically die from this unsuspected event.