This memorial website was created in the memory of our beautiful baby boy, Zachary Isaac Avedon Mirkin, who was born on March 7, 2008 and passed away in our arms on March 14, 2008. We will remember him forever.



After an uneventful and healthy pregnancy, Zachary decided he had had enough and wanted out two weeks before the due date. Late on the envening of March 6th, my water broke and the contractions were increasing through the night. By 6:00am, we were ready to go to the hospital. Labour was progressing and everything was normal.

To speed things up, they gave me a Pitocin drip and an epidural for the pain. Before we knew it I was 10 centimetres dilated and needed to push. After an hour of pushing, I started to feel nauseous and there was tremendous pain in my upper abdomen. Suddenly the nurses lost track of the baby's heart beat. The doctor and nurses rushed me into the OR  to do an emergency c-section. I was in terrible pain and without a fetal heart beat, there was no time to waste. They immediately performed an emergency c-section. The doctor reached in to grab the baby and couldn't find him. My uterus had ruptured so significantly, the baby had separated from the placenta and was floating in my belly. I was hemorraging severely. They rushed the baby to the next room to resuscitate him. They were able to get him breathing, but unfortunately it didn't look good.

After a few hours of surgery, and blood tranfusions, the doctors and nurses were able to put me back together. They told us that I was very lucky to have survived a catastrophic uterine rupture. I didn't feel lucky at all, knowing that Zachary may not make it.

We held on to hope and over the next several days we met with paediatric neurologists and other specialists to determine the extent of the brain damage that Zachary had endured. Throughout this time, we tried to spend as much time in the NICU as we could. Thanks to the wonderful nurses, we held him. We washed him. We even changed a diaper. We spent hours talking to him and telling him how much we loved him. His big brother Max brought him all kinds of toys to brighten up the room. As I look back on that short time that we had with him, I feel very lucky that we now have those memories.

By the six day, we had the results from the MRI and the brain activity tests. They told us that Zachary was basically brain dead. The uterine rupture was so acute and traumatic for him, he had virtually no brain activity. After hearing this, we agreed that there was no decision to make. He would come off of life support after Max and other family members had a chance to say goodbye.

On Friday, March 14 at 1:00am, just one week after his birth, Gerri and I held little Zachary in our arms as we watched him pass away. We kissed and hugged our little boy goodbye.

We will always love you Zachy!

Prayer

When I heard this song, I fell in love with it and all I could think of was Zachary.

Sung by Hayley Westenra; Lyrics by F. Sherry / R. Lovland

Hush - lay down your troubled mind
The day has vanished and left us behind
And the wind - whispering soft lullabies
Will soothe - so close your eyes
Let your arms enfold us
Through the dark of night
Will your angels hold us
Till we see the light
Sleep - angels will watch over you
And soon beautiful dreams will come true
Can you feel spirits embracing your soul
So dream while secrets of darkness unfold

To learn more about Uterine Rupture during Pregnancy and Labour, see:

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3746.htm

 Thank you to Irena Hill for creating these graphics.