Kristen Soni and her husband, Ketan, had conceived their first happy, healthy baby a few years ago using intrauterine (IUI), a fertility treatment that involves placing sperm inside a woman's uterus to facilitate fertilization. But when trying to get pregnant a second time, they were running into problems. Six miscarriages later, they were beginning to lose hope on conceiving a second child. Like many families who go through struggles conceiving, this whole process was beginning to take a profound emotional toll.
But as they were in the middle of the adoption process, something shocking happened: Kristen learned she was pregnant. They couldn’t believe they had been able to conceive again — but they knew the pregnancy ahead of them was going to be difficult.
“Because we were so high-risk and had a high-risk history, we needed access to a great NICU,” says Kristen. “We knew Atrium Health could provide the world-class care we needed and that we’d be in great hands throughout the whole process.”
“It really felt like a team approach,” says Kristen. “And that goes for the maternal and fetal medicine team at CMC’s Women’s Institute, as well. They knew our history and knew how scared we were — so their gentleness and compassion was so important during the whole process.”
Involved, high-touch care
Although Kristen had no medical conditions such as high blood pressure or gestational diabetes, her past miscarriages made the risk for complications higher. She was also 43 years old at the time of conceiving, which meant this was technically a geriatric pregnancy. Given these risks, she decided to see the midwife team at Charlotte OB/GYN in Carolinas Medical Center (CMC) for an extra layer of care.
“We try to be more high-touch, more involved, and more invested emotionally,” explains Lauren Crosslin, CNM, Kristen’s midwife at Charlotte OB/GYN. “We offer longer appointment times and generally see fewer patients. This gives us more time to sit down, answer lots of questions, and customize the care to the patient’s needs. We also collaborate care with our OB/GYN physicians to ensure those with high risk pregnancies get the best and most comprehensive care.”
The team at Charlotte OB/GYN was also aware of Kristen’s history and the fears that come with that. “Our relationship with her wasn’t just a provider with a chart coming into her appointment,” says Crosslin. “We got to know her husband, her family, her history. We really formed a personal connection and a trustworthy relationship.”
Kristen found the care from the midwife team to be nothing short of amazing. Shorter wait times made frequent visits to the hospital more convenient. Appointments also never felt rushed — which was a relief considering the number of questions Kristen and her husband had during the process.
“It really felt like a team approach,” says Kristen. “And that goes for the team in Atrium Health’s fetal medicine as well. They knew our history and knew how scared we were — so their gentleness and compassion was so important during the whole process.”
A successful delivery
Kristen was induced at 39 weeks. She and her husband went into the hospital on a rainy, overcast day — and before they knew it, labor had commenced. After several hours and lots of dedicated work from the Charlotte OB/GYN team of nurses and doctors, Lyra Soni was born at 1:43 p.m.
As their little rainbow baby — a term for a baby born after miscarriages — was being washed up and measured by the team of nurses, one nurse came over and told an exhausted Kristen to look out the window. Kristen turned and what she saw took her breath away.
“Outside was a full, beautiful rainbow, arching clear across the sky,” remembers Kristen.
As one nurse held Lyra up to the window to see the rainbow, the entire room broke into tears of joy.
“The team at CMC is so busy and sees so many patients,” says Kristen. “But still they managed to make the whole experience so special and meaningful for us. The whole team was ooh-ing and aah-ing over Lyra just like we were.”
Two months later, Lyra’s parents are happy to report that she’s “growing like crazy” and sleeping through the night.
“I hope I’m an inspiration,” says Kristen. “Because no matter how hard it gets, people need to know that it’s possible for this process to end happily. We’re still pinching ourselves.”
