Rowen family — full version

Pregnancy and childbirth complications: an outdated trend

Azizah Rowen, like most moms-to-be, was excited when she found out she was pregnant with her second son, Wilder. But sadly, like too many moms, she was also scared. “I was really nervous because I had had a lot of complications in my first pregnancy with Dash, my older son,” she says.

Azizah never had easy pregnancies. While Dash was born healthy and on time, she had two miscarriages prior to having him. In addition, she experienced gestational diabetes, placenta previa, and autoimmune complications, making her at high risk. “I was nervous and on edge the entire time I was pregnant,” she adds. But she was also confused—she and her husband, Craig, had never had any prior health complications. They were young and healthy.

Even still, she couldn’t anticipate what happened: waking up in the middle of the night and seeing that something was terribly wrong. She took an Uber by herself to the hospital so that Craig could stay home with Dash, who was two years old. Doctors didn't know why she was having such terrible complications and kept her overnight for monitoring, where she stayed for a couple of days. She thought “it was just a fluke.” But then it happened again.

31 weeks into her pregnancy, Azizah’s complications became worse. Doctors told her she needed to stay in the hospital until the baby was born. A week into her hospital stay, things took a turn for the worse. “I was having terrible complications where I was bleeding through the bedsheets,” she says. “And the doctors kept coming in and checking my vitals and at some point, said: ‘This is not safe anymore, we have to get your OB on the phone.’”

After evaluating her, Azizah’s obstetrician told her she needed a Cesarean delivery immediately. “You’re never prepared for being told that the situation is becoming dire,” Craig says. Wilder was born nearly two months early and weighed just 4 pounds. “I didn't hear a cry, so then I totally panicked, and I looked at Craig and was like, ‘Is he alive? Is he okay?’ And he just looked at me and he said, ‘I don't know.’” While Azizah stayed in recovery, Craig stayed in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with Wilder.

“I had a baby, and I didn't even get to hold him or meet him for two or three days, which was really hard,” Azizah remembers. “And I got to hold him for the first time, and I was just terrified when I walked in there. It was so much worse than I had expected it to be. The sounds of the beeping and all those little babies in incubators, and tubes everywhere. It was really scary.”

Once discharged, Azizah spent mornings at home with Dash and then would go to the hospital and hold Wilder all day. She and Craig took comfort in the fact that he was surrounded by an amazing team of nurses. “That was the only sort of consolation when he was in the NICU—knowing that how great the women were,” Craig recalls. “It was the only way we could get any rest.”

After a 49-day battle in the NICU, Wilder was finally able to go home. “To this day, they still can't tell me why I had my baby early, and I think that's just a question that sort of haunted me,” Azizah says. “And March of Dimes is the organization that’s continuing to look into answers to those questions. It’s a special organization and we're just honored to have been a part of it for the last five years.”

Until the day comes when pregnancy and childbirth in the U.S. is safe for every mom and baby, March of Dimes will be in NICUs across the country, helping families like the Rowens. “Sharing our story’s healing for us and we’re hoping impactful and healing for others,” Craig adds.

Rowen family - short version

Pregnancy and childbirth complications: an outdated trend

Azizah Rowen was excited when she found out she was pregnant with her second son, Wilder. But sadly, she was also scared because she never had easy pregnancies. While her first son, Dash, was born healthy and on time, she had two miscarriages prior. In addition, she experienced “pretty much every complication in the book,” making her at high risk. “I was nervous and on edge the entire time I was pregnant,” she says. But she was also confused—she and her husband, Craig, had never had any prior health complications.

After an initial scare that led her to being monitored in the hospital for a few nights, 31 weeks into her pregnancy with Wilder, Azizah’s complications became worse. Doctors told her she needed to stay in the hospital until the baby was born. A week later, things took a turn for the worse—she needed a Caesarean delivery immediately. “You’re never prepared for being told that the situation is becoming dire,” Craig says. Wilder was born nearly two months early and weighed just 4 pounds.

Once out of recovery, Azizah spent mornings at home with Dash and then would go to the hospital and hold Wilder all day. She and Craig took comfort in the fact that he was surrounded by an amazing team of nurses. “That was the only sort of consolation when he was in the NICU—knowing that how great the women were,” Craig recalls. “It was the only way we could get any rest.”

After a 49-day battle in the NICU, Wilder was finally able to go home. “To this day, they still can't tell me why I had my baby early, and I think that's just a question that sort of haunted me,” Azizah says. “And March of Dimes is the organization that’s continuing to look into answers to those questions. It’s a special organization and we're just honored to have been a part of it for the last five years.” Until the day comes when pregnancy and childbirth in the U.S. is safe for every mom and baby, March of Dimes will be in NICUs across the country, helping families like the Rowens.