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When Kirsten Adams was pregnant with her first baby, everything went smoothly.  

She and her husband Trent welcomed Tanner—a healthy baby boy—in 2012. After Tanner’s safe arrival, they wanted to continue growing their family.  

When Adams got pregnant for the second time, everything was normal until she went in for her gender reveal ultrasound at 20 weeks. Her baby didn’t have a heartbeat.  

“It was a whirlwind,” Adams said. “We were totally blindsided.”  

Adams delivered her baby—a little boy named Jordan—and buried him near her grandma.  

“Jordan was born on my grandma’s birthday, so we wanted him to be close to her,” Adams said.  

Adams got pregnant again but had a miscarriage when she was just six weeks along. Adams then got pregnant for the fourth time and was monitored more closely. After a family road trip to California, Adams was concerned about a blood clot due to sitting in the car for so long.  

“The doctors didn’t find a blood clot,” Adams said. “They offered to do an ultrasound and let me see the baby since I was worried, because Jordan had stopped growing around the same window of time. Sadly, they didn’t find a heartbeat.”  

Adams delivered Zion—another baby boy—around 17 weeks gestation. 

After Zion, Adams went on to have a healthy pregnancy. Although the birth was traumatic, Tate—another boy—arrived safely thanks to the help of Robert Silver, MD, chair of the at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the �����г���Ƶ of Utah. 

“I was with Dr. Silver at this point,” Adams said. “I had been on heparin shots throughout my entire pregnancy with Tate, and we wondered if that’s what helped him get here safely.”  

After Tate, Adams had another miscarriage around 10 weeks. Then, on her seventh pregnancy, she lost another baby boy—Alex—when she was 15 weeks pregnant. 

Unfortunately, Adams lost her next baby as well—a little boy named Todd—around 17 weeks gestation. Her next two pregnancies ended in a miscarriage around eight weeks.

Testing didn’t give Adams many answers, other than that one of the babies she lost in the first trimester had tested positive for trisomy 11.  

In 2022, Adams got pregnant again and found out it was a girl.  

“We were really hopeful that something might be different genetically since it was a little girl this time,” Adams said. “All the babies that we had lost up to this point and had known the genders for had been boys. Everything was going well. We would see our sweet baby girl moving and kicking every two weeks on the ultrasound. She was always very active; we were so hopeful she would make it.”  

At 17 weeks, Adams had another ultrasound scheduled. Before heading in, she tried to find a heartbeat with her doppler at home. She couldn’t find a heartbeat. Adams’ husband was sick with COVID-19, so her sister went with her to the appointment.  

“The minute they started the ultrasound, I knew she had passed,” Adams said. “She was so still, there was no movement, no flickering heartbeat. I was devastated. We lost our little Kaitlin at 17 weeks.” 

Adams didn’t know if she would ever overcome her grief after losing Kaitlin. Testing was inconclusive, adding to the grief and frustration.  

At this point, Adams and her family had been through 11 pregnancies, with only two of her babies surviving. She had lost nine babies in total and really had no answers. Unexpectedly, Adams and her husband felt like there was another baby for their family. Though she desperately wanted a �����г���Ƶ, she was afraid to start trying. The thought of going through another pregnancy or potential loss terrified her. A few months later, she was surprised to find she had conceived while protecting. 

Adams started heparin shots, along with a new medication she hadn’t tried before, pravastatin—a medication that doctors think improves placental growth. 

Thanks to Silver, Adams got to hear or see her baby every two weeks, alternating between bedside ultrasounds at regular appointments and a more in-depth ultrasound where they kept measuring her baby’s growth. Due to her loss history, Adams was constantly worried that her baby’s heart might stop beating, so this regular monitoring significantly helped her mental and emotional health. 

When Adams was 34 weeks, Silver also did stress tests two times a week to make sure baby was doing well. Adams was grateful for the extra support.  

“Dr. Silver always listens to you,” Adams said. “He’s so open and willing ​to​​ ​bend over backwards to make sure you have what you need. He will do whatever he can to make your pregnancy easier for you.”  

The ultrasounds showed that both the baby and the placenta were growing properly. At 37 weeks and 5 days, Adams had her baby—a little girl named Kayleigh, born in January 2025.