Ashley Hammac was only 34 weeks pregnant when she started to lose her vision last September. After being very concerned, the mother went to the hospital and discovered she was suffering from an extreme migraine. This migraine was so extreme that it was going to send her into premature labor. While some babies are able to survive when born at 34 weeks, others aren’t as lucky no matter how much medical technology was involved. Read about Hammac’s touching story below.
Doctors were able to stop Hammac’s labor, but in the coming days she would go into labor four more times, leading doctors to green-light an early birth on Oct. 10 (her birthday).
However, after being sent home to begin labor, she awoke the next morning with severe contractions and bleeding, and rushed back to the hospital, where she delivered Ryan shortly after 11 a.m.
A doctor informed her that her placenta had ruptured during delivery, depriving her son of oxygen for several hours. Ryan was now being transported to a neonatal intensive care unit and he had a 1 in 8 chance of surviving.
Unfortunately Ryan was not able to survive, but she wanted to do something amazing for her son.
After her son’s passing, she decided to create the ultimate tribute – a sandbox at his headstone. She built this so that his brother could continue playing with his brother.
Originally, she was planning on decorating the gravesite with glass pebbles, but then realized that her older son, Tucker, needed his own place to mourn. “The more I thought about it, the more I wanted something my other son Tucker could be incorporated in,” Hammac told PEOPLE. “He always goes out there with me, and sits out there, and sings lullabies, and talks to him just like he was there. So I wanted it to be special for him too. His favorite thing right now is trucks.”
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