An avoidable tragedy. What is supposed to be one of the happiest times in a woman’s life turned into a nightmare. After years of infertility woes and 17 miscarriages, Anya Cook and her husband, Derick Cook, were elated to finally be pregnant.
However, in an exclusive interview with “Impact x Nightline,” their dreams came crashing down. Following a celebratory dinner, Cook revealed that she experienced the feeling of “a gush of water” being thrown at her. Interestingly, that feeling turned out to be amniotic fluid leaking out of her. Worried, Cook and her husband rushed to a trusted nearby hospital.
The couple waited 45 minutes in the emergency room at Broward Health Hospital in Coral Springs, Fla. The amniotic fluid was still leaking from Cook’s body while they waited. As time passed, Cook felt invisible due to the lack of urgency regarding her condition.
It was then that the couple faced unfortunate news. There was nothing that could be done for Cook, due to Florida’s strict abortion laws. She would lose the child. Cook was told that her life wasn’t in immediate danger, and she was sent away only with antibiotics.
Florida passed a strict abortion ban in 2022.
In April 2022, Florida passed a restrictive law that banned abortions after 15 weeks. The only exceptions are a “fatal fetal abnormality” or “serious risk” to the pregnant person. In 2023, the ban was extended to exclude abortions after six weeks.
The doctors determined that Cook’s condition was not an immediate cause for concern. Unfortunately, this made her ineligible for an emergency exception to the abortion rule. Also, due to these strict laws, doctors didn’t attempt an immediate induction of labor to stop her hemorrhaging.
She made it to her hair appointment because she knew that she would die soon.
Cook was adamant about making it to her hair appointment the next day but for a very grim reason.
“I didn’t want my mom to have to worry about getting my locs done or having a mortuary take care of it because I knew I would die within the next two to three days,” Cook said on “Impact x Nightline,” per People.
She was taught by her grandma to always look presentable, “so when they catch you dead, you’re already ready,” she said via Vanity Fair.
Her hair appointment turned bleaker as she unexpectedly gave birth to her daughter Bunny in the salon’s bathroom. Cook remembers the events clear as day.
From hearing her fetus drop into the toilet bowl to blood flowing out of her and pouring down her legs, she was experiencing a nightmare.
After spending many hours in surgery, Cook lost half of the blood in her body. The long-term damage to her blood vessels makes it even harder for her to conceive again.
During her surgery, doctors approached Cook’s husband. According to Vanity Fair, they asked him whether they should save his wife or her uterus. Perplexed by this question, Cook replied, “Save my wife and her uterus.”
Since then, Cook has undergone multiple surgeries due to her complications.
Anya Cook wants her story to help others.
Countless women are facing heartbreaking tragedies similar to Cook’s. She wants to keep telling her and her husband’s story because it needs to be heard.
Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, pregnant women have lost the care that they once received. As a result, some women have tried to flee to different states to have an abortion.
Cook suffered a preterm premature rupture of the membranes, which occurs “when your water breaks before labor starts,” per Cleveland Clinic. “This can be a problem because without amniotic fluid, your chances of infection, premature birth, and other complications increase.”
This condition could’ve been treated with the standard termination of pregnancy if not for the abortion ban. Now, Cook has a clear message for Republican lawmakers.
“You’re not lawmakers… You shouldn’t be able to make a decision about my body,” she said via Vanity Fair. “This is not even about abortion rights. This is just simple healthcare.”
The couple still has everything they bought for baby Bunny. In fact, they continue to have hope that their miracle baby will come.
“I have an outfit that I keep in the back of my closet behind my stuff,” the Cook patriarch told Vanity Fair. “So when our baby comes, we can dress up for her.”
We’d like to wish all the best to Anya and Derick Cook as they work to expand their family.
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