Safe Motherhood Quilt Update: Three Squares

Within the past week, I have received three squares for the Safe Motherhood Quilt project. Two of these squares are for the quilt panels already underway, and the third is for the special quilt devoted to women who died of Amniotic Fluid Embolism. I am privileged to share with you these compassionate, thoughtful, and beautifully crafted tributes to three mothers.

JUDY TRUNNELL

Judy Trunnell died on Tuesday May 5, 2009, in the first death associated with swine flu in the United States. Trunnell died after being hospitalized for two weeks. She slipped into a coma, and her baby, a healthy girl, was delivered by Cesarean section. Trunnell was a 33-year-old schoolteacher in the Mercedes Independent School District, about 15 miles west of her hometown of Harlingen near the U.S.-Mexico border. Health officials stopped short of saying that swine flu caused the woman's death, saying she had "chronic underlying health conditions" but wouldn't give any more details.

This quilt square was lovingly made by mother and crafter Sara Dronkers of Eureka, California. She blogged about her experience creating it here.

GWYNETH VIVES

On December 21, 2001, Gwyneth Vives, 36, gave birth to a son. Her nurses at Los Alamos Medical Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, reported that she and her baby were bonding well. Three hours later Gwyneth Vives was dead. The autopsy report put the cause to exsanguination following amniotic fluid embolism. Vives' labor was induced with Pitocin. She suffered a serious cervical laceration during delivery.

This quilt square was creatively made by Marcy Tracy, Labor and Postpartum Doula and seamstress in Avon, Colorado. It will be part of the Amniotic Fluid Embolism quilt.

SUSAN SIMPSON

Susan Ryan Finch Simpson, 30, a physical therapist, died unexpectedly Friday, May 22, 2009, at Mary Rutan Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, after giving birth to a healthy baby girl. Susan contracted bacterial meningitis after a routine anesthetic epidural. Her obituary reads, "a loving mother, wife, daughter, sister, granddaughter and aunt, she had an exuberant smile, loving eyes and was full of energy." She is survived by her husband, James Nathaniel Simpson, and their two daughters, Lilian Ryan Simpson, 14 months, and Olivia Sue Simpson, born May 21, 2009.

Diane Aquino Perez, a former student of Susan Goodrich, created this thoughtful tribute to Simpson: a springtime kite flying in the night sky.If you would like to create a special square for a mother who has died of pregnancy or childbirth related causes in America, please contact me or post a comment here.