‘Survivor’ Couple Mourns The Loss of Their Baby

Jaclyn Schultz Misch and Jon Misch of 'Survivor: San Juan Del Sur'

Instagram Jaclyn Schultz Misch and Jon Misch of 'Survivor: San Juan Del Sur'

There is terribly sad news in the Survivor family this week. Jaclyn Schultz Misch and Jon Misch, who competed together on the second “Blood vs. Water” season, have lost their baby at 20 weeks.


The Couple Shared the News in an Emotional Instagram Post

Jaclyn took to Instagram to share with her followers that at the 20-week ultrasound, their baby had no heartbeat. They induced labor so that they could spend a little time with their daughter and say goodbye.

“The darkest 24 hours of our lives. Not a post I want to make, but it’s real life and we deeply need your prayers right now. At our 20 week ultrasound yesterday, baby girl Misch had no heartbeat. We lost her and we don’t know why,” wrote Misch. “We’re currently in the hospital room with our carrier. We all chose to induce labor and delivery so we could hold her and say goodbye.

“We’re just waiting now… crying and praying. Praying that God will be in this room with us as our carrier delivers… thanking Him for the joy she brought to our lives for 20 weeks, the bonds she’s created in our family, and the light that she brought to the world. I probably won’t be back on here for a while as Jon and I take time to grieve and process but we thank you all for your prayers and support through this journey. We still believe God has a plan for us. Love you forever Harper Kelly Misch.”


This is The Latest Hardship in the Misches Trying to Have a Baby

The Misches, who were married in August 2015, have been trying to have a baby for years. It was more complicated for them due to Schultz’s rare condition, Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) Syndrome.

According to Penn Medicine, this condition affects roughly 1 in every 4500 females. A woman who has it will have an underdeveloped or nonexistent uterus and vagina, but usually has normally-functioning ovaries. This means for a woman like Schultz, she was able to have a biological child via a gestational surrogate.

In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Schultz opened up about MRKH and how scared she was to tell Misch about it because she was worried about how he would react.

“I remember we had been dating about a month, and I’m like, ‘OK, we’re about to tell each other we love each other, and I can’t have kids, so I need to tell him.’ So of course, I was emotional and I’m like [wailing], ‘Don’t date me anymore, I can’t have kids,’ and being so dramatic about it, and he was just like, ‘Shut up. It’s fine, it’s fine.’ He was great about it! I was so nervous to tell him; I think a lot of girls with MRKH are very nervous about telling their significant others,” said Schultz.

She continued, “But it’s a good way to weed out the bad ones — that’s what I say to all the girls. I’d dated a few guys who I had told and they completely shut off; they didn’t want to talk about it at all. Those relationships never work out because it’s like, if you can’t talk about the most intimate part of it that is such a big part of my life, then how can I date you?”

But because she has fully-functioning ovaries, Schultz is able to have biological children through a surrogate. However, the Misches journey with that experience has not been easy. When the Misches announced their pregnancy earlier this year, Schultz wrote that it took them “two rounds of IVF, two gestational carriers, and four embryo transferss,” but it was worth it because they were finally expecting a baby.

In a post right before the 20-week ultrasound, Schultz wrote, “We have our 20-week anatomy ultrasound tomorrow morning! Praying that everything is progressing normally and that baby Misch is healthy. Boy or girl!? Can’t wait to find out! Doing a little virtual Zoom gender reveal on Sunday with our family… then plan to share with everyone sometime next week!”

Our deepest condolences to their family.

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