A New Approach: The Smiths Success After Two Failed Pregnancies

Watch Erin and Clay share their story

When they became pregnant with their first child in 2022, Erin and Clay Smith were ecstatic. A young couple deeply devoted to one another, they felt a calling to be parents.

Unfortunately, the pregnancy ended early in an unforeseen miscarriage—one they were assured by their care team in their home state of Kentucky was very unlikely to happen again. With that advice in mind, they tried again, with Erin becoming pregnant later that same year. Things started off well, with normal scans and regular milestones. The normality lasted until the 14 week point, at which time Erin’s water broke prematurely.

“I get to the doctor and she does an ultrasound and there’s not any fluid around the baby… a baby can’t survive without fluid and viability isn’t until 24 weeks,” Erin said, recounting how she felt receiving that horrible news. Her husband, Clay, added that it was “prior to lung development, so there really was just no hope.”

Still desperate to become parents but not willing to put Erin or another baby’s health at risk, the Smiths sought answers about their situation, spending hours doing research and trudging through online forums to find others who experienced similar issues. Many of the women she found in those groups talked about a medical intervention called a cerclage, which is a stitch made in the cervix that prevents it from shortening or dilating too quickly.

“I mentally couldn’t get pregnant again without trying anything,” Erin resolved.

Erin’s research eventually led her to TriHealth maternal fetal medicine (MFM) physician, Dr. William Schnettler, who was repeatedly mentioned in a Facebook group somewhat local to the Smith’s. It would be a three-hour drive, but at this point to the Smiths, it might just as well have been three minutes—with where their journey had taken them already, they weren’t going to let a short road trip stop them now.

“We have this appointment, and it was just so different than the previous MFM,” Erin said of her first meeting with Dr. Schnettler. “He has researched my history and he knows everything that happened before I even get there… I thought I was going to have to go through the whole ordeal.”

The change Erin felt at this appointment stood in stark contrast to her previous care team, where she really felt connected to Dr. Schnettler right from the jump.

“He really wanted to help us… I remember getting emotional during that appointment because I just felt so seen,” she said. Clay added, “We didn’t have to beg anyone to be seen or be heard… by the time we were there he had already seen us and heard our story.”

This aspect in particular meant a lot to the Smiths, as they didn’t feel that same level of consideration from their previous care team.

“Everyone seemed to have the opinion of ‘oh, you’re young and healthy, try again—what’s the worst?’ Well, I feel like I’ve already lived through the worst actually, so I’d rather not do that again,” Erin said about some of the attitudes they experienced following the second pregnancy. That wasn’t the case with Dr. Schnettler, who assured Erin that he could help her if the worst came to pass again. “He assured me… yes.”

The Smith’s wanted to be parents, but not by risking Erin’s health.

“I needed to feel safe,” she said unequivocally. “For him to… assure me the way that he did, that really did a lot for me mentally.

Once the trust was established, it was time to make a plan. That plan consisted of a Shirodkar cerclage that is made very high in the cervix that would be made between 10 and 12 weeks. That appointment left Erin in a good headspace. “We left… and we just felt different, we felt like we had a chance.”

Just short of 12 weeks after getting pregnant again, the Smiths were back in for Erin’s cerclage, and not a moment too soon. “My cervix had already shortened—yes, it’s cervical insufficiency… here’s an answer,” she said.

The procedure was a success, and even though her cervix had shortened, the stitch held.

“I was just hoping to get to viability… and we made it to 37 weeks!” Erin recounted, a huge smile beaming across her face.

This meant a lot for the physical success of the baby, but also for Erin’s mental state, especially getting to experience the important milestones of pregnancy she had looked forward to for so long. “I got to enjoy the baby bump, I got to take the pictures, I got to have the baby shower and just feel free,” she said.

Erin and Clay welcomed their baby girl in 2025 at Good Samaritan Hospital, and say they wouldn’t want to have wanted to be elsewhere.

“Every person we’ve encountered here has been amazing,” Erin said about her experience, both with Dr. Schnettler and with her delivery team. “I never felt like I was a bother calling, you know, because of anxieties… pregnancy after loss.”

Clay was moved by his wife’s resilience, but he was also very proud of her research and desire to find an answer for herself when one wasn’t readily available.

“It was a process of her and me learning to trust her body and her mind to say ‘we’ve got to go find an answer, I’m gonna go find it’—and she did,” Clay extolled about Erin’s tenacity. “It’s something really to be proud of that she took that initiative… and through Dr. Schnettler, we found it. She found it.”