Paul Archuleta/FilmMagicKimberly McCullough began the new year by revealing some devastating news.
The 37-year-old actress and director, best known for her role as Robin Scorpio on the soap opera General Hospital, wrote on her blog on Sunday, two days after New Year's Day, that she had gotten pregnant last year and had suffered a late miscarriage. This would have been her first child.
McCullough said in her post, which wrapped up her 2015, that she found out she was pregnant over the summer. She did not reveal the identity of the father, although she did reference her boyfriend earlier. McCullough said her doctor's nurse told her over the phone, while she was working on directing an episode of Pretty Little Liars, that she was expecting a baby girl.
"That was probably the best day of my life thus far, the one I will remember as 'having it all,'" the actress wrote. "It was the night before my first day of shooting. I was prepared. I was fulfilled."
Her pregnancy news was bittersweet, as McCullough's beloved dog Melba had recently passed away. Weeks later, she adopted a new dog, Jack.
Several months into her pregnancy, McCullough posted a baby bump mirror selfie on her blog. She suffered a miscarriage when she was in her second trimester and 22 weeks along—more than half a pregnancy term.
"My heart was so full and then it broke," she wrote. "I had lost my baby girl. It was too much. I didn't need to learn this lesson. I wasn't interested. But I wasn't in control. These things happen and no, I don't believe they happen 'for a reason.' I'm still processing, still healing, but anyone who has gone through it knows, losing a baby at 22 weeks is tragic."
A late-term miscarriage, also called an early stillbirth, typically occurs between a woman's 14th and 24th week of pregnancy, aka the second trimester. About 90 percent of miscarriages typically occur in the first trimester.
"Spending time with Jack, my emotional support dog (ha) and dancing again (hip-hop) is how I ended out my year," she wrote. "I also got to spend time with my General Hospital family and see my good friend Jason Thompson off, hopefully to greener pastures. I'm really proud of the work we did, not just this go around but over the last ten years. I made a great friend (JT), I gained a TV Daughter (the most precious soul on the planet) and got to tell an important and at times, really fun story."
"Not to go total Oprah on you, but at the end of this year and the beginning of the next, I am grateful for it all," she said. "Tired. But grateful."