Crystal Matrau-Belt gave birth to son Jeremiah on
Saturday, December 13, following an emergency
C-section at Bronson Medical Hospital in
Kalamazoo. She called her fiancé, Emil Skokan III,
34, and told him to head to the hospital. Her
mother Peggy Nichols, 53, was traveling to
Matrau-Belt's house at the time, so she and
Skokan decided to ride to the hospital together.
"I got a text from (Emil), 'Do you want me to
bring up anything?' and just said I'll meet you up
there and that he loved me," she said in an
interview with Karamazoo Gazette on Monday.
Three hours after she had her son, Crystal
Matrau-Belt still hadn't seen her fiancé or her
mother in the sea of other family members who
had come to meet the new baby.
"I asked my stepdad, 'Do you know where Emil
is?Matrau-Belt recalled. "My dad said, 'Honey,
that's what we need to talk to you about.' I just
all of a sudden had a sinking feeling something
was wrong. I just didn't know that it was my fiancé and my mom."
Matrau-Belt's fiancé, Skokan had been driving
himself and Matrau-Belt's mother, to the hospital
for the birth of his son just before 4 p.m.
Saturday, when he lost control on a stretch of
South 26th Street near Cork Street in Comstock
Township. The car hit a tree, killing Skokan and Nichols.
"Losing two of the most important people in
my life at the same time as bringing a child into
the world, it's like happy and the most
heartbreaking thing," Matrau-Belt said. "I waited
so long to be able to have a child, and to have a
child but then have two things ripped out of my
life, it's just really hard to deal with and even
process."
Jeremiah came into the world a bit unexpectedly.
Matrau-Belt, 24, had gone to her doctor for a
checkup Friday afternoon, but because of her high
blood pressure and because she was already 39
weeks along, her doctor decided it was time to
send her to the labor and delivery unit to be
induced.
Matrau-Belt was still in labor Saturday and got an
epidural. Not long after, she had a bit of a scare
when her blood pressure dropped and she blacked
out. She was stabilized, but her labor wasn't
progressing and she didn't want to put the baby
at any more stress, so she opted for a C-section.
Shortly after she had the scare, she contacted her
fiancé and told him to head to the hospital.
Peggy Nichols happened to be on the way to
Matrau-Belt's house and then planned to head to
the hospital, so she and Skokan rode together.
"I got a text from (Emil), 'Do you want me to
bring up anything?' and just said I'll meet you up
there and that he loved me," Crystal said.
That was the last time she heard from her fiancé.
Once she decided to go for the C-section she
again tried to contact Skokan, but couldn't reach
him. That in and of itself wasn't unsusual, but
Matrau-Belt said she felt something was amiss.
"They had brought my stepdad out of the
room, but no one told me anything," Matrau-Belt
said. "I couldn't get a hold of them. Instead of
stressing me out, they just really wanted me to go
and get the C-section done."
Matrau-Belt's stepmother stayed with her during
the delivery. While she was in recovery, other
family members came to visit. Once she was out
of recovery, her aunt took Jeremiah out of the
room and Matrau-Belt questioned where her
fiancé and mother were.
Matrau-Belt and Skokan had spent her whole
pregnancy disagreeing on the name for their son.
On Friday, when it was evident the baby was
coming sooner rather than later, she suggested
Jeremiah.
"We actually for the first time decided on a
name together," Matrau-Belt said, pausing to wipe
away tears.
Matrau-Belt and Skokan decided Jeremiah's
middle name would be James, after her
stepfather's middle name.
Matrau-Belt, a Kalamazoo native, and Skokan, a
Parchment native, had plans for their future
together. They wanted to move out of their home
in Pavilion Estates.
"He had told me a few months back that he
wanted to get married, but he wanted to make
sure I was ready, so we could all have the same
last name," Matrau-Belt said. She stopped, sobbing.
"He wanted to step up and make sure he was
a good father to him," Matrau-Belt said.
Matrau-Belt described her fiance as "caring, hard-
working, really smart." He would have celebrated
his 35 th birthday Sunday. He loved tinkering with
his fish tank and their 20-plus fish. Along with
Jeremiah, Skokan is survived by two other sons,
Emil Skokan IV and Kayden Skokan, according to
his obituary.
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