CBS News
Actors Alexa and Carlos PenaVega announce stillbirth of daughter: “She was absolutely beautiful”
“Spy Kids” actor Alexa PenaVega and her husband, “Big Time Rush” actor Carlos PenaVega, announced on Monday that their daughter was delivered as a stillborn. Their daughter, whom they named Indy Rex PenaVega, was the couple’s fourth child.
“There are never the right words to say when it comes to loss,” the couple said in a joint statement on Instagram. “After a beautiful and peaceful delivery our daughter ‘Indy’ was born at rest. It has been a painful journey. But in the pain we have found peace.”
/ Getty Images
Alexa PenaVega posted a pregnancy vlog from the hospital on March 18, saying she had been there for five days after she started bleeding.
“My history with this pregnancy has not been easy,” she said, saying that at one point, she thought her water had broken and that she couldn’t get the baby to move, despite her usually being active. The baby eventually started moving on the way to the hospital, she said.
“It looks like I’ve had basically a separation of my placenta from my uterus, not completely, a partial,” she said. “Luckily, it’s come to a place where it can be maintained.”
According to the CDC, roughly 21,000 babies are delivered as stillbirths every year in the U.S. – about the same number of babies that die during the first year of life. The rate of early stillbirth has remained about the same over time, the agency says, while the rate of late and term stillbirths has “dramatically reduced.”
The PenaVegas did not release details about the birth. They said that Indy “already changed our lives in so many ways.” They announced their pregnancy in November.
“She was absolutely beautiful. And looked just like daddy. Dark hair and all,” the couple said. “Grief has come to us in waves. Moments of feeling absolutely gutted… then moments of feeling blessed by just getting a moment with her.”
“Indy Rex PenaVega, you completely changed our world,” they ended their statement. “You moved us to a new place. You gave us the community we have been longing for. We love you can’t wait to see how many other lives you change.”
Former co-stars have showered the couple with condolences for their loss.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with your whole family,” Big Time Rush commented on their Instagram post. “We love you and you’re in our hearts always. Rest in peace, sweet angel.”
Tiffany Thornton, known for her roles in Disney’s “Sonny with a Chance” and “So Random!” said she has “no words.”
“I am broken hearted from you guys and can’t even fathom the loss of a tiny babe,” she said. “I’m praying she will send signs to y’all from Heaven daily. Loving y’all from Arkansas and praying fervently for your sweet family.”
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
The U.S. will remove all its forces and equipment from a small base in Niger this weekend and fewer than 500 remaining troops will leave a critical drone base in the West African country in August, ahead of a Sept. 15 deadline set in an agreement with the new ruling junta, the American commander there said Friday.
Air Force Maj. Gen. Kenneth Ekman said in an interview that a number of small teams of 10-20 U.S. troops, including special operations forces, have moved to other countries in West Africa. But the bulk of the forces will go, at least initially, to Europe.
Tech. Sgt. Christopher Dyer / AP
Niger’s ouster of American troops following a coup last year has broad ramifications for the U.S. because it is forcing troops to abandon the critical drone base that was used for counterterrorism missions in the Sahel.
Ekman and other U.S. military leaders have said other West African nations want to work with the U.S. and may be open to an expanded American presence. He did not detail the locations, but other U.S. officials have pointed to the Ivory Coast and Ghana as examples.
Ekman, who serves as the director for strategy at U.S. Africa Command, is leading the U.S. military withdrawal from the small base at the airport in Niger’s capital of Niamey and from the larger counterterrorism base in the city of Agadez. He said there will be a ceremony Sunday marking the completed pullout from the airport base, then those final 100 troops and the last C-17 transport aircraft will depart.
Speaking to reporters from The Associated Press and Reuters from the U.S. embassy in Niamey, Ekman said that while portable buildings and vehicles that are no longer useful will be left behind, a lot of larger equipment will be pulled out. For example, he said 18 4,000-pound (1,800-kilograms) generators worth more than $1 million each will be taken out of Agadez.
Unlike the withdrawal from Afghanistan, he said the U.S. is not destroying equipment or facilities as it leaves.
“Our goal in the execution is, leave things in as good a state as possible,” he said. “If we went out and left it a wreck or we went out spitefully, or if we destroyed things as we went, we’d be foreclosing options” for future security relations.
AFP via Getty
Niger’s ruling junta ordered U.S. forces out of the country in the wake of last July’s ouster of the country’s democratically elected president by mutinous soldiers. French forces had also been asked to leave as the junta turned to the Russian mercenary group Wagner for security assistance.
Washington officially designated the military takeover as a coup in October, triggering U.S. laws restricting the military support and aid.
What to expect from 30th annual Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans
GOP, Democratic strategists on Biden’s next steps with calls for him to drop out growing
U.S. troops leaving Niger bases this weekend and in August after coup, officials say
What to expect from 30th annual Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans
GOP, Democratic strategists on Biden’s next steps with calls for him to drop out growing