“My son was limp and blue, an umbilical cord choked around his neck. My face was so swollen my eyelids were turned upside down. I heard whimpers, more gushes. I called out to my husband. His voice weakly managed, ‘I love you’ as I was wheeled out of the room. He was left sitting on the hospital room floor, in a pool of my blood. The family my husband and I had always dreamed of was now painfully impossible.”
‘I felt the doctor reach inside me. Blood spilled out. I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes.’: Mom survives ‘near-death birthing experience,’ admits to ‘physical, emotional trauma’ 10 years later
‘I’m 25 years old. This is my first baby. I couldn’t even look at my husband. But the second I held him, I was madly in love.’: Mom says despite what she was told about Down syndrome diagnosis, ‘this boy was going to be a blessing’
”When Joshua was born, there was no cry. His umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and the doctor had to pry it off piece by piece. The second I saw him, I knew. At that moment, everything changed.”
‘Does it look too big?’ Our perfect, happy, healthy baby boy had a belly full of tumors. Cancerous tumors.’: Mom’s newborn diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, says ‘every little moment’ with loved ones is a ‘reason to celebrate’
“When our pediatrician comes back in, I see fear on her face. I feel the air leaving my lungs, my chest feels so heavy. She tells me his liver and spleen are enlarged, so enlarged the radiologist who read his X-ray asked, ‘How sick is this baby?!’ He’s not sick at all! He’s smiling and laughing, he’s perfect. I rush toward the elevator, a literal sobbing mess. How did I not know this? I thought I knew shock and devastation. I had no idea.”
‘I love inspecting the vessels in umbilical cords. My awe never ceases over how our bodies are so intricately woven in the womb. I love to share my excitement over what others consider ‘gross.’
“A lot of people think it’s just a ‘tube’ of sorts transporting nutrients to their baby. But…it’s so much more intricately designed than that!”
‘Did I really experience that or was it a dream? The pastor asks, ‘Have you had any problems with your pregnancy?’ I reply ‘NO.’’
“Immediately I call my husband. I asked him to meet me at the hospital (still no tears and I don’t understand). The lady informs me my baby boy died 3 days ago.”
‘Her worried look spoke volumes. ‘How much did you weigh before this pregnancy?’ My doctor laid a hand on my leg.’: Mom’s harrowing journey with umbilical cord not giving son enough nutrients
“’I’m sure it’s nothing. Some babies are just small,’ she said. I was beginning to make connections in my head. I had been 115 pounds before pregnancy, and was now down to 94 pounds. But weren’t pregnant women supposed to gain weight? ‘There is a blood flow issue. The umbilical cord isn’t working properly.’ I heard nothing else.”
‘Babies don’t have strokes! Or so we thought.’ Mom warns of son’s pediatric stroke in the womb, wasn’t aware until he was 6 months old
“It was a massive stroke. Big enough to kill a grown man. It was horrifying. This could not be happening to us.”
‘There is no heartbeat’: Mom turns devastating stillbirth at full term into opportunity to make a difference for ‘other parents who will walk this road’
“Over and over I sobbed into Tony’s neck, ‘I’m so sorry.’ I carried her. I should have kept her safe. What did I do wrong? Did I sleep on my back? Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten that lunchmeat. Why didn’t I make my doctor induce that morning?”
‘I have an idea!’: Midwife spells LOVE with baby’s umbilical cord in breathtaking photo
“It is a beautiful representation of what was connected between mama and baby Milly for those 9 months: love.”
Marine helps with friend’s baby via emergency C-section: ‘She was so emotional and scared’
“I knew she was new to Yuma and didn’t have friends here and this was her first baby.”
