Meet Calvin

• Baby Saves

• 03.02.18

My entire pregnancy was textbook, no issues not many symptoms, easy. I always thought as I laid in bed feeling him move that it was the perfect pregnancy and I was so lucky. My doctor always stressed kick counts once I hit my third trimester and he did so again my last appointment before he was out for the week.

Two days before Christmas I noticed something was off. He wasn’t moving as I wanted him to but then he started to wiggle and hiccup and I dismissed my fear. The next day was worse. I tried everything I could, moving, loud noises, eating but he would barely move. I decide to head to the maternity ward once my significant other got home.

They admitted me and got me strapped to a heart monitor and there was the heartbeat! Now I was feeling relieved and embarrassed. He was fine and I was just overreacting. When the nurse came back it was clear something was still wrong. Within an hour we had four doctors and two ultrasounds while the nurse explained that he still wasn’t moving and his heartbeat was showing signs of anemia. My doctor came into the hospital even though it was Christmas eve and even though he was out of the office to perform an emergency C-section on me. My son was born soon after, pale white and barely moving and rushed off to the NICU. He needed two blood transfusions and careful monitoring. Everyone we talked to congratulated us on our miracle which started to clue us in on how serious our situation was.

He has since recovered and grown into a wonderful and loving little boy. We found out what happened was called a fetal-maternal hemorrhage, a condition where fetal blood is passed into the mothers blood stream. I felt both confused and upset, I had never heard of it, not even in the scary rare complications section of what to expect. I had no symptoms besides decreased movement and my doctor told us if we had waited any longer we would have lost him.

Since then I have looked everywhere for answers and found very few. I am so thankful for kick counts and mothers instinct and my hope is that someday my story or others like it will save someone else’s little one. The loss of a child seems unimaginable until you are faced with the reality of it.