Meet Emma

• Baby Saves

• 07.23.24

“On Nov. 15, 2022, when I was 38 weeks pregnant, I gave birth to the most beautiful sleeping baby Jayden Shai. I went to the hospital because I wasn’t feeling him move and found out he no longer had a heartbeat. To this day we don’t know why his heart stopped beating. My heart aches all the time with him missing from our lives. I know he protected his younger sister Emma during pregnancy and is watching down on her all the time. 

Pregnancy after loss made my PTSD from stillbirth tough. Besides losing Jayden, carrying another child not knowing the outcome was painful. I wanted a chance of a living baby for my family even more. 

I used the same OB-GYN and found a Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) Specialist in the same practice to monitor this pregnancy. We all came up with a plan to monitor our baby really closely. And a plan to induce early at 36 weeks and 5 days on Thanksgiving day. 

At around 30 weeks I had more monitoring. Even with that reassurance, it was hard for me to breathe, sleep, or eat anything. I was constantly worried about our baby’s movements. I had in my head that she wasn’t going to be born alive, which is a terrible feeling. 

I started using the Count the Kicks app at 26 weeks and tracking her movements. I learned her patterns and that she was an active baby. I was able to count to 10 movements in 4-6 minutes when she reached 30 weeks. 

I originally learned about Count the Kicks from another mom who was talking about tracking movements while pregnant after loss. I used the Count the Kicks app multiple times a day. This helped me figure out Emma’s regular patterns. I liked how I could see the history and see what her patterns were, how fast and strong the sessions were. The app helped me feel more confident knowing what was going on. 

What helped the most was when I saw that her movements were different (not happening as fast or strong). I brought it up to my doctor and showed it to them in the app. 

When I reached 34 weeks I had a day where the movements felt different. When I used Count the Kicks it took our baby over a half hour to reach 10 movements, which was not normal for her. I had a scheduled non-stress test (NST) that morning and everything looked fine. My doctor asked if I wanted to schedule additional NSTs for the next two mornings (it was the weekend) at the hospital while the office was closed. Of course, I said yes! 

The next morning I went in for an NST at the hospital and our baby girl had a 3-hour sleep cycle and wasn’t moving as expected. The doctor who was on call was the doctor who found out Jayden had no heartbeat. She was ready to deliver early if our baby didn’t move more. 

She monitored our baby girl all day and she seemed fine. They kept me at the hospital for the next couple of weeks because of decreased fetal movements, and we planned NSTs 3x a day and ultrasounds every other day up until delivery. There was one other time at the hospital when our baby had a really long sleep cycle and it worried me. 

We have no idea why Emma had a really long sleep cycle when the movements decreased and I checked into the hospital. The ultrasound showed she was healthy. But because of my history of stillbirth and failing an NST, the doctor did not want to take a chance, so they kept me there. Our son Jayden’s ultrasounds showed he was healthy, too, and I stopped feeling him move. I think this is what was really terrifying. 

On Thanksgiving day, Nov. 23, 2023, at 10 a.m. I was induced and watched the parade and the dog show. And once we reached 4 p.m., Emma was here! The same doctor and nurses that delivered Jayden delivered Emma, and we all were so happy to hear her cry.

I would tell other women to set time aside on their calendars to track their baby’s movements on the Count the Kicks app. Days get really busy and sometimes you don’t pay attention as much, so having it scheduled helps. If you ever feel something is off and your baby isn’t moving the same, don’t wait! Call your doctor and go to the hospital.” – Danielle H., Emma’s mom