Meet Harvey

• Baby Saves

• 05.29.25

“I first discovered Count the Kicks when I was pregnant with my first baby, he is now 7. I have a girl who is 6 and Harvey is baby No. 3. Throughout all of my pregnancies, recognizing movement patterns and ‘counting kicks’ is something that I paid close attention to and really honed in on. I actually enjoyed sitting down at certain points of the day to feel them and know my babies were safe.

So we actually made it to 39 weeks and 4 days with a completely normal pregnancy with no issues at all. It was a Sunday, and I started to feel some light contractions and knew things were starting to kick off with labour. So carried on through the day; contractions were starting to get stronger and stronger and I knew we would probably have our baby very very soon.

Again all was normal. I knew I should still be feeling normal movements from baby, and at that point I was. We shipped our other two children off to their grandparents and came home to wait until it was time to go to hospital. About 9 p.m. I was getting ready to lie down and contractions were starting to come on pretty heavy.

I had noticed though that I thought I hadn’t felt my baby move, so I lay down, had some cold water, and there was some movement, but it wasn’t strong like it had been. I fell asleep and obviously kept waking every time I was having a contraction. Each time I could feel a little movement, but I knew in my head it was not right. It hadn’t been as frequent, and definitely very weak kicks.

So around 4 a.m. I rang our hospital and explained this and they told me to come in straight away. They monitored the baby with an ECG monitor. The baby’s heart rate was going up and down, and the trace kept cutting out so I had to shift about to find the heartbeat again and again. They scanned me and everything seemed OK and admitted me.

I was going through the motions of labour. The contractions were so severe I thought I was going to pass out with every one, so I asked for an epidural. We went to the delivery suite and I had this. Upon further monitoring, my baby’s heart rate was falling and falling, going up, then with each contraction falling again. So the decision was made in an instant that I was going to have to have an emergency cesarean section.

I wasn’t even frightened at this point about that; I knew something wasn’t right and just needed baby out. My husband was asked to leave (he is a surgeon and even this has totally freaked him out). They delivered baby Harvey by emergency c-section and the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice. He needed supplemental oxygen upon delivery as he wasn’t breathing.

It actually frightens me to think that if I had not had counting the kicks in the back of my head the whole time that he would not be here. The staff at Craigavon area hospital in Northern Ireland are second to none, and had they not acted so quickly again I’m not sure of the outcome.

You need to count the kicks right up to the very end. Trust your gut and your instinct. If something is telling you that something’s not right, then go and get checked. I will always be so thankful that I did and just went with what you preach: that if the movement patterns aren’t as they normally are, go get checked out!” -Sarah M., Harvey’s mom

Editor’s Note: Research shows that fetal movement is best monitored without interventions like juice, candy, or drinking ice water.