This Mom's PSA Urges All Pregnant Women to See a Doctor the Second They Think Something's Not Right
Ayla Heller, a 19-year-old first-time mom, and her boyfriend, Dalton Henderson, learned how important it is to listen to instincts after almost losing their baby at 38 weeks.
In an effort to encourage other soon-to-be moms to listen to their bodies and go to the doctor at the very first sign of trouble, Heller posted her nearly tragic birth story to her Facebook page. And the scariest part about the mom's PSA is that it started out just like any normal day:
Pretty early that morning I had already noticed Maddy wasn't kicking around very much but had assumed she was having a less active day (which happened regularly). By noon, I felt her adjust her position which brought to my attention that she still hadn't kicked, but at least I had felt some kind of movement. So the day goes on and I still hadn't thought much of it until 7 p.m. Dalton put his hand on my belly and asked if she had been kicking. I became uneasy as I realized she still hadn't moved all day.
Rather than losing her cool, Heller first tried to relax before trying to listen to her baby's heartbeat on a fetal Doppler. Even though the couple could hear a heartbeat, the lack of movement was still a cause for concern.
"We became a little panicked but since I had felt her adjust positions and heard her heartbeat, I knew she was at least alive so I didn't know what to do," she wrote. In an effort to get some answers, Heller started looking for them on the internet.
"I texted my mother asking if it was normal because online did not help . . . half of everything I read said go in immediately, and the other half said that babies run out of room to kick. My Mom was very persistent and insisted I go in or at least call my midwife. So I called my midwife [and went to the labor center]."
After getting a battery of tests, Heller was told that she needed an emergency C-section. "There I was informed that my placenta had aged prematurely, was calcified, and had basically given up."
Fortunately, Heller delivered a perfectly healthy baby girl, but she might not have been so lucky if she had chosen to stay home:
So the point in me sharing this is to let anyone else know that things like this DO happen. You know your body and what's normal for your baby. And BABIES DON'T RUN OUT OF ROOM!! that was the common response I kept seeing. Babies will always kick [whether] there's much room or not. IF YOU HAVE DOUBTS, GO IN. GO IN. GO IN. GO IN!!! Always be safe rather than sorry. Because I almost didn't. I almost waited till morning to see if anything changed. And had I done that, I wouldn't have my love. I've heard so many stories of stillbirths because signs may not have been taken as seriously as they should've been.