I saved a life today

Wanna hear about how I saved a baby's life? Okay, okay. I didn't physically save a baby's life, but I sure did help! I am not sharing this because I'm proud, or because I like playing hero. I am sharing because it may inspire others to speak up when they feel the need to. That, and it's just such an awesome and amazing experience and I want to share it :) 

On one of my loss-moms Facebook support groups, a mother posted about how she was 38 weeks pregnant, and her baby had started doing these weird rythmic movements. He was head down, and the movements were too big to be practice breaths, and not quite right for hiccups. Well, I happened to have a video recording of Lilly doing JUST THAT VERY THING on February 12, just a week and a half before she was stillborn. That's when she started doing it. She had never done so till a week and a half before all hell broke loose. I showed the video to my OB and he said she was doing those movements because her cord was compressed. I felt as if I needed to tell the mother this. Maybe her situation would be different than mine, and her son would be okay and it's just some little quirk he has. But what if I was right? What if her sons cord was compressed, too? If I didn't tell her, and her child died, I would feel so incredibly guilty. I would feel as if I was to blame because I hadn't done anything about it- I hadn't shared my experiences knowing that the knowledge I have could save her and her baby. 

So told the worried mother. And apparently I freaked her out enough to go and visit L&D (THANK GOODNESS!) Turns out, her son was in distress and she had to have an emergency c-section right then. Her and her son are doing just fine now, but wow! Imagine what would have happened had I NOT said anything??? This sweet momma had already suffered three miscarriages. I can't even begin to imagine what a stillbirth would have done to her. There are so many emotions going through me because of this experience. Some of them are confusing and I don't understand them, but the biggest is happiness, and relief. I am so glad that I saw that post when I did- that I was able to share my experience and help her. 

This is the video I mentioned. Please excuse the dogs playing in the background. I placed the TV remote on my stomach so that my mom would be able to see Lilly moving easier (I sent this video to her in a text). It was very unlike Lilly to move so much. She never really was the most active baby. She really enjoyed stretching :) These kinds of movements would last anywhere between ten minutes to three hours.