64 | Sudden Change - Chelsie Washington

Sharing about her pregnancy Chelsie described it as pretty easy and a time that she really enjoyed. She hoped that the same would be said for her birth. Speaking about birth with one of her close friends, Chelsie was keen that she didn't want a cut and dry birth plan. She was open to all options but was holding firm to no induction, taking her time with medical intervention for pain, and trying to avoid a c-section.

A couple of days after her estimated due date, Chelsie went into spontaneous labor - arriving at the hospital dilated to two centimeters. As she and baby moved at their own pace, Pitocin was provided to help continue to move things along. However, due to her membranes' length of time being ruptured and not dilating further, Chelsie and her husband decided the safest option was to bring their son, Wade, earthside via a c-section. Chelsie attributes that decision as her first big parenting decision, and as they navigated the first month of their son's life, she and her husband would soon need to make another big decision.

Chelsie had been noticing Wade was always eating. Beyond the regular cluster feeding, this observation and an irregular breathing pattern that her mother in law had picked up on were a nudge for her to bring their pediatrician aware. While he had been doing well during all his regular checkups, their pediatrician did find a slight heart murmur and referred them to a specialist to see at a later date during a follow-up appointment. Yet again, following the encouragement of her mother in law, they decided to fast track his care. They went into Children's Hospital for in-depth testing; assessments during their visit provided them with a diagnosis that their son had a heart defect - aortic coarctation. If receiving care was prolonged, he would go into organ failure. Without an extended amount of time to consider the news, Chelsie and her husband found themselves preparing Wade for heart surgery.

Wade is currently thriving; beyond the scar from his surgery, you wouldn't even know the extent of his journey - the extent of their journey as a family. Sharing her birth, her postpartum healing, and the role of her village support Chelsie reminds all us, parents, that while our children are meeting their milestones, we are as well. Growing and changing alongside them, and even in that growth's roughest patches, things always get better.