Your Birth Story

Tell your birth story.

One of the most important things you can do is to use your voice because so many other girls and women can’t use theirs. By simply telling your own birth story, you are helping to raise awareness about maternal health.

Whether you breezed through, suffered a complication or are just grateful for the care you received, you share a bond with mothers everywhere and by sharing your story with us on social media, you can play a critical role in recruiting your own network to join us at Every Mother Counts.

Below is an example from one mom who shared her birth story with us:

Last month, Terri Van Dusen had her baby, Claudia, after several weeks of hospitalization for vasa previa.

Vasa previa is a pregnancy complication that can result in stillbirth if not diagnosed and treated appropriately. Her husband, Glen, ran his first half-marathon in support of Every Mother Counts in September. We asked Terri about her delivery, her baby, and what she’s grateful for this season.

Terri, we are so grateful that you and Claudia came through your pregnancy and delivery safely, especially since your complication meant that you had to deliver your baby pretty early.

We’re grateful too. She’s my miracle baby. I thought I was going to fall apart when we first found out we had this complication, but everything just kept falling into place. She was supposed to have been born at 35th weeks, but I started contracting so they decided to get the band together and deliver her a day early.

I had a scheduled C-section because delivering vaginally isn’t safe with vasa previa. I wasn’t thrilled about having surgery or the recovery period, but everything worked out perfectly and she came out screaming.

Now that the danger is behind you and Claudia is here, what are you grateful for?

I’m grateful that I had insurance and great doctors who knew to send me for ultrasound imaging throughout my pregnancy to see what was going on. That’s how I was initially diagnosed with placenta previa and later, with vasa previa. Having the resources to diagnose the problem made it manageable. I can’t imagine waiting until I was in labor to realize these complications were going on and then not making it to the hospital and having my baby die. I’m so thankful I had all the right people around to prevent any problems from happening to my baby. That’s why EMC is so important to me. A lot of people don’t have those resources and I don’t think that’s right. Preventing something like this from turning into a tragedy just takes a couple of ultrasound pictures and a good healthcare team.

I’m also grateful I get to stay home for a while and just be Claudia’s mom. I know a lot of people don’t get to do that. They have a baby and then have to go back to work immediately or they have other responsibilities they have to fulfill. I’m grateful I can sit here with my baby next to me just chilling in the sun.

Thank you Terri for sharing your story.

Follow more stories this month using #GratitudeSeason.

Read more birth stories from the EMC community here.