YDGM Ep 009: Sarah Keen

Sarah Keen had no idea her first pregnancy would end up being one of the most challenging experiences in her life.

Her son was born premature at 33 weeks.

“Having had a cesarean and, you know, an emergency cesarean, without any labor because a lot of people said, ‘oh, did your waters break? and did this happen, and how often were your contractions,’ and I didn’t have any labor at all. I was literally pregnant, rushed into theatre, and then the next minute in the recovery room, and without my baby. Because that’s the other thing, because of the way they take them away to special care, or intensive care. They take the baby straight away, but nobody told me. Everyone knew it would happen, but nobody told me, and I presume it’s because they always assumed somebody else had.”

Today’s episode is Sarah sharing her very scary and personal story of her first born son, who was born premature at 33 weeks because her placenta had stopped growing. Her condition was a placental insufficiency, more specifically an absent end diastolic flow. The doctors discovered that her baby was SGA (small for gestational age), and she had to be monitored daily. This lead to a cascade of chaos, from rushing into an emergency cesarean, and into motherhood, breastfeeding, and bonding with her new baby.

“I had this thing in my head the whole time. He’s gonna die. He’s gonna die. He’s not gonna make it. I’m not gonna get to see him. The only reason why they are keeping me away is because he’s gonna die. What the hell is wrong with me? I’m not feeling it. What the fuck is going on? And for me, as soon as I saw him I got it. And I was like, it’s OK; I do love my child.”

It’s an emotional story, and also filled with courage, inspiration, love, discovery, and joy.

Her second pregnancy was unexpected, and she speaks about how she had to face her unhealed wounds from her first pregnancy, which triggered her PTSD. She envisioned growing her baby as far as her body could take her, planned a home VBAC birth, and wanted to bask in the enormity of her beautiful pregnant belly.

Tune in to listen to what happened, what she learned, and her amazing inspiring story of strength and a mother’s love.

Powerful beautiful stuff!

To connect with Sarah, visit her website http://pregnancypodcast.co.uk/. Also tune in to her podcast called Pure Natural Pregnancy on iTunes.