“I was 26 years old. It was my first pregnancy. I was healthy. I was athletic. Then it just happened. They told me, ‘Your cervix is gone.’ I had what’s called an incompetent cervix. It can lead to premature birth or losing your baby.

“They kept me in the hospital, head down and feet up, for two days. I was almost at six months. If they could get me to at least seven months on bed rest, my son could be born and possibly still live. But he would run the risk of cerebral palsy and some other things.

“I’ll never forget. After that conversation with the doctor, I was lying in the hospital bed and watching a Lakers game on TV. And I prayed. I was like, ‘God, I’m not sure if I’m strong enough at this point in my life to deal with a child with special needs. If my baby is going to be that, I don’t want him to suffer. So just do what you have to do.’ An hour later, my water broke and I went into labor. I delivered a beautiful 1-pound, 10-ounce baby boy. He breathed for just a moment, and that was it.

“It was heartbreaking. Initially, it was hard to come to grips with. One of the things I did was write about it in a poem called ‘Only Begotten Son.’ And when I would share things with people, they told me how much hearing what I had gone through helped them. I ended up publishing that poem in a book of poetry.

“Because of losing my son and other things I’ve gone through in life, I’ve been able to speak to other women and breathe life into other mothers. My son made me who I am. It’s a daily struggle. But it’s a beautiful journey.”

— Raquel Segura

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• Spoken word poet tells Da Truth

• Playing pro football, she lived her dream

The post Poetry emerges from heartbreaking loss appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“When my husband and I walked into labor and delivery, I knew our lives were about to change forever. But I had no idea the world would be shut down when we left the hospital with our girl.

“Sloane Pepper was born on March 16 and has quarantined with us ever since.

“As if becoming a first-time parent isn’t scary enough, we now had to raise her during a global pandemic. Not being able to invite people to meet her, worrying about access to, and inventory of, newborn-essential items, and the fear of getting sick were all daily, emotional challenges. All of this on top of adjusting to being a mom: Is she eating enough? Why won’t she nap? Why is she napping so long? What day is it?

“The silver lining of it all was the amount of uninterrupted quality time we got to spend together as a new family. Watching Sloane grow has been the highlight of our lives. I’m selfishly glad we got to keep her to ourselves for so long.

“She has met only a handful of people, and we’re not sure what the new normal holds. But I know the sacrifices we’ve made and continue to make during this pandemic, albeit challenging, will ensure she will have a healthy, happy future when the virus is in the rear view.

“As I reflect on the last nine months of parenting in a pandemic, I feel extremely fortunate for our health and proud I provided our extended family and friends a bright spot in the year 2020.”

— Leah Linares Abbate

The post She’s raising her first baby during pandemic appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“All of our kids have kind of been accidents. Our first one, we were still sort of dating when I accidentally got pregnant. We were like, well, are we ready to go through with this and do the whole shebang? We decided to see if we were still compatible after being pregnant and having the baby. It went well. Archer was born, and we did great together. We ended up buying a house, still not married. We bought cars, still not married. All that stuff.

“Then we were like, OK, we’re not going to get pregnant again for a while. What happens? We end up getting pregnant. Our second, Judah, was 14 months apart. People were like, you’re crazy for doing this again so soon. But I was like, man, we’re going to be fine. We got this. We are totally ready for parenting and everything. And we decided, OK, we’re going to be really careful and not get pregnant again. But we did.

“Archer and Judah were normal pregnancies. And everything was fine the third time, until our three-month ultrasound. They found a bright speck where the kidney would be. The doctor said not to worry, but we’re going to follow up and do this genetic bloodwork to make sure everything’s in order. It came back, and it was good. It was normal. We also learned we were having another boy.

“Then came the five-month ultrasound. It’s the anatomy one where they look at all the organs. It’s also where you officially see the gender for the first time. We brought our boys. We thought it would be a blast. We’d introduce them to their new brother. But the ultrasound tech was really quiet. Not as perky as usual, which was strange. And it was a long ultrasound. Obviously, it was because they were seeing some things that were abnormal. When she said, ‘I’m going to get the doctor,’ we were like, oh shit, something’s really wrong.”

— Marilyn Heredia

Their baby, Oliver, had a lower urinary tract obstruction. The rare birth defect is a blockage in the urethra, which carries urine out of the bladder and into the amniotic sac. Urine was backing up to the kidneys, and a fetal procedure to drain the urine didn’t work.

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The post With third son, they knew ‘something’s really wrong’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“Before all of this, I had a miscarriage. Then they told me I was miscarrying again. They said, ‘You’re about to lose this pregnancy, too.’ So we waited and waited, but nothing happened. I had an ultrasound to see what was going on, and there were twins in there and they were perfectly healthy. I just couldn’t believe it. I was in shock to go from thinking something’s probably wrong to learning it was twins.

“I had wanted another one, and he came right before the twins started kindergarten. They’re typical boys. They’re really adventurous. But they love having a little brother. They’re so sweet with him. They’re always telling him he’s so cute. They even tell him not to grow up anymore. It’s so funny.”

— Christy Eaton

The post It’s no baseball team, but three boys keep them busy appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“MEND has this thing in October, which is Infant Awareness Loss Month, where they have a balloon release in memory of those who passed away. My fiancé actually proposed to me there. He wanted to incorporate my daughter into the engagement, so it was perfect.

“Right after that, we became pregnant again. When I found out, I cried for a week. It’s like you’re excited, and then you feel guilty for being excited because you already lost a child.

“This time, they took a lot of blood and ran a lot of tests. I found out that I have a genetic mutation called Factor V Leiden that causes blood clots. In pregnancy, it causes blood clots in the placenta and the umbilical cord.

“After learning that, I felt very guilty. I called him crying, saying it’s my fault that my daughter is not here. If I had known about this earlier, she would be here. But he was amazing through the whole thing. He held me and told me it would all be OK.

“So now I’m injecting my stomach with blood thinners daily to help prevent it from happening again. Because they believe my genetic mutation probably had something to do with my other pregnancy. The shots are a little painful, but it’s definitely worth it.”

When are you due?
“I’m due July 20, which is one day before my daughter was delivered. When the doctor told me I thought, no way. But this time we’re going to induce two weeks before for safety precautions. We’re trying to stay as positive as possible that everything will turn out fine.”

— Crystal Ortiz

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• ‘My daughter wasn’t going to come home’
• Support group helps her deal with daughter’s death
• Mother of stillborn daughter shares experience
• She works to keep her daughter’s memory alive

The post Trying to stay positive during latest pregnancy appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“When I was living in Arkansas, I was with this girl who had gotten pregnant and then miscarried my baby. The thing is, I didn’t even know she was pregnant. She knew two or three weeks before springing it on me, and all this time she was over there drinking and stuff.

“I hold it against her. I probably would have a 5- or 6-year-old right now if she had done the right thing.

“Some day, I hope to have two kids and a wife. I think it can still happen for me. It just takes time to find the right woman.”

The post He remains bitter about that miscarriage appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“All our proceeds go to support the Pregnancy Resource Center in Baytown. We operate on donations from the public, churches and other organizations.

“You never know what might come through the door. We got a deer head once, some wedding rings, a lot of boxes that people never even opened. One lady brought in her wedding dress and said, ‘I don’t want any part of this.’ We asked what’s wrong with it and she said, ‘Nothing.’ But we found stomp marks all over it. Apparently, her wedding didn’t turn out very good.”

The post ‘You never know what might come through the door’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.