Meleana's Birth Story

"At 33 weeks and 3 days I welcomed my beautiful baby girl into this world.

I had “flawless” pregnancy up until I had an unexpected emergency. I woke up early in the morning on June 16th at 2:32am only to find out that when I used the bathroom it wasn’t pee. I was profusely bleeding so heavily that I wasn’t even able to get off of the toilet. I screamed for my husband to wake up and he immediately rushed me to the ER. I continued to bleed out so bad that my baby’s heartbeat was declining. I lost so much blood that they had to give me multiple blood transfusions in order to stabilize me and my daughter. We both almost lost our lives that morning.

Come to find out I had a partial placental abruption. I honestly thought that I had lost her and I was so scared. I remember telling my husband if you have to choose to save someone please save her! Give her a chance at life.

I was admitted for a week and was kept next to the operating room cause they considered me high risk. After being in there for a week I was released but had to be on bed rest and someone had to be with me at all times cause I was considered high risk. I followed up with NST appointments twice a week for the next month until I had to have an emergency C-Section.

Fast forward to July 11, 2022. I had an emergency C-Section and welcomed my beautiful Meleana at 2:32pm. Yup, the same exact time that I had my first emergency with her was the same time that I gave birth! What’s the chances of that… my daughter was born preemie and weighed 4lbs 12.7oz and was 17 1/2” long. She was rushed to the NICU with my husband where she spent a total of 32 days.

I didn’t get to see her until the next morning. I felt so much sadnesses and blamed myself for my body not being able to support her the way that it was supposed to. I had postpartum depression for a few months and every time I bled it triggered my ptsd of my previous emergency. We were by her bedside everyday and everyday I cried because seeing your child hooked up to monitors isn’t what you imagined.

Over the next few weeks she was getting stronger and was doing so well. The week that we were supposed to take her home they found blood in her stool. I just broke down and wished that I could take all of her pain away. Hearing her scream as they have to put a catheter in her was gut wrenching each time. We found out that she is allergic to dairy. We now have to look around for her formula because you can’t just buy it in stores and it’s almost $50 a can!!

The day we took our beautiful girl home was the second best day of my life, next to giving birth. We cherish every moment with her and are amazed at how far she came. Mele is the happiest girl and we feel so blessed to be her parents.

Mele just made 6 months and is doing great. Her mile stones take a little longer since she’s behind gestationally but she’s on a great growth track! I’m crying as I write this because of all the memories but now they’re happy tears." -NICU Mom, Tara