Unmedicated 3rd Birth – IUGR, Congenital Heart Defect, and 70 Days in the NICU

Chelsey’s first two pregnancies and births were typical. Mother’s Intuition told her that things wouldn’t be as straightforward for her third pregnancy.  Nothing could have prepared her or her husband for the challenges and adversity they and their son Elliott would face in his first few months of life. At her 20 weeks ultrasound, Chelsey and her husband found out that the baby had 1 kidney, a potential heart defect, and the umbilical cord had a marginal cord insertion. At 28 weeks, her baby was diagnosed as IUGR, and she had to switch to an OB from a midwife with weekly monitoring. Chelsey was induced at 37 weeks and managed to give birth unmedicated, caught her baby, and announced the gender! Unfortunately, baby Elliott was admitted to the NICU at 18 hours old for monitoring of his heart which led to a 70 day NICU stay, emergency surgery at 6 days old for Necrotizing Enterocolitis, heart surgery, and an additional abdominal surgery to reconnect his colon. Baby Elliott fought through each challenge he faced and is home with his family today.

Chelsey Demory Bio

Chelsey is from Washington State, and she lives in the Spokane area with her husband, Joel, and kids, Adrion (12), Hudson (8), and Elliott (4 months). In their free time they enjoy being outdoors, hiking, gardening, camping, paddleboarding, and working on home improvement projects. Chelsey is a fierce advocate for her children, and believes every person deserves to have an informed care and the birth they envision. Connect with her at @chelseydemory on Instagram or email at chelsey.demory@gmail.com.

Resources

BabyPeek 

Have you ever wondered whether your baby will inherit your partner’s eye color, or if their hair will be curly or straight, or maybe they will prefer sweet food over salty? Enter BabyPeek, the revolutionary genetic test that unveils your baby’s potential traits as early as 10 weeks gestation.

With BabyPeek, you can discover 12 distinctive traits before they’re born, from the color of their eyes to whether they’ll have a sweet tooth. For example, you might learn that your baby has a 72% chance of dark brown hair, 18% chance of dark blonde hair, and 11% chance of black hair… or that your baby has just a 12% chance of thinking cilantro tastes like soap!

What sets BabyPeek apart is that it’s the first and only genetic test of its kind, brought to you by BillionToOne’s cutting-edge technology and backed by extensive research. BabyPeek is available exclusively as an add-on to Unity Complete, a routinely offered first trimester prenatal test that screens for genetic disorders. Unity is the only version of this test that sequences your baby’s DNA directly from one maternal blood sample taken at your doctor’s office. BabyPeek uses that same sample and cutting-edge technology to give you a fun sneak peek into your baby’s genetic makeup before birth—for the first time ever.

Visit babypeek.com/birthhour now to request access and learn more about how BabyPeek is transforming the way we connect with our little ones even before they arrive.