MomStrength Defined:
The quiet untold POWER of a mother’s heart. It’s the emotional, mental, and spiritual courage that every mother carries within them. The ability to love fiercely, endure tirelessly, sacrifice selflessly. It’s the strength to lift others up while carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, to offer comfort and support when your own heart is heavy, and the resilience to keep going no matter the obstacle. It’s the invisible superpower that mothers draw on in moments of fear, exhaustion, and uncertainty. Always fueled by love and devotion to those she holds closest.
Our Story
We all have a story to tell, here is ours:
At 24 weeks pregnant I was diagnosed with a rare pregnancy complication called Vasa Previa. This means there are ‘unprotected’ fetal (baby’s) blood vessels traveling over the cervix. When you go into labor with this condition - contractions, cervix dilating, water breaking, straining, etc, the unprotected baby vessels can rupture and lead to severe blood loss to baby. Since baby’s blood volume is so small, baby would bleed out and cause death or brain damage in less than 10 minutes. The management for Vasa Previa is premature delivery of baby via c section prior to any signs of labor (usually 34-36 weeks) and an inpatient stay prior to this (28-32 weeks). The reason for the inpatient stay is to be close to an OR since getting baby out asap with any sign of premature labor is baby’s only chance at survival.
This condition of Vasa Previa was not discovered at our 20-week anatomy scan. Initially, I was only diagnosed with placenta previa which is very common and means part or all of the placenta is covering the cervix and the provider just said 95% of the time it resolves by delivery. After reviewing my own scans, I had a gut feeling to get a 2nd opinion from a different provider. It was at this visit that the provider suspected type 2 vasa previa and placenta accreta and this diagnosis ultimately saved both mine and baby’s life.
Most providers I saw seemed fearful of this condition and wanted to get baby out asap at 34 weeks. Through relentless research of the latest data and reaching out to some of the leading experts who were kind enough to share their knowledge, I was able to find a provider that was confident and able to get us safely to 36 weeks. Finding a provider I could trust made all the difference in my anxiety- knowing baby and I were in the best hands possible and just had to pray we’d be ok. I am blessed and forever grateful that we were able to deliver a healthy baby boy via c section after a month hospital stay. (See BLOG for full story)
Never lose hope, always trust your instincts, and be a self-advocate.
We are extremely fortunate to have 3 healthy babies, but it was not a smooth road to get there and came with a lot of heartache and “MomStrength”. We did 7 IUI fertility treatments and had a miscarriage on the 5th and ultimately ended up doing IVF for our 2nd child...
And bringing our baby's safely into the world is just the beginning of a lifetime of "MomStrength:-)"
It was in the weeks after the ‘Vasa Previa’ diagnosis of feeling constant anxiety for the well-being of our unborn baby (and after the struggles of infertility) that MomStrength Company was born. Being scared every second every day that the blood vessel giving him life could rupture at any moment and just having to ‘power through’ with everyday life was when I realized the ‘ultimate inner strength’ moms have in all stages of their motherhood journey.
Throughout all of these struggles and journeys, I realized its HOPE that keeps you going. Which is the foundation of our logo.