One year ago, TikToker Lynette (@lygreenthumb) was 39 weeks pregnant with her son, Elliot, and counting down the final days before meeting him, when something unexpected happened—she fell down the stairs.
The accident actually helped save her baby’s life.
Any pregnant woman’s immediate fear would be injury to the baby. Thankfully, she did not land on her stomach. At the time, his heart rate was dangerously high at 235 beats per minute. She went to the hospital to get checked out.
At the hospital, she was told that her baby’s heart rate had been spiking all the way up to 265 beats per minute and fluctuating unpredictably.
Within 20 minutes, she was getting prepped for an emergency C-section. If she hadn’t come in for evaluation, the underlying heart issue might not have been caught in time.
“The doctors told me that had I not fallen, eventually, his heart would have given out, and it’s up in the air if I would have given birth before then or if we would have lost him, but it wouldn’t have just gone back to normal,” said Lynette.
“He had to have his heart shocked to get it to be like normal again.”
In the end, she was able to bring her baby home, alive and well. Now, she gets to celebrate his birthday and will never forget how falling down the stairs saved his life.
Lynette’s story resonated deeply with other parents who experienced similar near-tragedies with their own babies. They shared how their births went in the comments section.
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“That’s sooo scary! I had something similar. I had an appointment scheduled and almost canceled because I was so close to having him. I was like, eh, it’ll be okay. Ended up going anyway and found out I had zero fluid in my amniotic sac, even though my water never broke. That appointment saved his life. I was immediately sent upstairs to be induced and had him within 12 hours,” wrote one user.
“I feel like my baby wouldn’t be with me if I hadn’t gone to the ER so many times because he was a huge baby, firstly, and I had very high blood pressure that suddenly appeared overnight and extremely swollen feet, got induced the same day. His heart rate was dropping, but he made it,” commented another.
“I had to have a semi-emergency C-section because my baby had stopped growing and wasn’t practicing his breaths at my checkup that day. He came out tiny and fine, but baby had a giant necrotic wound on their arm. If they had been born later naturally, then the entire limb could’ve been lost in the pressure of being born,” added a third.
Listening to your body, keeping appointments, and seeking care can make all the difference, even when it seems unnecessary.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
