Vasa previa was not discovered until he was born by C-section. Fortunately, there was no blood loss. I was induced in the morning on May 14, 2002. Each time the pitocin was increased, Tyler's heart rate would drop. This went on until 9:00 in the evening. Finally, my doctor came in and said we had 3 options...break my water, start pitocin again in the morning, or do a C-section.

     My husband, Brian, and I found out that I was pregnant with our first child on September 13th, 2001, just two days after the horrific events that took place on September 11th.  It was a difficult time to discover that we were going to be bringing a new life into a world where so much devastation had just taken place.  But, despite all of that, we were still beyond excitement for this new little life to join us. 

     I got pregnant after one month of trying.  My pregnancy was very uneventful.  No morning sickness, bleeding or any other signs of problems.  I had my routine ultrasound at 21 weeks and all looked great.  At 38 weeks, I began to swell up and my blood pressure was borderline high.  My doctor put me on bed rest for the duration of my pregnancy for severe edema and high blood pressure. 

     My actual due date was May 18th, 2002, but for some miracle, for lack of a better word, my doctor thought it would be best to induce me a little earlier due to my severe swelling and borderline blood pressure.  On May 14th, at 7 a.m., I was induced.  As soon as the pitocin kicked in and I started having the mildest of contractions, Tyler's heart rate would drop.  The nurse would stop the pitocin, and restart it from 0.  Throughout the day, this continued.  I wasn't dilated at all and couldn't progress due to his heart rate dropping each time I was given the pitocin.
Finally, at 9 pm that evening, my doctor arrived and did another ultrasound to check the baby.  All still looked well.  And, still, she, nor my husband or I, had any idea that vasa previa existed at this point. She talked to us about our options.  She said she could break my water to get things going, start pitocin again in the morning, or do a c-section.  We opted for the c-section due to Tyler's heart rate dropping and the fear of why it was happening.

     While I was lying on the table when Tyler was being delivered, I remember crying and saying over and over to my husband, "Say a prayer that the baby is okay. Say a prayer, say a prayer, say a prayer...".  At 10:11 p.m., our doctor announced that we had a little baby boy.  We named him Tyler Anthony.  His Apgar scores were 9's.  No blood loss or tears occurred due to having a c-section in time.

     Moments later, as I wiped away my tears of relief and joy, I heard my doctor say "This is interesting".  She then told me to look at the placenta, which she held up for me to see.  She was explaining what vasa previa and velamentous cord insertion were and thought that was the case here, but wanted to send it to pathology to confirm her findings.  At this moment, I didn't have a clue what she was talking about.  I was just so relieved to have delivered a healthy 6 lb. 13 oz. baby boy.

     My doctor then said words I'll never forget. "God was watching over us today."  She told me that if I would have gone into labor on my own, most likely, Tyler wouldn't have survived. Then, it hit me...how fortunate and lucky I was to be holding my son in my arms, having undiagnosed vasa previa.  How could I have never heard of this devastating condition?  I read every pregnancy book imaginable while I was carrying Tyler and vasa previa was NEVER mentioned in ANY of them! 

     The day after Tyler was born, I wanted to get more information about vasa previa.  I asked every nurse that entered my recovery room.  No one seemed to have any answers for me.  One nurse printed off a short paragraph about it for me, but couldn't answer any of my questions, like "Why does it occur?  Why wasn't it detected during my pregnancy?"  The only answer I got from my ob was that it was one of those "fluke" things that happen and that it is very rare.

     When I arrived home from the hospital, I began to look for answers.  I came across the International Vasa Previa Foundation website.  I began reading the stories of parents whose babies died from vasa previa and those who were pre-diagnosed and survived.  I wept uncontrollably while reading these stories. It felt like that moment when we found out we were pregnant...I was overjoyed that Tyler was here and healthy, despite what could have happened, especially being undiagnosed.  Yet, my heart ached for all of the families who lost their little angels to vasa previa. 
 

     I tell everyone I know who is expecting or knows someone expecting about Tyler's story and vasa previa.  I don't do it to scare them, rather to inform them to insist that their doctors do a transvaginal sonography to either diagnose or rule out vp.  I had NO risk factors and had vp.  The more people know, the better chance they have in preventing more unnecessary deaths with pre-diagnosis of vasa previa.