Complete Family Dreams
Kim Guiley and her husband knew that they wanted another baby to complete their family after welcoming their first child into the world in 2014. Like any other family, they are gradually forming their own in their terms. The couple has decided to act on their dreams of a complete family.
Thankfully, Kim became pregnant in 2016. A few complications arose, but eventually, she was ready to give birth to her second and hopefully final pregnancy. The expectant mother had been through labor before and already knew how to handle it. However, she and her husband never would have seen this coming.
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No Worries At All
Though the couple was happily married, they knew that they needed something to complete them. Kim and Travis eventually brought their first baby, Hazel, into the world after three years of being married. Nonetheless, they are yet to accomplish their standards of a complete family.
Growing up, Kim was really close with her own brother, and their relationship made her wanted a son of her own so that little Hazel could have the same experience. Kim was a 28-year-old doula from Santa Cruz, California, and is used to providing non-medical support to families before, during, and after pregnancy. Her skills were enough to give her no worries at all, but as she was expecting to make everything run smoothly on her second pregnancy, she was faced with a painful heartbreak.
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A Few Heartbreaks Along The Way
Kim and Travis wanted another baby to complete their happy family. Luckily for them, their efforts bore fruit in 2015 when Kim got pregnant the second time around. But as all journeys have a few heartbreaks along the way, she tragically suffered a miscarriage.
Nonetheless, the power couple wasn't going to give up. Life’s funny way of working things out patterned their wishful thinking. Just a few months later, Kim got pregnant again, but this time, she was scared of having another miscarriage. She knows that she and her husband wouldn't be able to handle another heartbreak. The expectant mother was throbbing in worry.
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Too Many Worries
Kim’s first pregnancy with Hazel, combined with her doula experiences, equipped her with the strength she needed for her second child. However, her miscarriage on her first attempt to have a second child replaced all that happiness with worry.
In the end, her third pregnancy became plagued with issues. “As the pregnancy progressed, we suffered through scare after scare – worries about my gallbladder, concerning images on the anatomy scan, small fundal measurements, too much amniotic fluid and a transverse baby at 36 weeks,” Kim wrote on her blog. As if those weren’t enough, the couple still has more to worry about throughout the pregnancy.
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Boy or Girl
Aside from the emergence of the baby after months of waiting, there is another thing that the people around expectant mothers anticipate – the much-awaited gender reveal. And just like any other pregnant couples, Kim and Travis were dying to find out their second baby’s sexual characteristics. However, they made a rather bizarre decision when it came to know their baby’s gender.
Imagine a couple’s frustration when they don’t know the baby’s gender throughout the pregnancy. This was not the case for Kim and Travis, though, for they preferred to turn their heads around when the baby’s lower half came into view.
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An Odd Way of Having Fun
It is rare, if not entirely impossible, to encounter a couple who doesn’t want to distinguish the gender of the baby as soon as possible. As odd as Kim and Travis's decision might be, they have an important reason behind it.
“After the miscarriage, I was just really attached to having a healthy baby, regardless of sex. My husband wanted to find out, and I said, ‘No, let’s have fun with it,” Kim revealed of her unusual choice. Thankfully, the recently troubled mother has gotten back to her feet and is ready to tackle on a new journey and with an odd way of having fun. Moreover, Kim has already had a good vision in her mind.
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Female Intuition
In the olden days, people had accepted the fact that the only way to know a baby’s gender is by taking a close look at it when it finally came out of the womb. Modern times, on the other hand, had more advanced ways already, but Kim didn’t want to succumb to any for her second child-to-be.
Above anything else, Kim believed that she was having a girl. Apparently, female babies are tantamount to complicated pregnancies. Her little Hazel also had this feeling that her mom would have a girl. If anything, the mother-daughter is like a textbook example of female intuition.
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Putting Observations and Experiences Together
Kim had years of experience in her work as a doula, and her observations from there led her to believe that her own encounter would be the same. “I was really sick with this pregnancy, and there’s a correlation between sickness and having girls,” Kim shared regarding the observations and experiences she had put together.
Aside from those, she also had hers and Hazel’s female intuition as a trivial basis. “And my two-year-old daughter thought it was a girl. I had all these silly reasons,” she added. But as silly as her reasons may be to other people, Kim stands firm because when you know, you know.
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Still No Guarantee
By all means, the couple is free to abide by their decision to remain unfamiliar with their baby’s gender. Kim can also guess and predict all on her own. Still, there is no guarantee that she is right in her belief that she has a baby girl on the way.
“Because I’m a doula and I work with babies and births, I know you can never have any expectations about anything,” Kim said. While they are having fun in their make-believe, it’s good to know that Kim is still level-headedly aware of having no secured assurance. All they have to do now is wait.
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Onto The Final Countdown
The Guiley couple has gone a long way in the pursuit of their desires of a complete family. After what seemed to be an eternity in waiting, they are now onto the final countdown of their journey. Baby girl Guiley is now nearing her first-ever introduction to the world. But then again, the family is in for more surprises than one.
With the due date fast approaching, Kim was faced with a shocking discovery. Her baby was posterior, meaning that it was head down and facing her abdomen. Though such a condition is relatively common at the start of labor, it makes for a tricky delivery. Come July 26, Kim was finally ready to face yet another beautiful struggle.
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Fruit of Labor
Along the way, Kim has been going through quite a rough pregnancy. All the more, she did brace herself for likewise tricky labor. Another fragment of her premonition of having a baby girl is of having difficulties synonymous with it, thus her preparation.
But then again, the Guiley couple is in for a surprise. Though following a fortnight of contractions and thinking that she was going into early labor, Kim was rather unsuspicious of the whole ordeal. The expectant mother was remarkably calm at the onset. Travis even came to the point of saying, “Uh, hh, you’re in labor,” to an unwary Kim.
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Stubborn Child
Just like she did in every single step of their attempts, Kim also exerted efforts in her endeavor to get the baby to turn around. She even sought the help of an acupuncturist and a chiropractor, but no matter how hard she tried, the infant had other ideas.
Initially, Kim wanted a home birth, but then her stubborn child pursued continued spewing complications. Preparations were then made to have Kim transferred to a local hospital. But then again, baby girl Guiley seemed to have a mind of her own already. Somehow, they were too late for the move, as the baby was ready to come out.
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Ending the Long Wait
In the end, getting a baby out is just as strenuous as bearing one in the womb for months. However, in Kim’s case, she is bound to have a complicated one, first with having a posterior baby, and then having the complications extend to her birthing location.
Even so, Kim was surer than ever. “I knew my baby was coming. I had survived the hardest few hours of my entire life, and it was almost over. All it took were a few contractions this time, and my body did it all – I never consciously pushed, I just let my body do its thing,” Kim recollected on her blog.
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Mission Accomplished
At 5:00 a.m. on July 26, Kim’s struggles had finally come to an end when she pulled her newborn baby to her chest. “I couldn’t believe I had survived the past three hours and somehow still gotten the home birth that we wanted so badly,” Kim emphasized.
After all, Kim’s toil has turned out to be a perfect little bundle of joy. The Guiley couple’s idea of a complete family has now turned into reality, and they couldn’t be any happier. But then again, they still have one question left. Did Kim have the baby girl that she expects or the baby boy that she wants for her little Hazel?
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Gender Reveal
Looking back, the expectant mother somehow had a vague aspiration. Kim wanted to have a boy at first, in hopes of giving Hazel the same experience she had with her brother growing up. But that was replaced with the simple wish of having a healthy baby, partnered with the premonition of a baby girl.
Finally, it’s time for the significant gender reveal. “After a couple of minutes, I opened baby’s legs and discovered that we had a little boy!” Kim exclaimed. In the end, her initial inclination was the one that triumphed. And their reactions were nothing shy of hilarious.
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Priceless Reactions
“In that perfect moment, all of my dreams had come true. My family was complete,” Kim expressed. “I was just in hysterics. We were cracking up. That face! I don’t even think I could replicate that face. I was truly shocked.”
Now a mom of two, Kim, simply don't have enough space in her heart for the overwhelming joy that she is feeling. Her dream of having Hazel a brother like she once had has finally come true. Of course, with such an event like that, the pressure has now shifted to the name to be given to the baby. In the end, the family came to terms with Theo.
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Recovery and Transition
Indeed, the journey that the Guiley family, especially Kim, has been through is nowhere near simple. But then again, nothing beautiful ever comes easy, and the fruit of all their pain and suffering is totally worth it. Theo is definitely their wish come true.
“The recovery hasn’t been the easiest, and transitioning to two kids has been more than a little overwhelming, but I am trying to use this time to soak up his newness. I still can’t believe I have a daughter AND a son… despite the long and difficult path of pregnancy, loss, and birth, I feel like the luckiest mama ever,” Kim wistfully explained.
