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cow milk protein allergy

Non-Emergency Cesarean Birth after 27 Hour Labor and Navigating CMPA (Cow’s milk protein allergy) Postpartum

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Zoe’s birth story starts in 2019 when her wife went through IVF in order to get pregnant with their first baby who was born in 2020. Alyce made being pregnant and giving birth look so good that Zoe decided to carry the next one. She had pretty much the opposite experience. After getting pregnant with one of the remaining embryos, Zoe experienced every symptom in the book. From the expected morning sickness to annoying hormonal headaches to alarming heart palpitations, if it was on a list of potential symptoms, Zoe experienced it.

Zoe’s birth plan was to go to the hospital and get an epidural. That did happen after a lot of non-epidural labor to try to progress before settling in with the epidural. Ultimately though, despite everyone’s best efforts, it was decided to have a non-emergency C Section. Zoe jokes that the baby just wanted to come out the same way that he went in (in a sterile room assisted by tools and doctors and masks). Despite the unplanned C section, Zoe feels that she and her birth team did absolutely everything they could have. Sometimes even when you do all the “right” things, baby still has other plans.

Postpartum for Zoe was a breeze compared to pregnancy. Henry took to breastfeeding right away and she had an amazing support system of her mom and wife to help her recover and watch after their 2.5 year old. She does regret getting on a plane for a family vacation to Florida 6 weeks postpartum. One last postpartum twist was a surprise CMPA diagnosis when Henry was 8 weeks old.

Zoe Regan Bio

Zoe lives in New York with her wife and two kids. She loves connecting with other LGBTQ+ families in life and online. She moved to NYC to be part of the costume industry and loves catching Broadway shows (when she can find a babysitter). She is starting to teach sewing locally to spread the joy and satisfaction that comes from making something with your hands. She is always happy to commiserate about being pregnant/giving birth or just connect about raising kids in general. 

You can find her @maybeinvinciblez on Instagram and @maybeinvincible.bsky.social on BlueSky.

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