💖Enchanted to Meet You, Charlee: Our Miracle Baby

Our sweet baby girl Charlee James Russell was born on April 6th, 2025.💖

Baby newborn picture in a basket with a personalized name blanket, purple swaddle, and white bow headband

You’re confused. I’m confused. I’d love to get on here and say “I’m healed! All problems are in the past!” …I cannot do that. What I can do, is say that God blessed us with the most perfect miracle baby that I have ever dreamed of. I’m serious.

If you’re new here, here’s the long story.. well, long.

I have always wanted to be a mommy- very specifically a girl mom. Absolutely, 100% dream of having a son as well, God willing… I dream of the brother/sister relationship my brother and I had growing up. (Let’s be real- I’m sure I made my brother want to disappear off the face of the earth more often than not during our teenage years.) But there’s something about the mother daughter duo that I have always dreamed of.

Anyways! Mommin’ is what I’ve always dreamed of. Now, imagine being with kids every single day and being told you might not be able to have your own. My journey to motherhood was complicated by a balanced genetic translocation. This means my chromosomes rearranged themselves in a way that, while fine for me, caused my pregnancies to miscarry. The odds weren’t great—I had about a 1 in 7 chance of a baby being genetically normal. On top of that, I carry the MTHFR and PAI-1 genes, which put me at a higher risk for blood clots and other issues during pregnancy.

From 2021 until 2024, I had a total of 5 losses. 3 natural, 2 IVF. I truly did not know how to move forward after that. I stepped away from social media, started therapy, and focused on my health. It was a much needed a break from the advice, the happy family pictures, and the constant spiraling questions and research about what was “wrong” with me.

My plan was to consider another embryo transfer in the fall of 2024. It was expensive and draining, but we wanted this SO bad. On the other hand, my heart kept telling me to try one more time naturally, despite the fear.

The Turning Point

I found out we had gotten pregnant naturally again on my birthday, July 30th and I’ve never been so excited and terrified in my life. Having lost two genetically normal IVF babies, I was so scared this one wouldn’t make it. The early weeks were a blur of scary appointments, but I got to see the progression from a tiny empty sac (terrifying) to an embryo that they couldn’t confirm would be viable given the projected timeline and, finally, to a heartbeat. It was magical and nerve-wracking all at once.

I would love to say it was such an easy beautiful pregnancy- which overall, I am SO blessed to say it was, but my mental health struggled. I battled extreme prenatal anxiety, worrying all the way up until the day she was born. Since I was high-risk, I had frequent ultrasounds and weekly non-stress tests after 30 weeks. The blood thinner shot I took every night was a small price to pay to help mitigate the other health risks.

There is no cure for the translocation. I’d love to say I can just easily get pregnant and carry full term again; but it’s still a gamble. As for the other health issues, I was given a blood thinner shot which had to be taken every evening (if you struggle with infertility, it’s definitely worth asking your doctor about!) but it was incredibly painful, and left my stomach looking like it was a toddlers punching bag. (Once again- small price to pay- I would do it a million times to have this amazing baby!)

Charlee was born at 2:13am on April 6th. I had an amazing birth experience! I will talk about that, along with my absolute favorite hospital and immediate postpartum items, in another post soon.

Mom, Dad and baby in the hospital bed after her birth

Little Charlee girl is so happy and healthy, and we are absolutely obsessed with her. Ethan is the BEST daddy and helped me so much postpartum, and 5 months later I still find myself falling even more in love with him. Watching the one you love, love something you created together and spend all of his time trying to learn and be the best father he can be, is amazing.

My absolute biggest piece of advice? Find the right partner through it all. He held my hand through every heartbreaking doctor’s appointment, gave me every shot through IVF, took care of me through pregnancy and postpartum, and continues to treat Charlee and me like the world revolves around us.

Advocate for yourself at doctor’s appointments. Trust your gut. And know that even in the trenches—you are not alone.