Lilia's Birth Story

Welcome to the Girl Squad

At 40 weeks and two days our third baby girl joined us! Little miss Lilia was born all naturally on May 2, 2025 coming in at a big ole 8 lbs even! She was delivered at St. Joseph hospital just like her two older sisters.

Things are a little different…

Here we are again! My sweet little Lilia. Pregnancy has truly been a blessing for me, one that I never take for granted! I loved being pregnat with Nyla and Marli and had wonderful birth experiences. However, this time, things were a bit different. Last summer, I had a small health scare that ended in a 6-day hospital stay and a surprise diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. While processing this life changing news, I deep down wondered if this would alter my life plans and babies. I have always wanted four kids, but almost accepted that my two beautiful girls would be our complete family. Two months later, we got the BEST surprise that another baby Wong was on the way!! I was beyond excited, but also nervous with my new diagnosis and what that would mean for this pregnancy.

The biggest diffreence was that the MS made me ‘High Risk’ and disqualified me from the Midwives program with St. Joes. In fact, on top of being seen by a doctor each appointment, I also had to be seen with Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist! At first, I was pretty bummed, the Midwives truly made both my experiences so amazing and all pregnancy I just wondered how different everything would be all the way to birth. I can thankfully look back and say I truly had the same experience, and was thankful for the extra care I received. Around 30 weeks, I actually graduated from the specialist because baby was gowing perfectly and I had no other health concerns! All my regular appointments were just like visits with the Midwives, and I got to have the same health care provider the whole time, which was a wonderful experience.

Another difference is we decided to have Baby Wong be a surprise! We waited until I gave birth to find out who She was, which was pretty darn special. The whole pregnancy I just wondered who would be joining us and what life would look like either way. It made pregnancy so exciting and gave me so much good anticipation for birth! If you have a slight thought about doing a surprise, I defiantly recommend it, that moment hearing ‘It’s a…” is irreplaceable.

A transition from two to three babies seemed overwhelming at first. The thoughts of being out numbered was a lot to take in! But watching my sweet amazing Nyla girl grow so much this last year eased all of my worries. Our babies are only babies for a blink of an eye. While the first years can be challenging, there is so much to love. Watching your babies grow and hit milestones and become little walking talking people it the biggest gift one could receive. Oh how I love motherhood.

And so Labor Begins

Like I said last time, birth is the coolest experience because no two, or three births are ever the same! During pregnancy, everyone kept telling me ‘The third one comes so quick….it’s so much easier…..you will have them sooner’ so mentally I was so prepared to give birth before 40 weeks and labor for like four hours… HA! I should know better that your body will do what is needs and when it needs to bring baby to this world.

With my other girls I went to my appointment and was dilated enough to just go straight to the hospital. This time, at 40 weeks I was only 1cm - and had no signs of labor. So we went home and played the waiting game. This was very different for us and definitely made me a bit more anxious! Because I kept hearing “the third comes faster” I had a slight fear of going into labor, and the baby coming while at home or in the car! So I might have been a bit more cautious because of this mental note I had.

I felt in my gut that I was going to give birth on May 1st, my Opis birthday. So when I started to have contractions that morning - I was like oh my gosh today is the day!! I thought things would go so quick so we dropped the girls off at daycare, and then came home and got ready to go to the hospital. I took a nice shower, packed the last items in our bag, and set off for a birth breakfast tradition of Moe’s Bagels. I was timing my contractions at home and they were coming about every 10 minutes. So when we got to St. Joes I was convinced I would be 3-4cm. We got checked in and I was only at 2cm! I couldn’t believe it. They said we could leave, and come back when the contractions were closer together, but deep down that scared me! I really did not want to give birth in the car - so we elected to stay and agreed on a cervix softer to try and kick start labor a bit more.

It was about 3pm when we got all checked into our room. They were going to let me be for about 4 hours to see what my body does and how I progress. So we got in some comfy clothes, I watched some Botched and let the contractions come. They started to pick up more around 6pm about every 6 minutes, and around 7:30pm I was at 4cm! So my body knew what it was doing. They continued to let me labor along until around 11pm. At this point I was still around a 4cm so they said they could break my water and that would really speed up the process - this really made me nervous! But I wanted to avoid pitocian, so I was willing to try this after a bit of research and reassurance that my body was taking over from there. The next two hours the contractions really started picking up and were defiantly increasing on the pain scale. Around 11:45pm I told Rashwan, I guess we have a May 2nd baby.

The next few hours the contractions were strong and I had to really breath through them. Each contraction I tried to lean into them and help my body relax into dilation. Contractions are certainly painful, but also such an empowering process to understand what your body is accomplishing. I truly believe we have it in us to have unmedicated births! Around 3am - I knew it was time to meet our baby! I called in the team and immediately felt the need to bear down and push. At 3:30am I heard Rashawn say…. “It’s a Girl!” Ha!! My sweet loml destined to be a girl dad. We kicked our heads back and laughed because deep down we just knew she was with us the whole time♡

I truly believe we can all be better advocates for our selves, especially when it comes to birth. Each experience taught me to voice my voice a little louder and to truly trust my self. The first time giving birth, everything is so new! It’s the first time you experience labor, contractions, and pushing - you have nothing to compare it to. Second birth, you feel more confident, have some takeaways from last time, and hopefully know what to expect at each phase. This time, I let fear win me over in some cases, but overall I stuck up for myself and what I wanted. I believed in myself for a third time and brought sweet Lilia into the girl squad.

The staff was so kind and even though it was not the Midwives team, they truly respected my wishes and gave me the same experience. The doctors and nurses being so encouraging and believing in me truly empowered me all the way through. I feel like I was built for brith and truly cherish the experience and opportunity to bring my girls into this world.

Bringing baby sister home

Parenthood could not have been more apparent in the hours after little Lilia. Around lunch time, our sweet day care provider called us and said Marli was not feeling so good. My parents were watching the girls, so the plan was to pick them up early and come downtown to meet their new sister. But, when Lala went to grab the girls she realized how sick little Marli really was. Lala wanted to take her into urgent care, while Cubby brought Nyla downtown to meet us. Nyla got to hold her little sister and it was so so sweet to watch her fall in love. Moments later, Lala called us that they needed to admit little Marli Girl into Children’s Hospital! At that moment I felt 20 emotions. Rashawn ended up needing to go stay with Marli overnight at the hospital and I was alone with little Lilia, less than 24 hours after giving birth. That was so tough! But knowing that each of our babies were well taken care of, and Nyla was getting to enjoy an impromptu sleepover made it easier on the heart.

After about 30 hours I was able to get discharged. My mom went to Children’s to stay with Marli so Rashawn could come back and pick me and Lilia up. We went home which felt so good, but we were missing our sweet Marli Girl SO MUCH. She had to stay another night at the hospital so our first night home, it just didn’t feel right. Thankfully little Marli got the green light to come home the next day and I was SO excited to have my three girls all together.

I was so curious how Marli would react, but as soon as she saw her she said “Bebe!” and just wanted to give her kisses. She now tries to say her name and is obsessed with saying hi to her at all times! Marli and Nyla are the best big sisters and I just cannot believe we are a girl squad!! My heart is so full of gratitude for this life and my family.

takeaways from birth

After a few days, Rashawn and I sat and reflected about Birth and he said something that inspired me. He said,”There really needs to be a re-brand on birth. I know you are different, but it also seems like natural birth should be the normal!” We feel like our society sets you up for a mindset that natural birth is very ‘whoo-whoo’ and not common. Woman are trained to come to the hospital, allow medical interventions, expect an epidural, be more open to c-sections and not get a chance to advocate for there needs or questions. We have seen so many videos on traumatic birth experiences and I would love to be apart of the movement to allow for positive birth experiences to become the new wave.

I know this sounds familiar but it is something I truly believe in and want woman to know:

I just want every woman who reads this to know that YOU have the power and strength in you to accomplish anything. If birth taught me anything it’s truly how amazing and powerful our bodies and minds can be. If you are pregnant or looking to have a baby in the future, just know you CAN do it all naturally. We all can. You just have to dig deep and believe in yourself.

It is such a miracle to have a child. Pregnancy and birth is something I would never take for granted. To see this life you carried and created finally out in your arms, is a feeling that’s indescribable until you experience it yourself. The way we bring our babies into the world is an empowering experience no matter how it happens. But I am a firm believer that if you believe in your self, you can accomplish a beautiful natural birth.

Sweet Lilia has wonderful sisters to look up to, parents who love her endlessly, and of course a pup to always protect her. She has family and friends far and wide to love on her and guide her. Lilia is already so special and I feel an incredible honor to be her mom. I am so thankful for the ability to bring her into this world.

I will always be thankful for my loml, Rashawn, and to have him as a partner during birth. He is always so encouraging, let me squeeze the daylights out of his hands, and tells me how I got this over and over. I love him so much and feel so beyond blessed to walk this parenting journey with him. He is the best girl dad we could ever ask for!!!

For anyone pregnant, wishing to be pregnant, experiencing loss, or experiencing hope… know I am thinking of you, empowering you, and sending you my good vibe ♡