Carolina Moreno says she was “fully traumatized” by the experience, but she feels “lucky” that her son was born in “perfect health”
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/Carolina-Moreno-baby-070226-1-155889c85805447d8ede4af5a51f4d80.jpg "A woman holding a newborn baby in a hospital setting")
Credit: Jorge Carrera
NEED TO KNOW
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Carolina Moreno recalls the shocking moment nurses discovered her newborn under a pile of blankets after giving birth in her sleep
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The Canada-based mom of three says the experience left her feeling “really traumatized,” but her baby was born healthy
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Moreno describes her 3-month-old son as calm and easygoing, calling him “absolutely amazing” despite the scary delivery moment
When Carolina Moreno tries to recall the moment she gave birth to her little boy, some of the memories are a bit fuzzy — because she wasn’t awake when it happened.
In a now viral video on TikTok, the Canada-based mom of three, 27, recalled the “traumatizing” experience she had when giving birth to her youngest, now 3 months old.
Moreno begins the clip by explaining that she tested positive for GBS (Group B Streptococcus bacteria) positve when she went in for her induction, meaning that she needed to be given antibiotics before breaking her water. While labour with her other two kids lasted much longer, Moreno says that this time around, she was already 3 cm dilated, and her cervix was thin, which is why they wanted to begin her on antibiotics right away.
A few hours later, nurses broke Moreno’s water and they started to administer Pitocin, a drug used to stimulate labour. Moreno recalls feeling “really uncomfortable” at the time, and that her baby was not in a good position, so she called in for her epidural.
@carolina.moreno19 My epidural was DEFINITELY wayyyy too strong but thankful everything worked out. Also a big thank you to the amazing nurse I had. She was incredible #labor #birthstory #momsoftiktok #laboranddelivery #baby
After an hour had gone by, Moreno, who is also mom to a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old with husband Jorge Carrera, still hadn’t felt the epidural kick in. She says she hit the button to administer an extra dose three more times before finally getting comfortable. Eventually, Moreno says she drifted off to sleep, with her husband, her sister and cousin also in the room.
While Moreno was asleep, nurses had been coming into the room to check on the baby’s heartbeat. “The alarm went off on the monitor, which happens when the heartbeat isn’t found, so my nurse came in to find it again,” she tells PEOPLE. “This had happened several times; my baby was very active and he liked to move.”
“Sometimes I’d adjust myself, and I’d move the monitor by accident, so we weren’t overly worried when she initially came in, and I was still pretty asleep,” she recalls. “But as the minutes passed, I started to get worried because obviously she’s not finding him…that’s when I really woke up.”
Once Moreno was awake and the nurse was still trying to find the baby, panic set in. She recalls asking if she should lie on her back, to which the nurse agreed and said, “Just lie on your back, we’ll find him.”
“When I turn on my back, her hands are still on my stomach, and that’s when she points out that my stomach feels really weird,” Moreno said in her video. “In that moment, I don’t know why I just thought, my baby’s dead.”
When Moreno went to adjust her legs, she said she felt something on the bed.
“I swear I thought it was gonna be like my placenta or my uterus had popped out or…I never thought it was going to be my baby,” she recalled. “And [the nurse] lifts up the blanket, and my son is face down under all of my blankets.”
Credit: Jorge Carrera
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“He’s face down. He’s not crying. And I just panic. I freak out,” she continued. “Obviously, you see a baby, and he’s not crying, and he’s probably been there for several minutes under blankets, under you. That’s everything a newborn shouldn’t be. So I was really scared. I didn’t think he was alive.”
The nurse swiftly picked up Moreno’s baby and started to rub him. “I am screaming. I screamed at my husband,” Moreno recalled. “He thought he missed the birth. He just didn’t realize we all missed the birth.”
Even after the nurse got her son crying, Moreno said she couldn’t “really process that he was okay,” and that the whole experience left her feeling “really traumatized.”
Looking back on the delivery, Moreno tells PEOPLE, “It was a huge shock to find him [under the blankets]…turns out he was sleeping, and he’s just a very chill baby, still to this day you just lay him down, and he falls asleep, he’s just not a crier.”
Credit: Jorge Carrera
“The nurse didn’t deliver him; he delivered himself,” she adds. “We had no idea he was even out, which is actually what made it so scary at first, since they couldn’t find his heartbeat, since he wasn’t in me anymore. We just thought something horrible had happened.”
Now that her son is 3 months old, Moreno says she feels “very lucky” and that her baby boy is “absolutely amazing and was born in perfect health.”
“He’s also our easiest baby and the adjustment has been seamless,” she adds. “It was incredibly scary finding him on his stomach under the blankets, not crying, but now that we know his personality, it really makes sense, he’s just the most calm baby.”