Alimi Ballard and wife recall scary pregnancy, 'perfect' birth
When Dawn Ballard was pregnant with her daughter Naya Seray, 2, she had dreams of a home, unmedicated water birth; Her husband, Numb3rs star Alimi Ballard, had a different vision entirely — one that involved lots of doctors in white lab coats and operating rooms close by! When an exceedingly rare complication — velamentous insertion of the umbilical cord — arose early in the pregnancy, it became clear that a hospital birth would be necessary. Although Naya’s entry into the world was not what her mom had planned, the birth was nonetheless "perfect," Dawn says now. The couple recently shared their birth story as part of the Every Baby Has A Story campaign by the March of Dimes.
Alimi: When we found out we were pregnant the first time … My wife was very [into having] a water birth, yoga…
Dawn: I wanted the most natural birth that you could have. I wanted, you know, the bath tub, at the house.
Alimi: I wanted the baby in a place where they could do brain surgery, heart surgery and deliver children? Okay? In case anything went wrong. As it turns out we had a couple of complications in the beginning.
Dawn: So it all started out with us conferring about what’s the halfway point in-between. If we can’t have it at home, you know, there’s birthing centers and those types of things, and then we found out that she had a velamentous cord insertion which means it came off the [placenta] like a veil.
Alimi: Like veins. So they were concerned about her rupturing something and bleeding out, and the doctor we had was really great. (Laughter) He told us this horrifying story about how ten years ago he had some lady with a velamentous cord and he decided to go home for dinner anyway and he said ‘I walked in just to check on her and she’s gushing blood … I’m not trying to say what happened, but I’m glad I got there in time!’
Dawn: All of this to say, We are having a cesarean! No water birth, a cesarean!
Alimi: But everything went off, for me from the sidelines, without a hitch.
Dawn: It was perfect. It was one of those moments where you can plan how you would like to have something happen and then at the end all you want is a healthy, wonderful baby. We are so blessed. She’s 2-years-old, healthy, wonderful, running around, and we’re working on the next one.
Alimi and Dawn currently expect their second child, a boy.
Every parent loves to share their birth story, and celebrities are no different. The March of Dimes recently launched its ‘Every Baby Has A Story’ campaign, where you can also share your own baby story or read some of the 1,175 baby stories that have been posted. ‘Every Baby Has a Story” is a new grassroots and integrated media project celebrating babies, those born healthy as well as those who need help to survive and thrive, launched by the March of Dimes.
