Quote:An Unconventional Birth Announcement

Last week, I welcomed my first child into the world. About fifteen hours before I went into labor, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Now, before you worry, my doctor says it’s Stage 0 and is confident that it almost certainly hasn’t spread. Or, as I’ve explained to the few people I’ve managed to tell about it so far: Don’t freak out. It’s just, like, a LITTLE bit of cancer.

Still, it was not a chill day. I mean, to say the least! I woke up more-than-a-week-past-due pregnant, completely consumed by doing everything I could to get the baby out. By the middle of the afternoon, I was waddling around from appointment to appointment, talking about how to get my cancer out. I sat and listened as they told me that the best course of action would likely be a double mastectomy as soon as possible. I asked all the questions I could, including if I could get a copy of my tumor ultrasound to put on the fridge next to the ultrasound of my baby. Finally, by the middle of the night, I was crawling around on the floor of my apartment in spontaneous labor, before heading to the hospital to meet my baby, whom I’d learn at the time of birth was a son.

The good news? People who work at hospitals make excellent audiences for dark humor -- and, as someone whose first book was about the power of jokes to get through traumatic situations, there was really no better place for me to be. Just minutes after my boy was born, I was talking with the nurses about what a birth announcement in my situation might look like.

Should I go with “Mom and baby are doing well, except maybe for mom’s cancer, and then maybe the baby after breastfeeding is stunted by her double mastectomy,” and then shut off my phone for a week?

Anyway! These next three months of maternity leave are going to look a lot different than I’d anticipated, and I’m still getting used to my new reality. Still, as I navigate new motherhood (and new cancer) I’m learning to celebrate everything I can. I’m lucky that we found the cancer so early; I’m lucky to be my son’s mom. I mean, I know I’m biased, but the little dude absolutely rules -- and not just because he might have saved my life.

Thank you all for your support, laughter, and love as I embrace this wildly unexpected chapter. Here’s to resilience, to miracles in the midst of chaos, and to finding humor and hope even on the toughest days.

Kat

Love that girl!

Stage 0. She will be fine.

She can likely thank the baby for saving her life. Otherwise, it likely would have gone undetected for quite some time.

Congratulations to her on becoming a mom. I'll also be praying that she beats breast cancer. I'm glad they caught it way early so she has an excellent shot of survival.

She is freaking hot and hilarious. Reminds me of several girls from my college days.

Mixed blessing of childbirth and facing a double mastectomy, but I agree with others that framing the disease would not have been found without the pregnancy is a great way to begin coping with what's ahead.

Gutfeld, surprisingly, is one of the best prime-time shows going, and she is a big reason.

My first wife was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 30 weeks pregnant. She was a stage 3/4 and by the time she gave birth it spread almost all over her body. She died when our daughter was just 9 months old. She was 34, with her first pregnancy which supposedly is high risk for breast cancer happening.

Leave it to Kat Timpf to have such a wild birth week. I was beginning to wonder was she ever going to have that baby. She stood up to show how swollen she was several days ago and wow was she pregnant. I thought "how does that tiny girl even walk around like that?" lol

She's quite an interesting character and person. Glad to hear the prognoses is good going forward.

Still hard for me to believe both her and Gutfeld have finally become parents, and only a few months apart.

(02-27-2025 01:06 AM)hburg Wrote:  My first wife was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 30 weeks pregnant. She was a stage 3/4 and by the time she gave birth it spread almost all over her body. She died when our daughter was just 9 months old. She was 34, with her first pregnancy which supposedly is high risk for breast cancer happening.

I can't imagine having to go through such a thing. I'm so sorry.

(02-27-2025 01:16 AM)ericsrevenge76 Wrote:  

(02-27-2025 01:06 AM)hburg Wrote:  My first wife was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 30 weeks pregnant. She was a stage 3/4 and by the time she gave birth it spread almost all over her body. She died when our daughter was just 9 months old. She was 34, with her first pregnancy which supposedly is high risk for breast cancer happening.

I can't imagine having to go through such a thing. I'm so sorry.

It was difficult for sure. I lived in the Philippines then because she wanted to be close to her family. I stayed there for another 1.5 years after her death. Had great support from her family, especially taking care of my daughter. God really blessed me, He sent a wife while living there with full support from the family of my late wife. Crazy how God works. The story is much deeper, and too deep to go into. But back to the death of my first wife, when you go through that, you can understand why and how a spouse can die of a broken heart. There were times I felt I was being pulled out of my body because of the pain, even though, it was expected.