Kara Keough Bosworth is opening up about her precious few days with her newborn son, McCoy Casey Bosworth.
The Real Housewives of Orange County star and her husband, Kyle Bosworth, welcomed the baby boy on April 6; however, he died April 12 after experiencing shoulder dystocia (where one or both of a baby’s shoulders get stuck inside the mother's pelvis during delivery) and a compressed umbilical cord, which led to brain damage.
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Speaking to Good Morning America on Monday, Bosworth shared how the couple made the most of their short-lived time with McCoy -- singing to him, talking to him about things he had done inside the womb and introducing him to his big sister, 4-year-old Decker.
"She got to sing to him and play 'This Little Piggy' on his fingers,” Bosworth shared. “She was very happy to tell the nurses his 'full big name,' as she called it."
"We got some milestones we didn't think we'd get," she added. "We got to change his diaper. I got to get peed on, which is a boy-mom thing I didn't think I'd ever get. We got to hold him, we got to feel warmth in his body."
Five weeks on, Bosworth admitted that she’s haunted by the thought that if she had obtained a further ultrasound prior to giving birth, she and her birthing team might not have been taken by surprise at McCoy’s size.
“How do you hide an 11-pound baby? I will sit here and regret not getting [another ultrasound] for the rest of my life, because I'll think, 'Maybe we would've known. Maybe they would've seen that he had 7½-inch shoulders,’” she said. “But that's just going to be [in] my head."
Bosworth gave birth to McCoy, who weighed 11 pounds 4 ounces, at home in Jacksonville, Florida, after deciding it was safer than heading to a hospital amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Following the birthing complications, McCoy was taken to the hospital by an ambulance, where his heart started beating again after 45 minutes of chest compressions -- a period that Keough said felt “like an eternity.” “He came back to fight, to see if he could live, and it was a miracle,” she said.
Doctors warned that the newborn had suppressed brain activity, and he sadly did not survive.
“I've been lucky to hear from parents that are on the other side of it, or as far on the other side as you can be, and they say it gets better,” Bosworth said. “They say eventually the waves of grief don't feel like they're knocking you over every day, and that you have to just get through it -- but that you aren't alone.”
Bosworth shared the heartbreaking news in an Instagram post on April 15, in which she wrote that McCoy will “live forever in the hearts of his loving parents, his adoring sister, and those that received his life-saving gifts” -- referring to having donated his organs to help other babies in need.
She also posted an emotional tribute on May 6. “You would have been 1 month old today,” she wrote. “Your baby acne would be gearing up. You would be getting the hang of pacifiers, sorting out your days and nights, and figuring out how to focus your eyes without them involuntarily crossing. I would have already bought a complete boy’s wardrobe since Decker’s old clothes weren’t really as unisex as I thought. Your dad would be insisting that babies don’t need shoes, but he’d change his mind when he saw the little kicks paired with your chubby cankles.”
Adding to her grief, Bosworth lost her father, Matt Keough, within weeks of McCoy’s death, sweetly writing how he is now on "grandpa duty in heaven."
See more on celebrities who have experienced loss below.
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