Micro-Preemie Mom Didn’t Know If She’d ‘Be Writing an Obituary or Birth Announcement’ When Baby Arrived at 25 Weeks (Exclusive)

The new mom tells PEOPLE how during their 118 days in the NICU, her online community gave her hope

Katelyn, on TikTok @katelyn_thenicumama, tells PEOPLE that she had no idea there was a possibility her baby girl might be born early until it was happening.

I had started spotting on May 3. I called the emergency line at my doctor. It was very minimal, but I was nervous. So I called and they said, ‘Go ahead and go to sleep, but come in tomorrow morning for our first available appointment.’ When I went, they did an extra ultrasound, checked everything and I checked out completely normal,” she explains.

Katelyn tells PEOPLE that her medical team instructed her to go “straight to labor and delivery” if she experienced active bleedings or pains in a pattern

May 5 was a normal day and then I started to have some cramping in the late afternoon, but no pattern to it. I figured I’d been really stressed and maybe it was Braxton Hicks. I kept paying attention and went out to a Cinco de Mayo party with my family to try and get my mind off of it,” she recalls.

“The pain started getting worse, but still no pattern or active bleeding. I drove myself home and when I got home and went to change clothes, I was actively bleeding.”

Katelyn called her husband and explained the situation, asking him to meet her at the hospital. She got there first and checked herself in, also letting her family know what was going on.

When I get to the hospital they do a pretty routine check into triage. I was 25 weeks; I think they sort of expected run-of-the-mill stuff. The doctor comes in and describes a test they can give to see if you’ll go into labor in the next two weeks. Before that, he says, ‘For good measure, I’m going to check your cervix.’

“When he did, he apologized to Katelyn and informed her she was already eight centimeters dilated. At that point, “things dramatically shifted.”

“I’ve never seen a team form so quickly. I was quickly admitted. They gave me a round of magnesium to protect the baby’s brain and steroids to help her lungs, as well as drugs to try to stop my labor,” she recalls.

It wasn’t much longer before it became clear that not only was the baby coming soon, but that there was no stopping her labor.

“I had maybe been in there like 15 minutes and all of a sudden, like things are going faster. And I remember looking at a nurse and just saying, like, ‘I just want to know, am I gonna have my baby?’ Most everyone was telling me they couldn’t tell me, only the doctors could. And it was like an older nurse and she just looked at me and she’s like, ‘Are your contractions getting worse?’ “