A Colorado mother-to-be wanted her mother to be with her for the big gender reveal ultrasound. However, she was faced with only one option: attend her gender-revealing ultrasound without her mother. Mother-to-be Taylor Masilotti’s mother, Donna Callender, had stage IV lung and brain cancer. Callender had been fighting the brain and lung cancer for more than a year when her daughter became pregnant. The original plan was for Callender to be with her daughter for her 20-week anatomy scan.
Something happened to force a change in plans. Callender cancer fight had taken a turn for the worse.
Masilotti moved up her anatomy scan when she realized how weak her mother was becoming. Callender was in the hospital fighting for her life. However, moving the ultrasound appointment still wasn’t good enough. Callender became too weak to travel from her hospital bed to the appointment, which was in the same hospital.
Instead of accepting the only option, Masilotti took matters into her own hands. She and the hospital staff moved her ultrasound appointment to her mother’s hospital room. She rested beside her mother in her mother’s bed. They held hands as they watched the big gender-revealing ultrasound.
Masilotti’s boyfriend, Cotey Keith, knew the appointment was more than a moment to find out their child’s gender. It would be a forever treasured moment for mother, daughter and granddaughter. So he recorded the moment their baby’s gender was revealed along with a picture of mother and daughter side-by-side, holding hands as they found out the big news.
The ultrasound tech began the anatomy scan by pointing out the different parts of the baby’s anatomy. They marveled as the technician pointed out the baby’s hands, eyes, and umbilical cord.
The big moment came when the ultrasound tech asked, “Are you ready?”
The technician then announced, “You have a daughter.”
Masilotti wrote on her Facebook page, “Wednesday afternoon was one of my forever favorite memories I got to share with my mom.” She went on to write that she was able to lay next to her (mother), hold her hand and cry happy tears while finding out the gender of the baby.
Masilotti also thanked the hospital for helping to make the forever favorite moment happen in her Facebook post.
Three days after the gender-revealing ultrasound, Callender died.
Masilotti and Keith decided to name their daughter Stella. She’d share a middle name, Kay, with her grandmother.
The video of Masilotti and her mother finding out the gender of her baby was posted to Youtube shortly after the appointment. By August 30, the video of the ultrasound appointment had been viewed more than 2.9 million times.
This may not have been the traditional way a family finds out the gender of their new addition. However, it was a very special moment for Masilotti. Masilotti’s last days with her mother was filled with joy. She looks forward to showing her daughter, Stella, the video of the ultrasound while sharing stories about her incredibly strong grandmother Donna.
