Meet Trailblazer Katelyn Woolley

Today we’d like to introduce you to Katelyn Woolley.

Katelyn, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
In 2014, my husband and I started trying to officially start our family. Despite what everyone tells you, it didn’t happen overnight. It took almost a year, but eventually we saw that positive pregnancy test, and we were elated! We were finally going to be parents!

We went in for our first ultrasound and after a bit of a lull in the small talk from the nurse, we heard the devastating words “there’s no heartbeat”. I was diagnosed with a missed-miscarriage—even though I was about eight weeks along, our little bean had stopped growing at just six weeks. I was numb as we finished the appointment and made our way home. I know it sounds cliché, but I never contemplated this happening to me. I didn’t think the common statistic that ‘one in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage’ would actually apply to our pregnancy and our baby. It doesn’t seem common until it’s your own reality.

Because my body wasn’t aware the baby had passed, we made the decision to have a surgery instead of letting things happen naturally. It also felt like the chance for me to take a bit of control over an otherwise uncontrollable situation. During all of this, we kept the loss of our first child a secret. We didn’t want people to know we were trying to have a baby, and we didn’t want people to know we had failed. Apart from my own therapist, who I went to go see after experiencing intense amounts of grief, we kept the secret to ourselves and buried it deep within our marriage.

That was until one day I went to go see a dear family friend. She had always been a mentor and a second mother to me, and she very casually asked if I was pregnant. I paused for a second until my voice broke and tears streamed down my face as I murmured, “…not anymore”. She hugged me, let me cry, and listened as I told her the story of our firstborn that hadn’t survived. Afterwards, she offered the smallest piece of advice. She had known me since I was little and was well aware of my art and design background. She could see that I was hurting, and as a previous teacher herself, she asked if I had ever considered designing or creating something to honor our baby. The thought had never occurred to me, and I wasn’t quite ready, but I kept that in the back of my mind.

Months later, after taking some time both physically and emotionally to heal, we found ourselves expecting again. I couldn’t believe it, and given our first experience with pregnancy, I was cautiously optimistic. I went 16 weeks with a healthy and uneventful pregnancy until things took an abrupt turn. My water broke, and I was hospitalized. I naïvely thought, okay this wasn’t what we had planned, but I guess we’ll go in and have a baby. It wasn’t until we spoke to the doctors that I realized how dire our situation was: our son was about eight weeks shy of viability. Less than one percent of babies survive this experience, and we miraculously joined that small minority. I was sent home on strict bedrest, this time realizing just how complicated it would be to bring a baby into the world. Three months later, I was woken in the morning by some serious issues and contractions and immediately knew we needed to rush to the hospital. This time, things were different. The nurses and doctors were quiet but rushed with their tests and assessments and I was admitted within an hour of arriving. I was then told I would be staying at the hospital until we delivered.

At 27 weeks, our baby was viable, but babies born at that gestation have a low rate of survival. To make matters more complex, I also had a laundry list of complications with the pregnancy. The most concerning was a condition called vasa previa, which occurs in about 1 in every 10,000 medically-assisted pregnancies (such as IVF), and is even more rare in naturally-conceived pregnancies (which was our situation). If I had progressed into regular labor and this condition had gone undiagnosed, there was a 90% fatality rate for our sweet babe. Needless to say, I was a very high-risk patient with a very high-risk baby. It was imperative for me to stay pregnant as long as possible to give our son the best chance at life.

I spent a total of 40 days in the hospital, in one room, with a weekly trip down the hall to have an ultrasound and check on the baby. At 32 weeks and three days, I progressed to full-blown labor. The incredible doctors and nurses did all they could to keep me from delivering, but my body could not last any longer. I was rushed into an emergency C-section, and we delivered my son a full two months early. He was 4 pounds, 9 ounces, and was as healthy as could be given our circumstances. But he was still premature, and we knew he would face challenges.

We spent 34 additional days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) with our son, traveling back and forth to the hospital multiple times a day to see him. We watched him struggle to breathe and struggle to eat. He progressed slowly, and we waited anxiously to bring him home, and our day eventually came.

I spent a total of 74 consecutive days at the hospital. I had gone through an extremely difficult pregnancy and then dealt with all of the complications of caring for a premature baby. I experienced postpartum depression and endured a lot of trauma from those experiences.

When my son was six months old, I saw my close family friend again. She had been very involved and supported me throughout the pregnancy. At this visit, she quietly prodded me again about using my creativity to make something. She thought it would help me process my grief and trauma, not only from my miscarriage, but also from the difficult pregnancy and long NICU stay.

It took me several months, but I finally put pen to paper…or finger to trackpad, in my case. As a graphic designer by trade, with a background and degree in fine arts, I used my gifts to create six greeting cards to support women walking through miscarriage. The support I had from launching those first six cards was astounding. I quickly realized there was a huge need for products like these, and I quickly found myself with a small greeting card business.

The Noble Paperie was born after that first small launch. Our mission is to support women walking through difficult seasons of miscarriage, loss, infertility, and other pregnancy-related issues. As our card line grew, so did the support. In just three short years, I have expanded our line to include over 30 greeting cards and 20 different pin-back buttons to bring joy the loss mom community.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I think there are struggles with any business, and mine is no different. It’s hard starting from nothing. It’s hard trying to grow a business, and especially a product-based business, on a shoestring budget. The road is even more challenging when trying to grow a business that’s debt-free. With that said, I am trying to focus on slow but steady growth.

I try to stay away from comparing myself to others or their businesses. It’s really hard. Especially in the age of social media and trying to compete with other small businesses online. Social media can be deceiving, and can make it look like a business is thriving, when in fact it’s really hard to even gain a following and get something off the ground. Every business is different, and therefore success can (and does!) look different to different people. I try to remind myself of that each day.

We’d love to hear more about The Noble Paperie.
I think our mission speaks volumes for The Noble Paperie: we specialize in spreading joy to those struggling through loss, infertility, and pregnancy-related issues. It’s my passion to support other mothers walking through similar situations I experienced because I felt really alone and isolated during that time. It took me a long time to realize I needed help. Since I have shared my story, I have met so many women with similar experiences and I realize there is power in sharing your journey.

I am really proud of our greeting cards and pin-back buttons. There was a total unmet need for cards like ours when I first started out. Since then, I feel like the tide is shifting and more people are creating cards to support mothers experiencing a miscarriage, but there is still a lot of work to do. I’m excited to be on the forefront of this change and to offer something I desperately needed myself when I was going through my own miscarriage.

I’m also really proud of is the community I have built around The Noble Paperie. In just three years, I have helped build an inspiring and supportive online community for mothers to share their experiences in motherhood. Between the sisterhood I’ve found on Instagram, and our recent new blog series celebrating mothers who share their losses and learnings in motherhood, I am truly excited to see The Noble Paperie grow.

Finding a mentor and building a network are often cited in studies as a major factor impacting one’s success. Do you have any advice or lessons to share regarding finding a mentor or networking in general?
It can be really difficult to find a mentor or network. I have managed to find a group of really supportive loss mom business owners, and we fiercely support each other. I think walking through loss has changed each of us, so we all come to the table with a similar experience, and we know that each of us can succeed if we help and support each other.

I have also found that not all business owners are created the same, and some are just out to further their own cause. I try to steer clear of those people and continue to build and grow with people who are willing to support each other for the collective good of everyone.

Pricing:

• Each of our Noble Greetings sell for $4.50/each
• Each set of Noble Pinback Buttons sell for $4.00/each

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thenoblepaperie.com/
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenoblepaperie/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheNoblePaperie/

Image Credit:
Hannah Mann Photography (@hannahcmann)

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