Kara Keough Posts Heartbreaking ‘Waking up’ Photo After Baby’s Death

Three weeks after the death of her newborn, Kara Keough Bosworth paid tribute to her late son McCoy Casey Bosworth in an emotional Instagram post reflecting on what her life would be like had he survived. Sharing a black-and-white photo of herself holding her baby son with husband Kyle Bosworth looking on, The Real Housewives of Orange County alum, who is the daughter of original cast member Jeana Keough, penned an emotional message about his loss and her experience as what she called an “‘instead’ mama.”

“You would have been 3 weeks old today,” Keough began the post. “You would be ‘waking up’ and showing us more of you. I would be getting the hang of being a mom of two. My milk would be regulating to your schedule. Your sister would be asking questions about your belly button and you would have peed on her at least once by now. Daddy would be sending texts to his football buddies about how our giant baby boy could probably already out-lift them. We would be laughing that you never fit into newborn diapers, not even for one day. I’d be exhausted, leaking, and happy.”

“Instead… we’re missing you,” she continued, concluding the post with a poignant message to other mothers experience a similar loss. “To all my fellow ‘instead’ mamas…. thank you for reminding me that we’re not alone, and that we can survive this. He didn’t, but we have to. And we will.”

The heartbreaking post came just three weeks after Keough revealed that her son had died after experiencing “shoulder dystocia and a compressed umbilical cord” during the course of his birth on April 6. Born weighing 11 lbs. 4 oz. and 21 inches long, Keough, in the post, also revealed that McCoy’s organs would be donated.

“I wrote this for the organ/tissue procurement team to read out in his honor: ‘Tonight, we join together to honor this little savior’s gifts of life. Through him, may others find new hope and profound healing… and may he live again through them,’” she wrote. “‘May his legacy shine in the form of lifetimes aplenty – lives filled with laughter, compassion, energy, love, and most of all gratitude. May it be said that McCoy Casey Bosworth left this world in a better place, for a better place…. that he made an impact… that he was an answered prayer… that he was a hero. May angels lead him in. Thank you, McCoy.’”

Just last week, Keough brought home her son’s ashes. She also announced that she had created a GoFundMe page to raise money in his honor to support the health of mothers and their babies. The fundraiser, in support of March of Dimes, has raised more than $12,000.