My Birth Story

It all started on Sunday. We were in Sacrament meeting and I started having contractions. Thankfully, one of my Midwives is in our ward and she came to see me after sacrament was over. She told me to go home and rest. I went home, crawled into bed and had a nap. When I woke up I felt a lot better! However while I was sleeping Lindsey determined we needed to have everything ready when this happens for real. We put the car seat in the car; got the stroller ready and I packed my birth bag at his request. This was annoying because I had planned on doing it when I was in labour so I had something to do. Don’t worry I had a list of everything I needed and wanted to do it then to pass the time.

Starting Sunday I had a headache but didn't think much of it to be honest. There was also this weird pain in my ribcage right below my right breast. I figured the baby was causing me grief.

On Wednesday I woke up and had a shower. I felt particularly lazy and thought to myself "I'm not going into labour today, I don't need to wash my hair!" Famous last words…

I then decided to go to Costco and get all the food we needed. Not thinking that I was about to go into labour, I picked up a lasagne as we were supposed to feed the missionaries that night. When I got home I really started to feel like garbage. I took a Tylenol and it didn't seem to help it a lot. I cancelled the plans I had for the rest of the afternoon and had a nap. Before I had a nap I thought to myself "I should find the camera, I have plenty of time for that!"

I had a midwife appointment at 4:30 and when I woke up I still felt gross. Lindsey had finished work early that day and he was in charge of putting the lasagne in the oven. I went to my appointment and when I mentioned I had a headache everything changed. My midwife had mentioned my blood pressure was high but I didn't think anything of it, as it was high the week before. She took my BP numerous times throughout the appointment and informed me I was going to the hospital. I told her that I was supposed to feed the missionaries and she told me that wasn't happening.

I called Lindsey to let him know that we were having a baby! He was more concerned with feeding the missionaries… I had to wait at the clinic to give a urine sample. Lindsey decided he would finish cooking the lasagne for the missionaries, go to McDonald’s for himself and pack up the car while I was still at the clinic. When I got home, the missionaries came to the door, we gave them their food and we went straight to the hospital.

When I got to the hospital, they took one look at my blood pressure, ordered numerous blood tests and then the doctor came in and informed me that I was having a baby today. Because my blood pressure was so high I ended up getting an epidural as one of the side effects lowers your blood pressure. They gave me the epidural before they induced because it was still off the charts (168 over 110 or something). After that they put a blood pressure cuff on me and I had my blood pressure monitored every 15 minutes for the next 24 hours (It was the worst). The doctors also put me on Magnesium Sulphate and a requirement for that is to have a catheter. This wasn’t according to my ideal birth plan, I can tell you that right now. I didn’t mind though, I was fairly easy going about everything.

After I was settled into my bed, the doctors came in to break my water. One of the doctors said something about there being a lot of meconium in the water. It was that lovely pea soup consistency. This is when I realize that absolutely nothing about this birth is going to go the way I planned it. Boy was I right.

It wasn't until 10 the next morning when I was given the ok to push. By this time I had a new nurse who I didn't get along as well with. I was pretty devastated but tried to make the best of it. When I was told at 10 that I could start pushing, I was ready!

I pushed for 2 hours and 1 minute (They kept telling me the 1 was important). Babies head was stuck and they equated it to someone talking on the phone. In that time I had to get the fetal heart monitor put into his head because they kept loosing the heart rate. When they were able to get an accurate reading they told me that Tada's heart rate was dropping and not coming back as quickly as they would have liked. The doctor told me that I had ten minutes to push that baby out or there would be medical interventions. I was pretty devastated and asked for more time what the side effects of waiting just a little longer would be. That's when my midwife chimed in and told me that this was the best option.


Next thing I know I have a slew of people around for the birth of my baby, my midwife, the nurse, a backup team of nurses, NICU team, and the two doctors that were going to pull him out (originally I just wanted it to be me, Lindsey and the midwives). The birth happened quickly, all I really remember is the pressure I felt and all the people in the room. I pushed and felt the shoulders leave and the doctors picked up my baby to show me that I had had a baby boy.

Tad is born and is whisked away because they're worried about the meconium and it takes what feels like an eternity to get our skin to skin. When it finally happened, I was beyond elated. 

I’m so grateful for the experience and the opportunity I have to call him my son. In these last few weeks my whole life has turned upside down. But I have loved every second of it.