On Tuesday June 20th, 2017, I left work around 10:45 am to go to my regular OBGYN appointment. The midwife took all my vitals, did a quick ultrasound, and asked me some questions. Before I left, she wanted to do a couple of swabs and a check “down there”. As she looked, she said she saw something funny and went to get the doctor on call. The doctor came in and looked, and she said that she could see my water bag and that I was dilated to a 3. They told me to drive across the street to the hospital labor and delivery area ASAP. The doctor said to not worry about calling Dustin, that they would do that and have him drive here. I checked in, got a room, and got hooked up to all sorts of monitors. I got an IV (after 3 tries and a popped vein), a dose of magnesium (which made me feel dizzy and very hot), and a shot in my rear of antibiotics and steroids to help the baby. Dustin was the room by then. They told me I was going through very regular contractions and that I might be going into labor. I might be having this baby at 31 weeks! The weird part was that I didn’t feel any of the contractions. Sometimes a little pressure, but no pain at all. If the baby was to come they wanted me to be at a hospital with a level 3 NICU (St. Pete’s had a level 2). They called Tacoma General Hospital and sent an ambulance to get us, but found out that they got a flat tire! At that point, I was dilated to an 8. They couldn’t move me. Seattle Children’s Hospital had to send a jet so they could take the baby as soon as it came. They knew I was going to have the baby, and soon.

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In order to move things faster (as it wasn’t safe for the baby to be in me anymore), they broke my water. Now that my water broke, the contractions starting coming in more, but I still wasn’t feeling them! They had to give me a shot so I could progress. The first time I felt a contraction was a little tightening- and I was excited! I finally felt something! An hour later, the head nurse and doctor came in and told me to start pushing when I felt a twinge (which didn’t happen often), so they had to tell me when to push. Finally, a half hour later of that, the twinges turned into labor pain- and lots of it. I was having to push hard every 45 seconds. I was dizzy and couldn’t focus, and was hyperventilating, so they gave me a little oxygen. After about 3 hours of strenuous non-stop pushing (around 10:30 pm), I felt a sudden lifting feeling, and then there was a baby on my chest! What just happened…I was at work this morning! I held the baby for about 10 seconds, then was quickly wrapped up in a blanket and it was taken to the isolate bed. Dustin watched them put monitors on, then they said they needed to intubate (but a breathing tube in). I didn’t hear or see any of this, as I was finishing up delivering.

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After I could finally rest, Dustin told me that it took the doctors multiple times to put the intubation tube in, then they took our baby in an isolate out to the jet to Seattle Children’s. I was very blessed to feel calm. Maybe I was just exhausted (and very naive at the time), but I knew that the doctors would be good to our baby. I wanted to drive up to Seattle now to follow the jet, but the doctor had to stitch me up, and told me to sleep as it was about 11:30 pm. We tried to sleep a little but our minds were racing. What is happening to our baby? Is everything okay? What is the next step? What am I going to do about work, Dustin’s work, our church calling, the house, and other obligations?

Close to midnight, my mom and sister came in. They drove here as soon as they found out what was happening. I was so grateful to see them! I really did need a hug from my mom. After a couple of non-nurse assisted trips to the bathroom, they let us go home at about 5 am. It was about 18 hours from when I checked in to discharge! We went home and tried to sleep for about an hour or so, showered, and ate breakfast.