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Rochester Local

Born On The Side Of The Road: Poppy’s Birth Story

birth story, born on the side of the road, Braxton Hicks, cholestasis, Christmas baby, cold baths, contractions, induced early, labor and delivery, pregnancy, sporadic contractions

My due date was January 21st and I had big plans to do all the baby preparations after the holiday season. However, at about 34 weeks I was diagnosed with cholestasis, a condition that made me SO itchy. My doctors determined I needed to be induced early; a week after Christmas. So, my husband and I shifted our plans and started getting ready for baby. We decided to keep our holiday plans the same, which were to go to Shafer, Minnesota because I would only be 36 weeks. My doctors said I was okay to travel, so we packed and headed north. 

On Christmas Eve I started feeling really sporadic contractions and I assumed they were Braxton Hicks. My family had a great Christmas celebration with my in-laws and went to bed. Because I was suffering from cholestasis I got up multiple times itching. One trick for cholestasis I had discovered was taking super freezing baths to kind of numb the itchiness. So, I took a few cold baths and continued feeling more contractions. I started to feel a couple more signs of labor and I got a little concerned. I called the birth center and asked if I should come in. Based on their advice and since my contractions weren’t that painful, I decided to go in after my daughters opened Christmas presents. I didn’t want to sit in the birth center on Christmas Day, only to be sent home.

My husband and I got out of bed and woke everyone up. I told his parents I was having regular contractions and that our plan was to go to the hospital right after we all opened presents. As everyone was getting slowly out of bed, I started timing my contractions. They were about 8 minutes apart, still not that painful. However, when we started opening presents (youngest to oldest) my contractions became difficult to talk through. By the time we got to my gifts, I was almost in tears when I had contractions. Finally, my mother-in-law said, “that is enough, you guys are leaving now.” Taylor and I agreed and we began gathering our bags. Thankfully I had packed my hospital bag and brought it on our trip, just in case. When I went to put on my shoes, I experienced a contraction unlike I had ever in the past. In both my previous labors I had epidurals, so I had not experienced the transition stage of labor. I was in so much pain that my sister-in-law put on my boots for me. I walked out to the car and my mother-in-law threw a blanket on me and we headed toward the hospital.

We started driving and I told my husband to call the hospital to tell them we were coming. By this point, my contractions were basically back to back and getting more and more painful by the minute. I remember being in so much pain that any bump in the road annoyed me and made me angry with Taylor. The hospital we were headed to was in St Paul, which was about a 45-minute drive. Immediately after he got off the phone with the hospital, I said, “You have to call 911.”

I knew we weren’t going to make it much further and I was starting to feel the urge to push. Then my water broke.

Taylor wasn’t on the phone long before they told him he would need to pull the van over so that the ambulance could find us. He stopped the car and rushed over to my side of the car and put the phone on speaker so he could listen to the instructions of the 911 operator. The whole time I was so worried because I knew she was a month early. After about two pushes, and some unimaginable pain, Poppy was born. Taylor delivered her. She cried almost immediately. We quickly wrapped her in the blanket my mother-in-law had thrown in the car.

 birth story, born on the side of the road, Braxton Hicks, cholestasis, Christmas baby, cold baths, contractions, induced early, labor and delivery, pregnancy, sporadic contractions

About two minutes after she was born the police officer arrived. The first thing he said to the 911 operator was, “You have to walk me through this, I have never done this before,” which was pretty comforting to hear as a mother holding her newborn. But after jumping in the car, he successfully tied off the umbilical cord and assured us that our daughter looked good. A few minutes later the ambulance arrived. The EMTs rushed to our car and checked out Poppy and myself. I was so relieved when they arrived. I felt like we were in great hands. After a few more minutes of checking vitals, Poppy and I were put on the stretcher into the ambulance. As we were saying goodbye to the police officer, he said that this was his most exciting day on the job. 

When we got to the hospital we were wheeled through the ER and into the birthing center. After the doctors checked on me and the baby we got a phone call. The hospital communications staff wanted to know if we would be willing to speak with the media. I was so confused, I didn’t know why they would want to talk to us. The lady explained that it was a really exciting story – Christmas Day baby, born on the side of the road in negative 20 degree wind chill – and would probably become national news. We agreed to speak with a few media outlets and spent much of the afternoon visiting with family in between interviews with TV stations and newspapers. It was all really exciting! The story of Poppy’s birth made international news and we saw ourselves on the news multiple times while we were at the hospital. 

 birth story, born on the side of the road, Braxton Hicks, cholestasis, Christmas baby, cold baths, contractions, induced early, labor and delivery, pregnancy, sporadic contractions

Poppy’s birth was nothing like I expected it would be. We are so thankful for all the emergency and medical professionals who helped us after our daughter arrived.  It was a super scary hour or so, but it ended with a beautiful baby girl and two very happy parents. 

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