Baby surprises parents despite best-laid plans

Overall, I was blessed with a healthy pregnancy. I was aware that being in decent shape helped birth and committed to walking every day, with a goal of 10,000 steps daily. My due date was October 18, 2021. At my baby shower at the end of September I hiked Fish Lake no problem. I was still working full-time. I went to my weekly doctor’s appointment and was told I was still carrying high and that, often, first births come after the anticipated due date. My last day of work was Thanksgiving Monday (October 11th) and I figured after that we would have a week to get things ready for the arrival of our new baby.

With COVID, all prenatal classes were cancelled. We had some unopened books on our table, but hadn’t started to think much about our new life. We did see a doula who gave us a little intro into what we might expect.. One of the things mentioned to us frequently was the 511 rule. A lot of people go to the hospital early for their first baby only to be sent away again because they haven’t dilated enough. All medical professionals are discouraging this, especially with COVID. With the 511 rule, you go to the hospital after having contractions for an hour that are a minute long, five minutes apart. That was all I had to remember, I thought to myself.

My partner Ted and I were walking the Millennium Trail on a Tuesday night, a day after I finished my last six-day work week, when I started having lower back pain. I had not experienced any “false contractions” (also known as Braxton Hicks) so I assumed it was about time that I started having them. I had heard from numerous friends these wouldn’t be fun and didn’t think much of it. Ted and I went home and turned on Netflix to finish up Sex Education. I told Ted to go to bed and that I was going to get a heat pack for those pesky Braxton Hicks and try to get some sleep.

I probably sounded like an untamed animal when Ted woke at 5 a.m. to find me panting in the bathroom. I had not slept and had been having what I still thought were Braxton Hicks. The only book I had read was Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth. She is North America’s leading midwife and shares some of her wisdom, which helped me as I thought to myself “trust your body, lots of women have gone through this before you and made it through.” I would be lying if I didn’t curse her a few times as well. We had a doctor’s appointment first thing the next morning. I thought we’d make it that far and they’d tell us if I was in labour and needed to go to the hospital, or go back home and wait for some more time to pass.

Whitehorse EMS & baby
Whitehorse EMS members tend to Lily minutes after she was born at the family’s home.
Julia, Lily and Ted
Julia, left, Lily and Ted enjoy a calmer and more playful family moment together in their Whitehorse home.

My water broke at 6:30 a.m. Ted was trying to time my contractions for the 511 rule. We also learned, through information given to us by our doula, that the most painful part is dilating. At that point, I was still thinking we’d be going to a doctor’s appointment that morning and might learn there how much I’d dilated. We decided I would take a quick bath and then get ready to go to the hospital in case the baby was coming early. Ted began the process of collecting some things to go to the hospital (none of which we had ready). Ted was running around the house, gathering the car seat, snacks and a few clothes. In between, he rubbed my back for support. The bath’s warm water felt good and I spent some time in there. I began the process of getting out and trying to get dressed between contractions (very challenging if you haven’t experienced it). I was crawling on the rug and suddenly saw blood coming out. I yelled for Ted, who came running. We are currently renting a duplex in Copper Ridge and our landlord had just replaced the carpets, so I was very concerned about Ted helping me crawl to the wooden floor. In today’s rental market, we didn’t want to risk getting kicked out by ruining the new carpets. Ted, on the other hand, thought we were losing the baby and became concerned. He didn’t think there should be blood this early. As I was crawling out to the floor, telling Ted to clean the carpet and not worry about me, I suddenly felt like I was having a large bowel movement. “Ted,” I asked. “Am I taking a shit?” He looked and saw a little face being pushed out, but stuck in my lace underwear. He later said it looked like I was birthing a tiny bank robber! Ted called  911. As I had learned from Ina May to  trust my body, I physically could not stop pushing. Ted dropped the phone, pulled my underwear down, caught the baby and told EMS on the phone that we had just had a baby at home. EMS asked if it was a boy or a girl, but we couldn’t find out as I was on my back, in complete shock, with the biggest wedgie of my life.

EMS arrived a couple minutes later and were very professional. They let Ted cut the umbilical cord and I was able to walk to the ambulance in crocs. We had a message saying that the doctor would not be able to make our appointment that morning due to an emergency (which turned out to be that she had to meet us at the hospital). I spent a few minutes feeling guilty for costing the system unnecessarily, but realized it was an honest mistake. We left the bloody scene at home and arrived on the maternity ward at Whitehorse General Hospital. The nurses were wonderful and they kept us to do some routine tests. We had a girl who was seven pounds and 12 ounces, born on October 13, 2021 at 8:20 a.m. at home. We were very privileged that there were no complications. So far, everything is going well. We named her Lily Jean MacDonald and are overjoyed with our new family. We haven’t dropped her yet and are having lots of fun trying to keep her warm in the North. We were recommended to go to the hospital three weeks early next time and that rules such as the 511 aren’t meant to be followed all the time.

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