03/01/2023
Please note: This birth story is being told from MY point of view with permission from Saralicia Waugh and her husband Lundyn. Sara has her own viewpoint, as does Lundyn. I have been given permission by the family to share these images. I would never share these private moments without permission.
Taking on a birth that is over 2 hours away, in December in Minnesota, for someone who birthed their second child in under an hour from first contractions to baby in arms, is well, a gamble. But Sara and I had become very good friends, and it was important to her that I was there for this birth, their 3rd and most likely last baby.
My visit to Sara and her husband Lundyn's home on Dec. 7th wasn't a false alarm. Her body was preparing itself for the huge job of birthing a baby. It just wasn't going to happen that day. And being there, Sara and Lundyn were given the opportunity to have great laboring photos, many of which were outside in the fresh fallen snow. In hindsight, this was perfect, as there were no beautiful photos of her laboring when the day actually came.
The following day, Dec. 8th, at about 9:45pm I got another message from Sara that she was contracting again, and had gotten some fairly strong ones. We gave it about 30 minutes, and since she was still having them, and she had called her midwives, I decided to head up there. And since I don't drive in the dark very far, my husband Tony drove and we arrived at Sara's house about 12:30am. Again, her contractions had fizzled out, and the midwives ended up going home. Since it was so late, Tony and I just spent the night at Sara's and headed home the next morning.
Sara's estimated due date was Dec. 11th, so we knew the baby would likely be born within the next week or so. Her other babies had come right around their due dates, so she figured this one would too. By the 11th, there had been no more contractions, and it was just life as normal. But Mother Nature decided to pull a mean one and send a multi-day rain/ice/blizzard storm to hit Dec. 13th lasting through the 16th. You cannot imagine how anxious we both were about this storm, and we were hoping the baby would come before the storm.
The 13th came, and there was still no baby, and the storm was rolling in fiercely with rain and ice, eventually turning into heavy wet snow. Luckily, there was a break in the storm on the morning of the 14th, and after a LOT of consideration, I decided to drive to St. Cloud while I could and stay in a hotel until the storm had passed. Even though I knew I had a trustworthy backup photographer (thanks Catie!) who could be there if I couldn't, I really wanted to be there for the birth. So on my way to St. Cloud, I called Sara to let her know that I would be in town for the next few days, and she was so relieved. I hoped that she would be able to relax knowing that I was in town, and that not having anxiety about the storm would help her body go into labor. (Spoiler alert...it worked!)
After I arrived in town, the snow and winds picked up again, but I was able to get out and do some Christmas shopping. I slept great that night knowing that IF Sara were to go into labor, I was only about 20 minutes away.
The following morning, the 15th, I woke to a text at 6:50am from Sara saying she was having some cramping, it wasn't bad, but she wanted to let me know. An hour later, she said she was definitely having contractions, but didn't want me to head over quite yet. I needed to respect her wishes, even though all I wanted to do was jump in my car and go. We had gotten a LOT of snow overnight, and it was still snowing hard. I probably had 4-6" of snow on my car, and the roads were bad. Finally, at 8:45 Sara said I should head over, that the contractions were getting intense, and she had called her midwives.
Did I mention the roads? They were HORRIBLE. Not only were they snow packed but there was a solid layer of ice under the snow. There would have been zero chance of me driving in this if I hadn't stayed in St. Cloud, so I knew I had made the right choice. Even this 20 minute drive took me about 35 minutes.
About 5 minutes before I got to their house, Sara called me, asking how close I was. I told her, and she said "I'm bleeding. Bad. And I am feeling like I need to push." Her midwives were about 20 minutes away still, so I was going to be the first to arrive. I told her that she needed to call her midwife about the bleeding, and I would be there soon.
When I walked in, at 9:30, Lundyn came to the door and I asked if she had had the baby. He said no, but she was still bleeding, and that the ambulance was on its way. He had been on the phone with the midwife when Sara passed a large blood clot, so he sent a photo to her, and she decided to call 911 because this was not normal bleeding, and she needed Sara evaluated and she thought the paramedics could get there faster than her. When I walked into the bedroom, Sara was on her hands and knees on the bed, their 6 year old daughter Skylar (who also witnessed their last birth) was also on the bed, just curiously watching, and there was blood. Sara was contracting hard. Somehow I managed to stay calm (I typically don't do well in medical emergencies!) and I reassured Skylar that mom was ok, even though she didn't appear worried. I took some photos and helped reassure Saralicia, while Lundyn remained on the phone with the midwife.
A police officer arrived first, at about 9:40, then the paramedics and the midwife about 5 minutes later. This is when it got really chaotic. There was 7 adults and a child in their bedroom, where they also have a birth pool set up (which they never used). I was trying to take photos, but really had to stay in one spot, out of the way of those who were helping Sara. Then at 10am the midwife assistant arrived, Sara and Lundyn's 2 year old daughter Luna (who had been sleeping this whole time) came in, and at 10:05 Sara's sister arrived.
Sara was bleeding due to a partial placental abruption, which can be dangerous to both mom and baby, and the midwife told her that she needed to get the baby out, so with the next contraction, it was GO TIME. So with 9 adults and 2 children in the bedroom, Sara did just that. She pushed that baby out in under 2 minutes, and at 10:06 am, baby Kentyn was born crying! They had a son!
Immediately after Kentyn was born, the placenta was delivered, and the chaos stopped. Once Sara delivered the placenta and the bleeding had slowed, the police and paramedics headed out. They had a busy day ahead of them, but were thrilled to see that this call turned out beautifully with almost no help needed from them.
Time slowed after this. The midwives went into the other room to do their charting. Sara got to eat some food and hold her newborn baby boy, and big sisters Skylar and Luna got to check out their new baby brother. After a while, the midwives came back in to do the newborn assessment, and Kentyn did great. When that was over, Sara went to take a shower while Lundyn got to have skin to skin time with his new baby boy. After her shower, Sara was able to get back into her bed, which the midwives had cleaned up and put fresh sheets on.
While the beginning of this day was chaotic, and not the dreamy homebirth in the birth pool that Saralicia had wanted, her son was healthy and she was able to relax in her own bed as her body healed. They were now a family of 5.
Welcome to the world Kentyn!
