On Wednesday September 14th around 9:00 am we went in to be induced. Once settled in, I was given dinoprostone around 11:00 am. I immediately started having contractions. Shortly after, baby Brayden had a prolonged deceleration lasting 10 minutes. I was given terbutaline to then stop my contractions but it wasn’t quite enough. Around 9 minutes, I was wheeled back to the OR for an emergency c-section. As they were about to begin the surgery, Brayden’s heart rate came back up and we decided against the c-section. I was wheeled back to my labor & delivery room where I continued to labor for a few hours. I continued to have strong contractions or very long contractions but without signs of progression. I began to feel pretty uncomfortable and started to bleed heavily. I was given another dose of terbutaline and category 2 tracing persisted for Brayden. Doctors were called back in to evaluate what was happening. This is when Mitchell got pretty concerned/worried and took a breather for a bit 😉.

I was informed I was having a placental abruption (when your placenta detaches before baby is born). It was obvious that a c-section was the best route to keep both Brayden and I alive and healthy. I went back for a c-section just before 3:00 pm and met our sweet boy minutes later. In the OR, I was given PRBC amongst other things. The remaining of the surgery went well but I continued to bleed quite a bit after. I went back to my room and got to see Mitchell hold Brayden, such a sweet moment.

The afternoon/evening following surgery is a little bit of blur as it seems like a lot happened during this time. Because of the placental abruption, my bloodwork came back pretty bad after surgery due to all of the blood loss. I was DIC (meaning abnormal blood clotting causing more bleeding) and needing fibrinogen, platelets, prbc, and so forth. I also wasn’t producing any urine at this time and my creatinine levels were going up. This is when they made the decision to move me to the icu. I got to hold Brayden 1 more time before being wheeled down to the icu away from my family. I vividly remember the long stroll to get to the other side of the hospital at 11 pm, being asked if I have a living will, pulling myself to a new bed with a puddle of blood underneath, and the exhaustion on everyone’s faces. I spent 1 night in the icu before getting to head back to my room with Brayden and Mitchell. During my time in the icu, I finally started to produce urine so things were looking good for my kidneys, however my creatinine level continued to go up causing more concern. My platelet count also dropped significantly low at this time. I had such amazing nurses though that made it possible to bring Brayden down to visit in the icu (not an easy task with the newborn tags). I eventually was able to get some more platelets and head back up to labor and delivery! Once back up there, I continued to receive blood clotting factors and keep an eye on my creatinine.

A few days later, after a couple walks around the floor and some encouraging visitors and my numbers were finally looking better! Brayden got discharged Sunday so we had our first night just the 3 of us in the hospital since he couldn’t hang with his nursery ladies at that time (he loved it as much as they did). He did so good for us! Fast forward to Monday, after 1 last blood transfusion, we finally got to go home! Such a journey to bring our sweet boy here with us but we are so grateful to have been in such great hands when this happened. We can’t thank the doctors and nurses enough for all they did! Brayden is a healthy, strong little man and we are so blessed to have him here safely with us thanks to all the great people that made it happen! 

All of this to say,


To all you mommas out there, you are so strong! Becoming a momma was such a journey for me, with a lot of hard days in the hospital but still the most amazing and beautiful life changing experience that no one will understand until going through it on their own.


There are no words to explain the amount of love for a beautiful new baby…

no words to explain the amount of gratitude for doctors and nurses…

no words to explain the amount of appreciation for a loving and caring spouse…

no words to explain these crazy life experiences that move you…

but I know there is one thing I’ve figured out amongst it all, and that is…

I will certainly be trying to find those words here on out and I will be documenting more than just those photos!