The evening of May 31^st was just like many other nights. My wife, Aryn, and I had gone out for a light dinner and some exciting conversation about the soon-to-be new addition to our family. There were only three and half more weeks until the due date and having a child seemed more real by the day. The evening ended with a kiss and us crawling into bed.

At 12:45A that night Aryn awoke and needed to use the restroom. She noticed something wet on her legs, but she didn’t think this could be her water breaking. She decided to take a bath and then go back to bed. In the bath she noticed that it felt like she was having abdominal cramps that stayed tightened, “they weren’t relaxing. “She was sure these cramps were not contractions “because they were constant… not coming in waves.”

At 2:45A Aryn woke me up. “Brant, I think we are going to have the baby today,” she whispered as she gently shook me awake. Groggily I said, “Are you sure the contractions aren’t Braxton-Hicks contractions? Did you drink some water and lie on your side?” You see, I had been to all the labor and delivery classes with Aryn and I knew the questions to ask. LOL!

Aryn again said “I think we are going to have the baby today,” and at that I jumped out of bed. Hurriedly getting dressed and packing our bags (who packs the delivery bag 3 ½ weeks early, right?) my brain was racing with thoughts that this could be the biggest day of my life. My mind was a strange mixture of lucid thoughts and inability to concentrate. Was this really happening?

At 3:15A we got in the car to drive to the hospital, Kaiser in Santa Clara. We live in the mountains around Scotts Valley so the drive is a good 30 minutes. Luckily the roads were empty. I was timing Aryn’s contractions as we left our house. They were every 2 minutes, lasting about 45 seconds. I couldn’t speed as I went over the curves of Highway 17, but I can’t say that I didn’t hit upper double-digit speeds on the deserted I-880 and 280.

We arrived at the hospital at 3:45A. My amazing wife wanted to walk up to labor and delivery. We had done a dry run of the walk from the parking lot to the 3^rd floor of the Kaiser hospital after one of our labor and delivery prep classes. The only difference was this time Aryn had to stop every 2 minutes for a minute of intense contraction. After about five of these contractions Aryn said, “at this rate it is going to take a long time to get there, huh?” Regardless, she wanted to continue walking.

We made it up to the labor and delivery intake desk at 3:30A, and no one was there. As we were to find out later, this early Wednesday morning was a busy time for Kaiser Santa Clara. Seven children were born within a six hour period.

Finally, a nurse walking past the intake desk asked if we had been helped. We said we hadn’t and she said she would send someone right away. Still Aryn is having contractions every 2 minutes and she is looking more relaxed than me! After a short intake process, they took us to an “observation room” where they were going to check to see if my wife was really in labor. Are you serious? Really?

We were in the “observation room” for 15 minutes without anyone checking in on us. Again it was a busy night. I went to the nursing station and asked if someone could just come in and reassure my wife that a doctor would be in soon to check on her. A few minutes later a doctor came in and after a 15 second exam said, “your going to have this baby now.” Aryn was dilated 10 cm and 100% effaced.

They wheeled Aryn to a labor and delivery room and moved her onto the delivery table. We both wanted to try a natural birth if things were going well, and regardless, at this point an epidural was not an option. Aryn had decided that she wanted to have reggae playing during her labor to relax her. The small stereo I had brought was still in the car so I put my iPhone on full blast to the soothing sounds of Steel Pulse.

Aryn asked the doctor if she could start pushing. At this point Aryn was facing away from the three nurses and the doctor in the room. The doctor told her, “don’t push yet honey, don’t hold your breathe, just keep breathing.” What Aryn couldn’t see was that the nurses and doctor were frantically trying to get the room and equipment ready for the delivery. Over the next ten minutes Aryn asked another couple times if it was time for her to push. They kept telling her to wait.

Finally, the room was ready and Aryn was given the green light to push. The time was 4:45A. First off, let me tell you, I have the most amazing wife on earth. She is strong, smart, witty, and fun. I know I have heard thousands of times what great pain childbirth is for the mother, but I have to say Aryn made it look so natural and easy. At 5:05A Finn Marquette Pedersen came into the world. I couldn’t help but cry. What a miracle to behold.

Our son was placed on Aryn’s chest skin-to-skin and he was calmed. All seemed right with the world and both mother and child were safe and healthy. After about ten minutes the nurses needed to move Aryn so she handed the baby to me. I took off my shirt and held our son against my skin and the feeling was surreal. Only nine months ago this life was just a dream of ours. Now I was holding his silky warm body next to mine.

At birth Finn weighed 5 lbs 7 oz and was 17 ¾ “ long. He came out with light brown hair that has since turned blonde. He is so tiny and perfect in every way. I hope that as a father I can live up to this tiny gift that has been given to me.

I want to thank my patients for their patience with me during these first few weeks of my son’s life. Being a solo practitioner in the office, I know there was no one in our office to adjust you during my absence. I apologize for that. However, I am glad I took the time to get to know my son during his first few weeks on this earth. And I am very excited as well to get back to my practice. My passions in life have always been my wife and my practice. Now I have a third love, Finn.

I have attached some pictures of the newest member of our family. I hope you will get a chance to meet him in the future. I look forward to witnessing his transformation into the man he is to become.

Positively,

Dr. Pedersen

Post-script: Aryn had a most magical pregnancy, labor, and delivery. No cravings. No morning sickness. A four-hour, minimal pain, natural childbirth labor and delivery. I asked her the evening after our son was born how she would rate the pain of childbirth. My wife, who has suffered migraines as a young girl and woman said that childbirth was “about 25% as bad as her migraine headaches.” I was amazed. We will never know what caused her to have such a great pregnancy, but I would wish the same on every mother to be. What I can tell you is the steps we took when we decided we wanted to have children. Aryn got off her birth control pills 6+ months before we tried to conceive to let her cycle start to self regulate again. We did the 28 Days to Health whole body cleanse program a few months prior to trying to conceive. In addition to removing toxins from her liver, colon, and tissues, during the program she lost about 10 lbs of fat mass, which made the weight gain from her pregnancy more manageable. On a chiropractic note I adjusted her joints and worked on her muscles regularly regardless of whether she was having any pain or not, just to keep her spine and other joints properly aligned and healthy. And finally, my wife made a point of getting in some good walking in the hills around our home daily. This formula seemed to work perfectly with her pregnancy and if you know any would-be mothers out there I would be happy to discuss natural health care options to help them have a pleasant, healthy, and joyful pregnancy and birthing process.