I figured out I was pregnant at the Washington LP convention in the spring and confirmed it when i got home. I actually got pregnant at the Pennsylvania LP convention and I announced it publicly at the national convention. Skeptics and haters had doubts that I would be able to be a fulltime chair while pregnant and with a baby, but so far, I’ve managed to pull it off. I didn’t miss a single convention or speaking engagement - except for my remote appearance at the Virginia LP convention on Dec 4th because I was in labor.

Austin and I prepped religiously for this birth. We read many books, we took online classes, I took loads of high quality supplements and ate high quality food - liver, bone broth, raw milk, colostrum, etc. Only the best. I did birth stretches and exercises while I was on call. We used a midwife to avoid the mainstream medical system as much as possible. For those of you who know me well, you know I’m skeptical due to the rough treatment I received as a crohn's patient. My specialist recommended a have my colon taken out 2 years ago. I subsequently changed my diet (carnivore diet) and voila I healed up fairly quickly. So we planned to avoid the medical system and regulatory capture as much as possible. Something, something, FDA… My grievances with mainstream medicine and the government are intricately tied together. That probably needs its own post.

Anyway, we planned. But the best laid plans can still go awry.

I went into labor around 1:00am on Thursday night, December 2nd and I had a very rough start. Arthur, who had been dutifully head down the whole pregnancy, seemed to be turning sideways but I couldn't be sure it wasn’t just his leg poking me in the spleen. All through the night, I vomited until I burst blood vessels in my face. I still have a black eye from it. The vomiting did not stop until my midwife put me on an anti nausea IV Friday afternoon but by then, the damage was done. I was severely dehydrated, weakened and exhausted from 14 hours of vomiting. (Keep in mind I never had morning sickness during my pregnancy.) It’s important to eat during the early part of labor when you are laboring at home. That was impossible. I could not keep down water or Gatorade. I did not sleep Thursday night except for a few 5 minute episodes where I was able to doze in between contractions. Friday, I was able to doze on and off through the contractions for about an hour because the anti nausea medicine was so powerful.

I tried to recoup by eating a spoonful of honey every hour after the nausea IV had done its work but I was still very sick to my stomach, had a headache and no appetite. I was exhausted. Labor continued but it did not progress quickly. (You go through several stages of labor. I seemed to linger on “late first stage” for too long.) I began to vomit again Friday night but seemed to get it back under control quickly. Saturday morning, I was extremely weak and labor began to progress again. We were unsure of Arthur’s position and the contractions had become so strong I could no longer choke down food. Due to my severe hydration and weakened state, I took the L and chose to go to the hospital. I’d always told myself if that happened, I would be totally at peace with it, but it felt like a miserable defeat for a multitude of reasons. I had no desire to be pumped full of an epidural, but if labor progressed and I was too weak to push Arthur out or began vomiting uncontrollably again, I would be forced to go to the hospital anyway. These choices are so much easier to make when you’re just making them for yourself. It felt wrong to roll the dice on Arthur.

Our initial experience at the hospital was fine. The midwives & OBGYN’s on staff were friendly and perfectly comfortable with my home birth background.

I received an epidural and Arthur’s heart rate immediately dropped a bit. My heart sank. I wanted to avoid epidural because of the effect it could have on the baby. His heart rate mostly recovered but it was obvious the shot had a distressing effect on him. Many people give birth with an epidural just fine, but they do cause babies a certain level of distress.

Next I had my water broken, and things took another turn for the worse. The nurse midwife noticed meconium in the water. She did an examination and discovered that Arthur was sideways, in a breech position. She then advised a C section due to the meconium and breech. The hospital staff believed there was a strong chance he would swallow it or breathe it in, hurting his lungs, especially if they took the time to try to turn him or deliver him breech.

I had about 10 minutes to discuss this with Austin and prepare for the procedure. I received more epidural, the anesthesiologist came in with a flurry of other workers, drugged me up, and wheeled me into an operating room. I was given more oral medication, the sheet was raised, and I was cut open. Thankfully, Austin was able to stay with me and hold my hand through this abrupt and miserable experience. I began vomiting again on the operating table and the anesthesiologist's assistant wiped vomit back into my mouth in a poor effort to clean me up. He continued to do so against my protests, and I continued to choke and gag throughout the remainder of the procedure. OR staff refused to get me water to rinse out my mouth.

Arthur came out covered in meconium but otherwise fine. I was very ill by this point but the baby rooted and latched onto me immediately and began to suckle with no problem. I passed him back to Austin when I could not get the vomiting under control.

After baby Arthur was wheeled out of the room by Austin and had pictures taken with his grandparents, I was transferred to a hospital room. The staff came to us and said Arthur’s oxygen levels had dropped briefly to 85%. Nursing staff insisted that he would not be able to breathe and eat at the same time and that he must be transferred to the NICU and they refused to bring him to our room. The staff (mostly pediatricians) was rude and called Austin "doctor google" when asked about why Arthur's oxygen levels might have dropped briefly, and if it could have been due to stress.

We repeatedly asked to see Arthur and were told he would "turn blue in the hall" if we saw him, even though he was fine when we saw him earlier and there had been no visible change in his condition or behavior. Keep in mind, the oxygen reading was only done once.

After being subjected to emotional blackmail and threats, we reluctantly agreed to allow him into the NICU. Staff also refused to feed him and refused to allow me to feed him.

We did not sleep more than an hour that night. We went to see him early in the morning and discovered he was on an IV with either dextrose or glucose at "12" and had not been fed. There was no evidence of respiratory distress. This was Sunday morning.

I was told I had to breastfeed Arthur in the NICU every 3 hours and pump breat milk in between feedings. My room was on the 5th floor and Arthur was on the 3rd floor, in an area that we could not access without the help/clearance of a nurse. The time it took me to get from room to room (while recovering from major abdominal surgery) and the time in my room taken up with interruptions from visits from nurses, lactation consultants, doctors, midwives, labs, and cleaning crews, left me with approx 1 hour and 40 mins to eat, sleep, and pump in between 3 hour visits. This was inhumane, unrealistic, and made my condition much worse.

I became sick again with vomiting the next day (Monday) and could not eat or hold water down until I was given an anti nausea medicine in an IV. NICU staff told me that Arthur could have donor milk until I was well enough to feed him again. I insisted he taken off the IV and was told they would taper him off the IV gradually. The next day, NICU staff told me that the donor milk was really reserved for preemie babies, not for my baby, and that if I did not come up and breastfeed him and if his blood sugar test was low, they would not give Arthur back to me. Meanwhile, Arthur's respiratory health was just fine.

Arthur was finally cleared Tuesday evening to leave the NICU and come to my room, and we were told we would both be discharged the next day. In the middle of the night, NICU staff came into our room and dug through the trash to make sure that Arthur had “enough wet diapers” to be discharged the next day.

The next day (Wednesday) an hour before discharge, staff on my floor argued over whether or not I had pre eclampsia and reneged on the offer to discharge me because I had high blood pressure. I had not slept in 50 hours, and was extremely stressed due to the abuse Arthur and I suffered at the hands of the hospital staff. (in addition to his starvation campaign and my Squid Game style schedule, Arthur’s foot was badly bruised from a heel stick blood test).

I immediately told staff that we had to leave in order to be well because I felt that the hospital was endangering our health. I was forced to sign out AMA (Against Medical Advice), under tons of pressure to take copious amounts of high blood pressure medication while staff insisted stress had no part in my condition, and we left with Arthur. I was also told that I would not be turned away if I came back for any blood pressure related conditions and it was implied that my insurance might not cover part of my visit. (I later found out this is incorrect/illegal.)

The next day at home, my home midwife visited and my blood pressure had dropped significantly, from 161 to 113. I was later told by a different midwife that the hospital nursery was understaffed and that the hospital sends babies to NICU when the nursery staff is low so that they don't have enough people to watch babies who have low oxygen readings.

After waiting a few days to process everything, I filed a formal complaint with the hospital. My insurance company has not given me a cost estimate for the visit yet so I have no idea what additional charges I’ll be facing.

Thankfully, Arthur is fine. I still have a black eye and I’m still a little bit traumatized by the whole experience, but I’ll recover. I hope that the complaint I file will spare other parents from having to go through such a miserable, terrifying experience. We would have left the hospital much sooner, but it's difficult to know whether or not these institutions will call Child Protective Services on you for exercising your rights as a parent and for protecting your child. The threat of the state always looms in the background, even in places like Texas. Of course, the irony is that these institutions are abusive themselves, and so is the state.

We don’t plan on suing. We just want to put this behind us and enjoy our now happy and healthy baby. We’ve lost peace of mind and money, but at least we have each other at home now, and our friends have been incredibly supportive and helpful. Our good friend Amy Brown set up a Go Fund Me to help us with the unexpected hospital costs.

https://gofund.me/100c3f2a