Indiana's Birth Story

My children were 11 and 17 when I found out I was pregnant at the age of 37. In addition to being surprised by the pregnancy, I was extremely frightened at how I would handle birthing a child at my age. I had grown intolerant to pain and was really dreading the labor and seriously thinking of an epidural for pain management.

One day at home I started experiencing some intense pain and I told my husband, “I need drugs,” not even thinking I was going into labor, just wanting something to help with the pain. I had been kind of a regular at the hospital because it had been a hard, high-risk pregnancy, so it wasn’t odd for me to show up there.

When I arrived, they handed me a gown to put on. As I was changing, my water broke so they wheeled me straight to the delivery room. I was told the doctor had to check me before I could get drugs, and when he did, he looked at me and asked, “Can you try to push?” I did, and out came the cutest little baby boy you ever saw! The nurse was just putting on my admitting bracelet and getting an IV ready when Indiana arrived. My two other children were there and didn’t even have time to leave the room so they had quite the experience! Within five minutes of walking into the hospital, and just one very intense push, I was blessed with my healthy baby boy who came out with the bushiest head of red hair I have ever seen!