Brittany Severson

Brittany and her husband Aldon thought they’d have a few more weeks before their baby came. But at Brittany’s 37-week prenatal appointment, her blood pressure was high. “It wasn’t a red flag earlier in my pregnancy, but I could tell by the look on their faces that it was high,” she says. Midwife Janelle Dahl, CNM wanted to do more tests to check for preeclampsia, a serious disorder that can damage organs, cause seizures or stroke, even threaten the life of mother and baby.

Brittany and Aldon were sent to the Birth Center triage room to wait for results: “We were laughing that it would be funny if we had to stay.”

Then, fetal monitoring showed contractions were coming 2-7 minutes apart. “Janelle said, ‘You’re not leaving here without a baby,’” Brittany recalls. “My husband called his boss and said, ‘I’ll be out for 12 weeks.’”

Labor progressed slowly. After several hours, “they were struggling to keep the baby’s heart rate on the monitor,” Brittany says. “She was distressed for some reason, but they couldn’t tell why.” It was time to consider a cesarean section.

“We had a birth plan, but being in the hospital at 37 weeks wasn’t part of it. So the plan was already out the window,” she says. A c-section in the Birth Center’s dedicated operating suite became the new plan. Brittany’s sister Bailey – a nurse at NH+C, and expecting her own baby within days – stayed with Aldon while Brittany was prepped for surgery.

Midwives had cared for Brittany throughout her pregnancy; OB/GYN specialist Ngoc Vu, MD stepped in to perform the c-section. “I trusted her completely,” Brittany says. “I was confident in shifting my care to someone we had never met because I trusted the professionals around us. I knew my baby would be okay, and if she wasn’t, there were people there to help her.”

When Charlie was born, “she was purple and limp. She needed to be resuscitated,” Brittany says. The team worked fast: They helped Charlie breathe before she took her first breath, then x-rayed her lungs to check for fluid. “It was about 10 minutes until we heard her cry,” Brittany says. “That was when I knew she was okay.

“I hadn’t realized until she started crying that she hadn’t been crying,” she adds. “It was a relief to know there was such a good team taking care of her.”

Charlie recovered well. She had low blood sugar, so the team monitored that (and her temperature) for 24 hours. Then the new family went home.

“When we left, it was the most emotional thing ever,” Brittany recalls. “Our nurses made us feel so cared for – almost like you had your aunt in the room with you.”

Pediatrician Amy Kraushaar, DO cared for Charlie from the beginning. “She did such a great job explaining everything to us,” Brittany says.

Charlie was diagnosed with congenital Cytomegalovirus (CMV), a virus that can cause hearing loss or other health problems. (Most babies with congenital CMV never develop any health problems.) Minnesota is one of the first states to include CMV testing as part of newborn screening.

“Dr. Kraushaar dove in, calling the Minnesota Department of Health and other resources to make sure we get our questions answered,” Brittany says. Charlie has passed all her hearing tests, and “she’s doing great.”

Brittany and Aldon live in Lakeville. “When we were choosing where to deliver, I felt that we had to go to Northfield,” she says. “It just felt like home. It’s so special to have familiar people caring for you. It feels like having someone in your corner.”

Her advice for handling an unexpected twist during pregnancy: “Plan not to stick to your plan. Trust the team to make sure everything goes OK, even if it’s not your original plan.”