Hello .

"You're telling me I'm going to have to have this baby on my own."

I'll never forget the feelings I had in that moment. When the doctor told me they had to admit and induce me. That wasn't even the worst part, just the start of things going from bad to worse.

Yet this was the day I received not one but TWO priceless gifts for which I'm thankful every single day.

Let me back up a bit here and tell the story properly.

On July 2nd a couple years ago, I went to my 38 week prenatal appointment. It was a rare time during this final pregnancy where I felt pretty good. I was looking forward to getting the appointment out of the way and going home to catch up on some chores to prepare for the baby and family to come support us with the older two kids.

This pregnancy had been drastically different from my first two in a lot of ways but things had been stable for weeks. To be extra careful, I was receiving non-stress tests along with regular care.

This day I expected to be in and out pretty promptly and get some dinner with my husband and two girls who'd dropped me off and headed to the park to play till they could come get me.

Right away, there was concern. My blood pressure was elevated. The appointment proceeded but they kept taking repeated readings. I figured they were just struggling since some of their larger cuffs for patients my weight can be tricky.

I was totally unprepared (and a little annoyed) when they told me I'd have to go to triage to have my blood pressure monitored for a bit. I am fortunate that I had an OBGYN whose office was in a wing of the hospital and just a short walk from the birth center.

So off I went with a roll of the eyes and got into an uncomfortable bed texting my husband to apologize for the delay since it would push back dinner.

Except my blood pressure kept climbing despite the administration of drugs to lower it. That's when the doctor walked in to tell me I was being admitted and they were going to induce me. I was going to have my son that night.

My heart shattered.

I of course wanted to meet my boy and his health and safety were my priority.

But this situation would mean I would have to do it all alone. My husband, who had been at both our daughters births and cut the cords, would have to stay with our older two.

We have no family in state. We don't have friends close. We didn't have a babysitter we worked with. Even if our family dropped everything and tried to rush up... it was Friday before the fourth of July weekend in the US! Oh and it was still during COVID!!

No one could watch our girls so no one could be with me.

The rest of the process was a blur of tears and pain and fear. Things progressively got worse until we collectively decided it was time for a cesarean before things were any more of an emergency.

I've never felt so alone and small as being wheeled to the operating room not even having been able to see my girls to say good bye or I loved them. Things were progressing so rapidly there wasn't even time for an epidural. They had to sedate me.

I remember crying as I was falling asleep begging them to save my son no matter what.

When I woke up, they were telling me how good I'd done and that everything was fine. I demanded to know where my son was and they told me he was with his daddy.

You see, unbeknownst to me, my husband and our family had managed to contact a former day care teacher who used to work with our eldest. At 9:30pm she came rushing over to stay with our girls who were asleep so my husband could race to the hospital.

He walked into the operating room as I was going under and he was able to be there to hold our son first thing.

The story didn't end there. I later learned I'd nearly died in giving birth as I'd developed HELLP Syndrome. A high blood pressure condition that also includes low platelets. They had to transfuse me on the operating table or I would have bled out before they could get to the baby.

My recovery and my son's was a long road that I still carry some trauma from. Yet in the end, this was also one of the best days of my life!

Because I now have this healthy, happy, and hyper little man I get to love and share smiles with every day. This was also the experience which unlocked a deeper level of my intuition and started me on the path to my purpose.

So , if you've read this far I want to share with you an invitation along with a challenge.

The invitation is to join me this Friday at 5pm PST in my private Facebook community Dawn of Your Dreams for a free tarot reading! It's one of the greatest honors I have, after being a mommy to three amazing souls and married to my personal prince charming, to share this gift of reading intuitively and empathically with others.

Please do come and let me share this gift with you to honor the full moon!

I'd also like to challenge you this weekend. As we release what no longer serves us and prepare for new prospects ahead with the changing of the seasons.

How can you view your worst days in a different way? Did you gain precious gifts from them? Did they prepare you for something better in your life? How did they help you grow and transcend the person you were before?

Truly, thank you for reading this story and sharing this journey with me. You help make my worst days so much better by being a part of this movement I'm working on.

To Your Dreams,

~Elizabeth Watson