Madsen

BAKER CITY — Sierra Howerton-Lovell’s daughter was in a hurry to be born.

And her son didn’t exactly loiter before making his appearance.

Howerton-Lovell can laugh about her impatient children, both of whom were born at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Baker City.

Boone, her son, was born on July 14, 2021, and his sister, Calgaree, on Sept. 10, 2022.

But the 28-year-old Baker City woman finds nothing amusing about the pending arrival of her third child, who is due on Feb. 13.

“I’m terrified,” Howerton-Lovell said.

The reason is simple.

Unlike when she was expecting Boone and Calgaree, the delivery room isn’t a couple blocks away. Saint Alphonsus Health System closed the birth center at the Baker City hospital on Aug. 26.

The nearest maternity ward is at Grande Ronde Hospital in La Grande, a 45-minute drive.

When Interstate 84 is open and not slathered in snow.

“What happens if I’m on my way to La Grande and I have this baby, and the road is closed?” Howerton-Lovell said. “What if there are complications? That’s what terrifies me.”

Preparing for the unpredictable

Howerton-Lovell’s trepidation has quite a lot to do with her first two pregnancies — particularly Calgaree’s birth in 2022.

Both babies were born at 38 weeks, or about two weeks early.

(Babies born at 39 weeks are considered full-term.)

And both Boone, at 4 pounds, 10 ounces, and Calgaree, at 5 pounds, 4 ounces, weighed less than typical newborns.

Boone was born about four hours after Howerton-Lovell arrived at Saint Alphonsus. That’s a shorter labor than is typical, particularly for a first child.

But Boone was a laggard compared with his sister.

Howerton-Lovell said she was feeling “off” on the evening of Sept. 10, 2022, but she attributed that to being near the end of her pregnancy.

But she had no contractions.

She took a bath and was feeding Boone a bottle when she felt a pain in her stomach.

She told her husband, Garrett Lovell. Almost immediately, her water broke.

She hastily dressed and Lovell drove her to the hospital. She arrived, she recalls, at 8:07 p.m.

Calgaree was in her arms 19 minutes later.

Both Calgaree and Boone were healthy despite their birthweights.

But Howerton-Lovell worries about what might happen this winter. She said doctors told her that based on her history, the odds are higher than usual that her third child will also be born early.

At the suggestion of Dr. Nathan Defrees, of St. Luke’s Clinic-Eastern Oregon Medical Associates, who was her physician for her two previous pregnancies, Howerton-Lovell said she plans to give birth at Grande Ronde Hospital.

Her doctor there suggested scheduling an induced birth at 37 weeks.

Howerton-Lovell is reluctant to do so, although she understands the goal, which is to reduce the risk that she’ll go into labor while at home.

Considering how small Boone and Calgaree were at 38 weeks, she worries about how tiny her third child might be with a week less gestation.

Howerton-Lovell said her doctor in La Grande also suggested she consider staying there for at least a few weeks prior to her inducement date.

But Howerton-Lovell said she probably can’t afford to do that. She said it’s possible that her coverage under the Oregon Health Plan would pay for some lodging expenses, however.

Regardless of what she decides, Howerton-Lovell said her third pregnancy has been quite different — and more stressful — than her first two.

She said she learned she was pregnant on June 1, about three weeks before Saint Alphonsus officials announced that the birth center would close.

‘Heartbroken’

Megan Madsen was looking forward to having her third child at Saint Alphonsus in Baker City.

Her first two children were born before she moved here about nine years ago.

When Madsen learned she was pregnant in late May, she chose Dr. Neil Carroll, of St. Luke’s Clinic-Eastern Oregon Medical Associates, as her obstetrician.

“In my mind it was going to be super easy,” Madsen said.

Then she heard that the birth center was closing.

“I was really heartbroken,” Madsen said. “That’s a service we need in Baker.”

Because her second child was delivered by Caesarean, Madsen said her next delivery — her due date is Jan. 16 — will be by the same method.

She’s also considered a high-risk pregnancy due to her age, 39.

Because she’s more concerned about the freeway being closed between Baker City and La Grande, Madsen chosen instead to deliver at a birth center in Meridian, Idaho.

She still worries, though, about the weather.

“I don’t want to be stuck in Baker with a snowstorm and going into labor,” Madsen said.

If the weather forecast is threatening for the week leading to her due date, and presuming she hasn’t gone into labor, Madsen said she will consider finding lodging in Meridian so she will be close the birth center.

That would be an expensive hassle, she said, “but I want to be safe.”

Needing to decide

Tori Winters-Chamblee knew about the pending closure of the birth center at the Baker City hospital but it had no immediate effect on her.

Then she learned she was pregnant.

It was early August and Winters-Chamblee, 24, was four months into her pregnancy.

Knowing she would have to arrange to deliver her second child somewhere other than Baker City was, she said, “overwhelming.”

Winters-Chamblee’s first pregnancy was “smooth and easy,” she said

But her son, Noah, who’s 4, arrived relatively quickly, just several hours after she got to the hospital.

With a due date of Feb. 26, Winters-Chamblee, in common with the other mothers, worries about weather.

“It’s a huge concern,” she said. “What if I give birth in my car?”

Winters-Chamblee said she initially planned to give birth at Grande Ronde Hospital.

But she had problems with prenatal appointments, and now she’s not sure. She doesn’t know anything about other hospitals in the region, though, such as Ontario or the Boise area.

Winters-Chamblee knows, though, that she will need to decide soon.

“There’s definitely a lot of anxiety,” she said.

Wherever she decides to give birth, Winters-Chamblee said she has considered the possibility of temporarily living near the hospital to reduce the chances of going into labor during a winter storm or, worse still, when the freeway is closed.

“That’s definitely a financial issue,” she said.

She would also need to arrange to make sure someone is staying with Noah.

Moreover, she would face the conundrum of either staying by herself near the hospital — her boyfriend, Cainen Phillips, would have to stay in Baker City to work — and potentially facing labor alone, or staying in Baker City and risking a panicked drive to a hospital.

Winters-Chamblee said she appreciates the support from groups on social media, including other local mothers who are dealing with similar situations.

But the pressing decisions she has to make, and the fear about what might happen, have made her second pregnancy much more stressful — mentally more so than physically.

“It’s just so hard,” she said.

“There’s definitely a lot of anxiety.”

— Tori Winters-Chamblee, Baker City woman who is expecting her second child in February 2024