The Destination Birth

By Alexander Bisset

Everyone has their own unique birth story. It is a pivotal moment in life that changes the course of a family's future. For Alex and Lauren, their own birth story would begin a grand adventure that would present its own twist of fate thousands of miles from home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bubba Books
• Release date: Jun 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9798988374213

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Edited by Elizabeth Dougherty | bestbookeditor.com

Front and back cover design by Robin Locke Monda

Interior book design by KUHN Design Group | kuhndesigngroup.com

Copyright © 2023 by Alex Bisset

First published in the United States of America by Bubba Books, an imprint of Bubba Books, LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author. Thank you for supporting the author’s rights.

ISBN (Paperback): 979-8-9883742-0-6

ISBN (Hardcover): 979-8-9883742-2-0

ISBN (eBook): 979-8-9883742-1-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023909144

First edition 2023.

www.thedestinationbirth.com

To our daughter who set this grand adventure into motion:

Be strong, when you are weak.

Be brave, when you are scared.

Be humble, when you are victorious.

Be badass, every day.

We will always be there for you, and we love you.

Author’s Note

I’ll be the first one to admit, my long-term memory isn’t what it used to be. Maybe it has to do with my markets-based job in finance where I’m processing a ton of short-term information all day long, or maybe it’s just something happening to me as I age. I’m only telling you because this story is something that is so impressed upon my mind, so deeply ingrained, I remember it vividly like it was yesterday. And I will never ever forget it.

In the weeks leading up to the following events, I remember thinking to myself that I’d been reading so many books that were informational in nature, but what I didn’t find much of were books about actual birth stories. Think of all the millions and billions of birth stories that have taken place over the course of human history. Some may be too tragic to share, some relatively mundane, and some just plain crazy. None of them are boring though. How could they be? It’s the birth of your child! I’m sure you’ve heard one or two over your lifetime, the classic of which is Did you hear about that baby who was born on a plane? Can you imagine what epic stories the cavemen told each other? Hey, did you hear about the baby that was eaten by a T-Rex?

There are so many stories to be shared. Yes, ours was scary and wild at the time. But in retrospect, it’s a story that when we started sharing it, others felt compelled to divulge their own, and together we all learned something new and became closer. As I’ve retold pieces of this story to family and friends, many have commented I should put pen to paper and write a book. Well, here we go.

Prologue

Ah, the miracle of life. I don’t think there’s anything that can really prepare you for this moment. I remember hearing fresh babies looked a bit Aliens-esque, but, wow, is it weird when you see a newborn for the first time. You can’t quite tell if they are purple, red, or blue, and they are covered with all kinds of fluids and unidentifiable material. And then there’s that rope of life, the umbilical cord, hanging down that really does make it feel like a sci-fi movie. That’s on top of all the machines, tubes, wires, and scrubs in a sterile operating room. But then a nurse raises your offspring up in the air in what feels like a scene straight out of The Lion King when Simba is hoisted up on the cliff for all to see. A nd you hear that sound. The first cry to announce their entrance into the world.

That soul-piercing testament to life shakes you to your very core and automatically imprints on you as a parent. Your brain compels you to think, I will love you. I will protect you. I will not let anything happen to you.

There she was. All of 5 pounds 11 ounces. My daughter had just been born on Monday May 23, 2022, at 6:10 pm. The only catch was it was Mountain time, and we were at the Bozeman-Deaconess hospital in Bozeman, Montana—2,157 miles from our home.

Chapter 1

Let’s rewind a little bit. My wife, Lauren, and I live in New York City. We were married September 12, 2020, during the heart of the pandemic. Sure, that had its own trials and tribulations, but that’s a story for another time. My point in telling you this is twofold. First, we weren’t going to let a pandemic stop us from getting married. Second, we wanted to start a family. We had many long discussions before the wedding about when we wanted to have kids. We decided to wait until after the wedding to start trying. As with many couples, it didn’t happen immediately. It’s a process, especially as you get older. (I was 34 years old, and Lauren was 35 years old when we got married.) That’s okay though because we were excited nonetheless and ready to have a child together.

Roughly 34 weeks prior to our Montana trip, in the fall of 2021, we awoke to our alarms at 5 am to begin our normal routine. This consists of me crawling out of bed, sitting at our kitchen island in our apartment, and letting my eyes adjust to the natural light of early morning, while in the other room Lauren turns on all the lights that I can’t handle, and we prepare for our morning workouts before going to the office. Lauren and I both work in finance, and we met through our respective careers.

We had been trying to conceive for months at this point, and as I stumbled out of the room to begin my day, Lauren exclaimed, Alex, come look at this!

I assumed by her excited tone that some good news was about to be shared, but when she walked over to me in our still dark room and showed me the pregnancy test, all I could see is what looked like a negative sign, to which I replied uncomprehendingly, Uh, what am I looking at here? I mean, what guy hasn’t heard that pregnancy tests can be confusing and not straightforward? Lauren practically ripped my arm out of its socket pulling me into the faint glow of the bathroom light, where I realized the negative line was actually the word PREGNANT in block letters that had looked like an unbroken line in the dark. Well, I guess that’s pretty straightforward, I thought.

Holy crap! We’re pregnant! I yelped and wrapped up Lauren in a huge bear hug. Lots of parents-to-be share this moment. For some, it can be anxiety inducing, and for others it can be quite the surprise. Well, we couldn’t contain our excitement and were practically dancing around the apartment. We were ready for this. And while we were certainly nervous about all of the unknowns to come, step one was done. We were going to have a baby.

Chapter 2

There are a couple of things you need to know about my wife, Lauren. The first is she’s a total badass. She played ice hockey at the Division 1 collegiate level and was co-captain of her team at Brown University. Calling her competitive is an understatement. Am I afraid to get on the ice with her? Yes. Have I been cross-checked into the boards on said ice? Also, yes. But off the ice, she is the nicest, most selfless person in the world.

She’s also a planner. Lauren is super organized and was