I am not quite sure why it has taken me so long to get Amelia's birth
story written, yet here I am one year to the day later, finally telling
her story. This is gonna be a long one, so settle in and here we go!
If
you couldn't tell by my last letter to Amelia, I was pretty convinced I
would go over my due date and she would never come out and play.
Throughout my pregnancy, I never experienced Braxton Hick's or anything
remotely resembling labor (not even during my hospital stay after the
car accident when the monitor clearly showed me contracting!) so I
wasn't prepared at all for what to expect the pain to feel like. I
clearly remember being OVER the pregnancy and uncomfortable to boot.
Saturday, February 22nd- My
sister-in-law, Ashley, and her boys were in town for the week to
celebrate her youngest, Noah's, first birthday. Being under-prepared as
always (just during pregnancy, usually I'm on the ball!), Saturday
rolled around and we still hadn't purchased Noah's gift for his party
that evening. Since becoming pregnant, we usually started our weekends
off pretty lazy with me sleeping in and Brandon messing around on the
computer for a while; this Saturday was no different. I finally rolled
out of bed around 11, still exhausted, and decided to jump in the shower
and start the day. After I finished, I threw on my robe and headed to
the couch (again, pregnancy exhaustion).
I remember
sitting down and feeling some fluid leak on to my robe and I honestly
thought I had wet myself a bit. Totally crazy as I had just gone to the
bathroom and hadn't experienced anything like this during the previous 9
months, but hey, the end was near and I probably peed my pants. I text
Ashley around 11:30am asking her if anything like this has happened to
her and she assured me that it was completely normal. After heading to
the bathroom again, doing the pregnancy wiggle to empty my bladder
completely, I threw on some clean clothes and headed to the basement to
see when Brandon wanted to leave for the store.
Once in
the basement, I had just sat down when I felt a bit of fluid leak
again. More than a little annoyed with my stupid bladder, I headed back
upstairs and decided maybe I should call the doctor to see if this
really was normal. I dialed the on-call nurse line around 12:00pm and
she encouraged me to put on a pad, walk around for 2 hours and call her
back if I experienced any more leaking. She explained that this was all
normal and to relax. In the movies, when the pregnant chicks water
breaks, there's a gush of fluid everywhere and she knows what it is. It
never crossed my mind that I had a "slow leak" and was in the beginning
stages of labor.
I did as the nurse instructed and
messed around the house, did a few loads of laundry and started getting
antsy that we would be late for Noah's party. Around 1:30pm, with no
more signs fluid leaks, I suggested Brandon and I head in to town to
shop for the birthday boy. It was a quick drive to the store and I
still hadn't said anything to the hubs about my pants wetting episodes.
Stepping out of the car, I felt another gush of fluid in my nether
regions and fessed up to Brandon about what was happening. He also
assured me that I was probably peeing myself and everything was fine,
but I decided to call the nurse line again with these updates.
After
a brief conversation, the nurse advised me to come in to be checked for
amniotic fluid leakage. She didn't make it sound like a big deal but
it meant we would miss most of Noah's party. We headed to the birthday
party to drop off our gift and on the way, I made Brandon drive through
Arby's as I was starving and knew we would miss the food at dinner.
Brandon isn't a huge Arby's fan, so he held out until we got to
Louisville and stopped at Subway.
We finally made it to
Brandon's parents house for the party around 3:00pm. I dreaded telling
his family that we had to leave because I may or may not be peeing my
pants as a grown woman. Brandon and I were more than a little bummed
that we wouldn't get to hang around and play with our nephews, but his
sister was completely understanding and hopeful that I was in labor.
Mike, Brandon's dad, convinced us (Okay, convinced Brandon. Let's face
it, I was pretty sure this wasn't pee by this point!) that we needed to
take this seriously and head home to grab our hospital stuff just in
case. By the time we went home, grabbed our stuff, let the dogs out and
made it to the hospital, it was already 5:00pm.
Although
he didn't say it, I know Brandon really thought I was peeing my pants
because he didn't bring any of our stuff inside with us except his
iPad. The hospital was quiet and we were lead right back into a
birthing room. The nurse explained that we wouldn't get checked in
until they were sure I was in active labor and instructed me to put on a
gown. I hadn't felt any more fluid leakage since 2:00pm and was
starting to lose hope that it was amniotic fluid and not urine. As soon
as I laid on the bed, another huge gush of fluid (the biggest yet!)
came and the nurse knew immediately that my water had in fact broke! It
was a completely validating and I loved telling Brandon, "See! I
didn't wet myself! Go get our stuff!"
Because I didn't
know exactly how long I had been leaking and I was only dilated 3cm,
they put me on Petocin and had me start walking the halls. I am
terrified of needles, but I don't remember getting the IV and I didn't
pass out from it, which is a huge plus. Looking back, I was totally
under-prepared in the shoe department (mental note for next time!).
Poor Brandon had on uncomfortable dress shoes and I just had slippers. I
still give him grief because he made his discomfort known to everyone
(he didn't want to walk with me!) when I was the one about to give
birth!
My contractions weren't strong, long or causing
me discomfort, so the nurses upped my Petocin pretty frequently. Being
completely naive, I thought they would continue being a piece of cake
and didn't know what all the fuss was about. We walked miles around the
hospital, or so it felt like, before the waves of massive pain hit me.
I remember it was almost 10pm when I literally couldn't take it
anymore. I felt like I was being stabbed in the gut, over and over, and
I couldn't breathe. At my last check, I was only at 4cm and couldn't
possibly see how I would make it to 10cm. When the next contraction
hit, I crumpled in a ball on the floor (not an exaggeration) and begged
for my epidural. Yup... I was that lady. Drugs, gimme all the drugs!
Thank you modern medicine!
Brandon found the nurse (I
think?) and she called the anesthesiologist. He finally made it in the
room about 11pm... Seriously, the longest hour of my life! I don't
remember much about the procedure other than him insisting I be still
every time a contraction hit and wanting to turn around and throat punch
him. He finally got the line placed, except it didn't take... I could
still feel everything! What the crap?! In the classes, they never
said anything about an epidural NOT taking and I was panicking
Sunday, February 23- Thankfully,
after a second attempt, the line was placed correctly and they started
my drip. I don't remember exactly how everything came about, but I
could still feel my contractions and move my legs, so they ended up
calling the anesthesiologist back shortly after midnight. Over the
course of the next hour, he upped the dosage on my epidural until I
couldn't feel the contractions anymore but never fully lost feeling in
my legs. It was explained that I metabolize whatever medications they
use faster than average but I didn't pay much attention as the relief
from the contractions was like heaven. By this point, it was after 1:00
am and I was exhausted. In the back of my mind, I was super excited
that Amelia held off and would be born on 2-23, our 6 month wedding
anniversary! Yup, I'm also one of those ladies who got pregnant out of
wedlock!
By 2:00 am, I was dilated to 9.5 cm and the
nurse explained it would probably be time to push soon. Apparently
there was the smallest piece of my cervix still covering and she
couldn't get it to move, so she called in another nurse to assist her.
Did I mention that I had the greatest bunch of nurses ever?! I
seriously cannot imagine how my birthing process would have gone without
them. Kuddo's to those ladies for putting this first time mom at
ease! Anyways, this "miracle" nurse came in was able to get me to a
full 10 cm and instructed me to do a practice push on my next
contraction. My first attempt at "pushing" was comical at best (this
is also normal? yes?) and the miracle nurse literally had to SHOW me
(complete with grunting and red face) how to push correctly. See what I
mean? I had amazing nurses!
They aren't kidding when
they say your body knows when it is time to push. Everything clicked
after that first practice push, and with my next contraction, there was
so much pressure down below that I thought Amelia was just going to fall
out! One more push after that and I was instructed to STOP and they
had to call my doctor as Amelia's head was right there! This was at
2:30 am and I think about 5 minutes passed before I told the nurses that
I literally could not stop from pushing again. Both nurses agreed that
it was okay to push a little to keep her head in position but not to
give it my all. How do you tell a woman in active labor NOT to push?
Somehow, I managed and my doctor was there by 2:45am.
When
I say she came in like a warm summer breeze, I'm not joking. She was
all smiles and light humor and catching up with the nurses on the nights
events. I was literally in shock by her nonchalant demeanor as she put
on her gear and it felt like I was watching this all happen from
above. Mid-sentence, she claps her hands and said "it's go time!"
Brandon's response was "Seriously?" And I think she relied "Yup, it's
not like in the movies!" while laughing. Also... I had the best doctor
ever!
With the next contraction she told me to push
with all I've got as I would get to meet our baby soon! I pushed and
all I remember is my doctor shouting "STOP PUSHING!" as Amelia's arm
popped out from below. Yes... my crazy daughter had to throw us for a
loop and try to come out arm first. As I panicked internally, the
doctor managed to do some fancy handwork and got Amelia positioned to
come out correctly all in a matter of a minute! I was told to push
again with the next contraction... and Amelia Grace Koch was born at
2:57 am on February 23, 2014. Her warm, squishy body was placed
immediately on my chest and it was wonder, awe, amazement and pure joy
all wrapped into one!
I'm not sure how long she had
skin-to-skin contact before the nurses took her away to wipe her down
and get her measurements. I think I barked at Brandon to grab the
camera because we actually have pictures of this happening! She weighed
7 lbs 9 oz and was 20 inches long. I also remember asking if she had
10 fingers and 10 toes because that's what they do in the movies and I
thought the doctor would just tell me that. Amelia was perfect, healthy
and very alert.
I'll be honest when I say I had no set
birth plan. I knew I wanted drugs and I knew I wanted my baby, however
that would happen was in God's hands. There isn't a single thing that I
would change about how that day played out or how Amelia entered this
crazy world. Looking back a year later, my life really began when hers
did!
