Hey guys, it's Jason, or better known here as "Coach."
It's not too often that Michelyn allows me to take over her blog, but today I am. Michelyn has been blogging for a few years now and frequently runs blog posts by me before writing them. During her pregnancy, she mentioned how other bloggers typically share their birth story with their followers. After some thought, I asked Michelyn if she would let me write Violet's birth story, from my perspective, the sidelines!
Here goes nothing!
I heard it so many times from Michelyn…Saturday we would go
to Columbus to pick up her mother, Mom Darlene, and then she would deliver our daughter
shortly thereafter. For those that know
my wife (the ultimate planner) that meant that we would go to Columbus, pick up
my mother-in-law, shop for a while, drive straight back to the hospital in
Athens and have the baby. She was
absolutely certain this would happen.
Thursday, June 12th, 2015
2:20pm
The predicted date of delivery was the topic of conversation
at our Thursday check-up. As Michelyn
explained our timeline to the doctor, we both searched for validation that this
would be how it played out. At the
beginning of the appointment the doctor examined and explained that the baby
was 90-95% effaced. A 10%
increase from the week before. When Michelyn asked how long it would take
before labor is eminent, the doctor explained that it wouldn’t be long. Michelyn said: “So, like through the
weekend?” The doctor shrugged her
shoulders as if to say not a chance…you are ready!
I still had thoughts of the stories of my colleagues who had
been told that their wives would go into labor a few weeks early, only to wait
a week or so after the due date. I
decided to be optimistic and listen to the doctor’s recommendation as well as
the intuition of my wife, “the ultimate planner.”
Saturday, June 13th, 2015
Mom Darlene’s flight was to arrive in Columbus around
2:00pm. She was arriving from a flight from
London. When we picked her up, she was
exhausted from all the hard work of the previous few days. We ultimately decided to push our reservations
at Cooper’s Hawk Winery up to 4:00pm so we could return home so that everyone
could get some much needed rest. Our
quick shopping included a stop at Janie and Jack (for more baby clothes) and
Nordstrom's (so that I could get a shirt for our family newborn pictures).
As we walked Easton Mall, I was lured into
The Apple Store by the shiny new apple watches at the front of the store. In very convincing fashion, I was able to
convince Michelyn and Mom Darlene that having this watch is essential for a
basketball coach. Unfortunately they did
not have the watch I wanted in stock and we headed home to Athens. (I did get the watch a few weeks later!)
As the night approached, Michelyn and I decided to try a
method that we heard about from our sister-in-law, Nicole, which is claimed to bring on labor. She informed us to massage between the ankle/calf area of
each leg. We tried this for about 30
minutes thinking of it as some old midwife folklore, which would not work. By 10:00pm we were both fast asleep after
a long and productive day.
Sunday, June 14th, 2015
12:00am-4:00am
I was awakened to wrestling to my right. It was Michelyn, saying that she could not
get comfortable no matter what she tried.
She had been having contractions on and off for the last few months of
the pregnancy, but these seemed different.
She was also experiencing serious back pain. By 3:00am, she could no longer lay down and
asked if we could move to the “Man Cave” (aka tv room downstairs).
As any man would attest, this request at
three in the morning with a pregnant wife only had one answer, but as always,
there was a silent follow up statement…
"This better be real” (I said this to myself lol!)
By the time we set up shop downstairs
Michelyn’s pain had intensified, but was offset by the odd chores she was
accomplishing at warp speed (laundry, dishes, etc.). Michelyn had the nerve to request we go to the grocery store at 3:00am
– only my wife!
By 3:30am the decision was made to wake Mom Darlene as
we believed that this was it! Mom
Darlene suggested we go to the hospital, so we gathered our things and headed
to O’Bleness Hospital, just as Michelyn had predicted days before.
4:00am
Michelyn was admitted into triage for monitoring to
determine if we were ready to deliver a baby, or if it was a false alarm. The nurse measured Michelyn at 1 centimeter
which is nowhere near ready to go. We
were both a little disappointed but were told to stay for an hour to see how
quickly we would progress. An hour later and the pain was unbearable.
Another measurement….
The nurses determined that Michelyn was somewhere between 1-2 centimeters. At this point,
the staff gave us two options. One, we could stay in triage and continue to be
monitored. Or, we could return home to labor there. Michelyn decided to return
home as she was unable to walk about the hospital floor to work through the
contractions.
On the way home, Michelyn announced that she was craving a decaf
iced coffee from an Athens original, Donkey Coffee. As I pulled into a parallel spot, Michelyn
began crying and then stated that she had to use the restroom! I was told in a panicked tone of voice to put
the pedal down and forget the coffee. LoL.
7:00am
We arrived home and Mom Darlene was up and ready for the
day. Michelyn, on the other hand, was
experiencing excruciating pain again, and at 8:00am, I made the trip to Walmart
to exchange the electric heating pad. See, the electric heating pad decided to
stop working the day Michelyn went into labor – go figure! I arrived at Walmart
only to find that exchanges/returns are only allowed during regular working
hours and not during the night shift. I
explained the predicament to the staff and they kindly decided to do the
exchange. As you could probably imagine, it took the manager about 20 minutes
to get to the front. I made the exchange
and returned to the house.
When I returned home, we learned that that the new heating
pad did not work either! Needless to say, it has now been returned
10:00am – 1:00pm
By 10:00 in the morning, we had seen some of the signs we
learned about in birthing class that made us believe that this was DEFINITELY
the real thing. We called the doctor
and we were instructed to come back to the hospital immediately.
Michelyn was again checked into triage at 10:30am and was
checked to be between 1-2 centimeters…again.
We waited an hour.
The same nurse checked again and got the same result. At this point, we were really getting
frustrated. Michelyn’s pain was only increasing and to think that she was not dilating
was frustrating.
Right when we thought we would return home…
A more experienced nurse decided to check it out and
immediately stated that Michelyn was well beyond 4 centimeters. She announced that
it was time to admit us into the labor and delivery room! I called Mom Darlene
and told here to head over to the hospital.
1:00pm – 4:30pm
We spent a considerable amount of this time monitoring
Michelyn’s contractions as the baby moved down the birth canal. As they became
more intense, long, and frequent, the basketball coach in me allowed to quickly strategize how to support Michelyn through the intense contractions…
Instead of
counting for longer than 10 seconds, I counted 10 seconds really slow. REALLY SLOW. Her contractions were more like 20-30 seconds.
This allowed Michelyn to focus on the numbers and not the duration of
the contraction.
By the way, Michelyn
doesn’t know this so don’t tell!!!
At around 2:00pm, Michelyn had
reached a measurement of seven centimeters, a very impressive accomplishment
considering most mothers in labor desire an epidural long before that. After waiting for the anesthesiologist for
about 30 minutes, patience for all of us started to run thin.
Leading up to the delivery, Michelyn consulted with the
anesthesiologist to put together a plan in the event she would need an
epidural…when the ultimate planner is ready to tap out, the doctor MUST be
ready!
Mom Darlene politely inquired with the nurses
to see if the anesthesiologist went on lunch break since it was taking so long and Michelyn's contractions were VERY intense!
Michelyn was up to her eyeballs in pain and
had her only major “freak out moment” of the delivery. She looked toward the door and yelled “ where
is the f*#kin’ anesthesiologist!?!?
I
knew that it would not be a good idea to laugh out loud, but I couldn’t help
but to giggle as the anesthesiologist moseyed in and proceeded to ask Michelyn
a final test’s worth of questions.
Eventually, Michelyn got her epidural, a little later than she would have liked. Once the epidural was placed, Michelyn measured at 8 centimeters and things progressed uneventfully since she was no longer in any pain.
4:00pm - 5:28pm
By 4:00pm, Michelyn had reached 9 centimeters and the
doctor made his way over to the hospital.
It was just about time to push.
At 4:58pm the delivering doctor instructed Michelyn and I coached her on
her pushing and relaxing. About 15
minutes later I saw my daughter’s head for the first time.
A couple intense pushes and they pulled her
out, at 5:28pm.
I gave Michelyn the
honor of telling the world our baby’s name.
Violet Catharina Kemp.
Violet Catharina Kemp.
For so
many years, it’s been just Michelyn and I.
My first instinct was to make sure my wife was ok. I stood right by her side in excitement. It hit me when the nurse said, “Dad, do you
want to see your baby?” I moved over by
the table and was by Violet’s side to hear her first cry. I immediately realized that I was now a
husband, father, protector, and hero.
She was born at six pounds and 13 ounces and 21 inches long.
I waited a long time to be a dad. Oftentimes I wondered what the big deal was
when my friends who had kids immediately following college would brag about their little
ones. As I raced through my twenties I
wondered when my time was coming. Now
that it’s here, I have experienced all of the emotions that being a father can
bring. Of all of them, the strongest
would be how much I care for my little girl.
Here’s to Little Miss Violet!
Shout out to Mommy Michelyn for an awesome experience with
carrying and delivering our first child…and for predicting the exact time
Violet would be born…Well, almost.
Coach Kemp
What a beautiful story. Michelyn and Violet are blessed to have you as a protector and hero!
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