Birth Story

Well McKenna's birth did NOT go how I would have guessed.  It was so completely different from when Jake was born, but it turned out great in the end.  She is here and safe, and we both survived!

If you don't want the gory details, just look at the pictures :)

Holding McKenna for the first time

McKenna's first picture with mom and dad

The morning of September 30th, I had a regular, weekly OB follow-up appointment.  I dropped off Jake at my friend Michelle's house so he could play with her and her kids instead of crying through another doctor's visit.  My OB asked if I wanted her to strip my membranes, and I was feeling pretty miserable and ready to get it all over with, so I readily agreed.

After my appointment, I went to hang out with Michelle and pick up Jake. I was starting to feel a little crampy, and I told my friend that I thought I was having contractions, but it is so hard to tell!  However, after letting the kids play for about an hour, I noticed on my drive home that I was pretty crampy for about a minute every 5 minutes.  Contractions?!?!

I called Andrew, who was sure this was "the real deal" and came right home.  Then I called my sister, who lives about an hour away, to tell her I thought it might be the day.  She left work and I started to pack my hospital bag (still not completely convinced).  By time we were ready to leave, my contractions were very consistently 5 minutes apart lasting 30 seconds to a minute, and they were starting to really hurt.  I was to the point where I had to stop and lean on something until they were over.  My friend April and her little boy came over to watch Jake the last 20 minutes or so before my sister arrived, and we were off!

Such a sweet big brother!  Jake giving McKenna kisses

Andrew with both kids!

A huge fear of mine with both McKenna and Jake was that I'd go to the hospital thinking it was the real thing and be sent home.

Sure enough, after monitoring me for an hour, I was sent home!  I was seriously SO bummed, especially because my sister had left work to come watch Jake, and I had been so nervous and excited.  Also, I was pretty worried that I wouldn't know when to come in next.  I felt like it was the real thing, and I kept asking the resident and the nurses how I would know when to come back.  I told them that right then, I'd come back again!  They said, "don't worry, you'll know."  So off we went.

Before heading home, Andrew needed to pick up some papers from his office about 1/2 mile away from the hospital.  Because of how Ohio State is laid out, you can't park much closer to his building than the hospital parking lot, so we decided to walk.  I was still having contractions, so Andrew downloaded an app on his phone to count and time them.  Sure enough, every 5 minutes I was having a painful contraction for a full minute.  Some of them I was able to walk through, but some of them we'd have to stop or slow down for.

McKenna and Aunt Kim

McKenna and Uncle Darrell

We weren't walking particularly fast, so it took quite awhile to make it that 1/2 mile.  Once in the building, we talked to a couple of people Andrew works with and grabbed his papers.  He also showed me his office and we stopped by to chat with his advisor.  I remember standing in his advisor's office having really painful contractions, but not wanting to embarrass my husband, I did my best to conceal how much they were hurting.

We left the statistics building and began the trek back to the car, and the contractions started to get even closer.  They were now every 3 minutes lasting at least 60 seconds, and I was leaning over in pain every time.  My back was KILLING me, so I had Andrew push hard on it to counter the pain.  I'm sure we looked ridiculous to all the OSU students.  This isn't BYU where pregnant people on campus is normal!

With my mom the night she was born

We made it to about 0.15 miles away from where we were parked and found a bench.  I told Andrew I didn't think I could make it to the car, so he headed to the parking garage and came to pick me up.  The bench I chose happened to be right outside a little restaurant on campus, and it happened to be dinner time.  I was gripping that bench during some of the contractions, and as much as I tried to conceal the pain, I'm sure I was making quite the faces.  How embarrassing!!

A few minutes later, Andrew pulled up and called for me.  The bench was situated so my back was to the street, and I was in the middle of a painful contraction, so I held up a finger to tell him just a second.  The contraction finished, and I hobbled to the car.  As I walked away, 2 guys who were about 20 looked at each other with wide eyes.  I heard the one say to the other, "dude, that lady is having a baby TONIGHT."  I chuckled and hoped he was right!!

I got in the car and we started driving home.  Andrew had promised a fun dinner out to console me from getting sent away from the hospital, but when we were about 3 minutes from our apartment, I told him I probably wouldn't enjoy dinner because I was in too much pain.  I told him I actually didn't know if I'd be able to make it up the stairs at this point.  He asked if I wanted to go back to the hospital.  Really, I was embarrassed from being sent home earlier, so I didn't want to, but I also didn't want to be the lady who didn't know when to go in and had her baby in a restaurant booth!  I decided we'd better go back in just to be safe.  However, I had gotten really excited about that burger he had promised, so we had to take a route that would lead us past a Wendy's.  I got my junior bacon cheeseburger and frosty, and we sat in the parking lot to eat- I'm pretty sure that was my first fast food burger the entire pregnancy, and it was good, despite the contractions!

So lucky to have such a great dad!

We finished making our way to the hospital, and I knew I couldn't walk all the way from the parking garage to labor and delivery, so we left the car at the curb right outside the main entrance.  Andrew hurried me up in a wheelchair and scurried back down to go park the car after a quick kiss (the valet parking had stopped about an hour before).  It was pretty funny because the whole waiting room said "awe" at once.  We didn't know we had an audience!  I registered and they had me sit in the waiting room for what felt like forever, although it was probably only 20 minutes. Andrew came running back to the waiting room out of breath, saying the elevator had taken too long, so he ran up all 6 flights of steps after his sprint to the building from the car.  Again, the waiting room audience thought it was too cute.  I really am lucky to have such a sweet husband!

After the waiting room, I was wheeled into a room where they checked to see if I had made any progress.  Sure enough, I was dilated to a 7!  The nurse even called me a rock star :)  My first question (of course) was if I could still get an epidural.  They laughed and said, "of course."

I was wheeled on a bed into a room full of frantic people getting everything situated.  I was looking around trying to figure out which of the many people was the anesthesiologist.  Nurses were hooking up monitors and getting the equipment ready for the doctor and trying to get my IV in place between contractions- which by this point were downright painful.

Great Grandma Coy

Great Grandpa Coy

I played tennis in high school and always wished I had an awesome grunt with each stroke like the pros.  I never got that grunt down during my tennis days, but I'm pretty sure I could have scared off any opponents with the grunts coming out of my mouth during the next few minutes.  The contractions had gotten SO much worse, and I was doing everything I could to not make such strange noises (which I couldn't control!), and I was trying hard to not to throw up with the pain.  Andrew was pushing on my back as hard as he could to try to counter the intense back pain I was feeling.  That helped, but I was still hurting.  Natural child-birth is not for the faint of heart!

She is seriously SO sweet!

I kept looking around for the anesthesiologist, but he wasn't showing up!  Then the pain changed and I knew it was time to push.  I told the nurses I had to push, so in the midst of trying to get my IV in place and the room ready, one of them checked, and sure enough I was dialted to a 10!  I was SO lucky that my doctor happened to be there, so she rushed in and got all ready.  She broke my water, and sure enough, 4 pushes later our beautiful little girl was here!  The nurses couldn't believe how fast it had all happened and figured out that I had only made it to the room 23 minutes prior to baby's arrival.  My doctor kept saying how round her head was, because as of a few hours earlier, she hadn't really "dropped" yet.  I was just glad to have it over with!

The 30 minutes after she was born were pretty rough, too.  I hadn't realized how much an epidural helped with the stitches- yikes!  Luckily my doctor was really calm and patient, and after some numbing shots, it wasn't quite as bad.  All I kept thinking was "never again!!!"

I was definitely not prepared to have a baby naturally, but it turned out fine.  Would I do it again?  NO WAY!  I'm just glad that I thought up until the very last second that an epidural was coming, so I never really had time to freak out too much.  I also noticed the resident who had sent me home just a couple hours earlier peeking sheepishly in the room.  I could tell he felt bad, but it really wasn't his fault.  I hadn't progressed during the hour I was there earlier in the day, but man did it go fast after that!  Since then, Andrew told his advisor that our baby was born so soon after we left his office and has teased me that I traded my epidural for a junior bacon cheeseburger- if I had only known!  One perk was that I never had to get the IV officially placed or have it stuck in my hand during the rest of my stay- I hate IVs!

Jake came to visit shortly after McKenna's arrival, and he handled her SO much better than we had anticipated!  Our little strong-willed boy is not super gentle, but he gave her hugs and kisses and was very interested in her- at least for a few minutes.  Since coming home from the hospital, he's been about the same- thank goodness!!  We were worried she would be in big trouble with such an active toddler as a big brother.  It's been interesting and fun to me to see how much more my heart has opened- not only to our little girl, but also to Jake.  I thought I loved him like crazy before, but seeing him so sweet with her and handling this hard situation so well makes me adore him even more!

Grandpa might be Jake's favorite person in the world.

Our hospital stay was pretty uneventful, aside from the doctors monitoring McKenna very closely because I was unable to get antibiotics before she arrived, and having to choose a name.  We were really set on Abby before she was born, but she just didn't look like an Abby.  Or any of the other names on our list.  As Andrew was holding her, he suggested a handful of names we hadn't discussed before, including McKenna.  That one stuck out to both of us right away- it just seemed to fit her.  So when the birth certificate people came just a few hours before we were due to be discharged home, we made the final commitment- McKenna Rose.  Naming another human being is so hard!  There is so much to think about and consider: what will her name look like on a resume? How does it sound when said out loud?  How could mean middle schoolers make fun of it?  Are the initials embarrassing? Will it fit her as a kid as well as an adult? Andrew and I spent SO much time mulling names over before she was born, and that was our big topic of conversation while we were in the hospital as well.  I'm happy with our choice, and I definitely think it fits our sweet little girl!

Andrew and I were so lucky to have family come stay at our place and watch our little Jake while we were away.  And Jake had the time of his life with Aunt Kim, Uncle Darrell, and my parents!

In general, I have felt a lot better this time around.  I'm not sure if that has more to do with not having an epidural or the fact that this was my second time having a baby- either way, I'm grateful!  I'm also grateful that Andrew has paternity leave from his teaching duties at school- 3 weeks!!  I would have died without him- especially because I am still not able to pick Jake up, and McKenna eats every 2 hours around the clock.  That's a lot of missed sleep and would make for a grumpy, left-out toddler!  Andrew has been great, doing the middle of the night feeding and the early morning one, plus he gets up with Jake and takes care of all the housework while I sleep in.  I do feel guilty and useless, but SO grateful!  McKenna and Jake are so lucky to have such an amazing dad!

So tiny in such a big carseat!

We feel so blessed to have such a sweet girl in our family.  It has been fun to get to know her, learn her preferences, and see how she is similar to and different from her big brother.  At this point it seems like Jake is our fearless, independent, little adventurer and McKenna is our calm and cuddly little cutie.  Jake never wanted to be swaddled- he'd rather be able to kick his legs around, but McKenna likes to be warm and snug.  I am so grateful for both of them and love them to pieces!  What a blessing it is to be a family and to welcome another sweet child into our arms!!!  Even without an epidural :)