So, it was Christmas Eve, we were tired of just waiting and feeling kind of bored so we thought we'd just exchange gifts a day early. I'm glad we did because as it turns out, we were quite busy on Christmas!! I'd written this up on her baby page, so I'm just going to be lazy and copy/paste it here. It's more of a blog post anyway:
Behind the name, Hannah Louisa Ruby Koch:
We had chosen her name many months ago but would not share the name with anyone. She is a lucky girl to have two very meaningful middle names. Louisa is for my Dad who passed away just a couple weeks before I found out I was pregnant. Ruby is for Lance’s Grandma who passed away last summer. Hannah’s first name is just one Lance and I decided on because we really liked it. Looking back through our family trees, it is also a name that has cropped up generations ago.
Her birth:
Hannah was born at 2:19 p.m. on December 25th 2008. She weighed 8 lbs, 4 ounces and was 19 inches long. A perfectly round head and no bruising, a beautiful little girl!
I woke up Christmas morning around 7 feeling a little off. It took me awhile to realize, I was having contractions, and I was having them every 2 minutes. Lance called the doula right away, she suggested I drink a bunch of water, move around, eat some breakfast and let her know of any changes. That maybe these were fake contractions and we’d see how it goes. I drank a bunch of water and decided these were the real thing and we’d better prepare for a day full of labor, so I got into the shower, thinking I should be clean for whatever the day brings - Lance called our doula back because the contractions were still at every two minutes and getting more and more strong. I was beginning to howl a little. As he was talking to her, I was walking the hallway, breathing. Franklin was very concerned with what was wrong with me and every time I’d stop because of a contraction, he’d position himself in front of me so I could lean forward on him. When I’d start walking again, he’d come up along side me for a little extra support.
When Lance got off the phone with the doula he said she recommended we head into the hospital and she’d meet us there. I continued huffing around while he gathered up all the things we’d prepared for this very day. We got to the hospital around 8am and I was definitely feeling the contractions, they were strong. The nurses checked me in, saw I was dilated to 4 and gave me a room. My contractions never varied from every 2 minutes, so I was laboring quickly and strongly right off the bat. Amanda (our doula) got there and between her and Lance they were a great help in keeping me focused and away from the epidural or pain meds. The doctor wanted to break my water for me, but I resisted because I didn’t want any interventions if at all possible.
It wasn’t too long after that though that the doctor came back and told me I had pre-eclampsia and had it severely. Normally, if women have it they’ll have 1 of the problems associated with it, lucky me - I had 2. He said I would be okay, but that we’d need to move things along as quickly as possible. He broke my water, and I continued to labor. Around 1-ish, I really started feeling the need to push. I was dilated to 9.5 and they wouldn’t let me yet, so I had to try and stop by body from naturally pushing. Way easier said than done. Thinking back on some of the noises I made, that hospital HAS to have sound proof walls. I remember just screaming in agony and hearing Lance and Amanda trying to bring me back to calm breathing. Sometimes they were able to reign me in, other times I just had to scream. Not once did I curse out anyone like in the movies though :) Finally I was able to push and after 40 minutes of pushing, out popped little Hannah. I had a surprisingly quick labor and delivery, but given my condition it was best.
They took Hannah away immediately because she had pooped inside me and so they were concerned about the poop being in her mouth, nose, etc. so I wasn’t able to hold her right away. But while they worked on her, the doctor continued to work on me. The placenta wasn’t coming out but massive amounts of blood were. I really don’t know how long it took him, but it seemed like forever for him to get all the random pieces of placenta out. Finally, I was able to hold our baby and everything I’d just gone through was put into perspective. To realize that little baby girl had just come OUT of me....whoa.
Hannah was doing wonderfully, no complications, no problems at all. Unfortunately, they couldn’t say the same for me. I was put on a Magnesium drip to help repair my liver and get my platelet count back up to where it should be. Mine was 40,000 and it is supposed to be 150,000. As the magnesium took hold, I could feel reality slipping away. I became more and more tired and weak. I was able to eat a little but chewing became so tiring. It was about this time that we had our first visitors to the hospital. One of the proud sets of Grandparents came to see their first grandchild. Their visit didn’t last too long but long enough that I was worn out by the end of it.
I had a rough night and next day. They wouldn’t remove the Magnesium until 24 hours on it had passed and it was another 12 hours before I really felt able enough to walk and move around again. The doctors were pleased enough with my recovery that we were released Saturday afternoon. I still have to go back for further testing to make sure I am A-OK, but am just delighted to be home again and with a beautiful little girl to boot.
