Koda's Birth Story

On Sunday, December 29th 2019 my second son, Koda Fike, was born. Oh boy did he decide to arrive in the most interesting of ways! I wanted to share this birth story for the purpose of how it played out like a scene from some sort of comedy movie, and to also emphasize how every birth is so completely and utterly different.

Koda's birth story is nothing like Talon's, my firstborn. With Talon I was in unmedicated labor for 13 hours, with about 25 minutes of pushing. It was a beautiful and empowering experience, but to say I was exhausted afterwards is an understatement! With Koda I was in labor for an hour and a half, and I literally pushed three times before he was in my arms. Want to know the best part? I had him in my car on the way to the hospital.

"How the heck did you have him in the car?!" Let me explain...

It all started that Saturday night when I woke up and had to urgently go to the bathroom to sit on the toilet and puke in a trash can at the same time. You get the gist so I won't go into details about that lovely scene. At first I thought it was food poisoning, but it couldn't have been due to my husband and I eating the same things throughout the day. So my next thought was the flu, and all I could think was, "oh great, I freaking HATE the flu!" I mean, who doesn't, right? Fast forward to the morning and my lovely husband (seriously he's the best) quickly drove to the store to get my all time favorite "sick" snack, orange cream popsicles. I don't know what it is about orange cream popsicles, but they always help me feel better when I'm having a hard time keeping anything down. So here I am sitting on the couch with Talon, wrapped in my fluffy pink robe, when suddenly my body decides to pee. Now this had my attention! See, throughout this pregnancy I have unfortunately peed myself a couple times. Was I embarrassed? Not really because it comes with the territory, and thankfully I was always close to home to grab another change of pants.

I lazily got up to address the pee situation when my brain sent the panic thought of, "wait, could this be my water breaking??" And as if in answer my body leaked out more fluid to say yes girl, it's time!

Excited, anxious, nervous, and all the other emotions, I called my husband:

"Babe, don't panic but I think my water just broke, so I need you to come home right now."

"What?! Are you serious? I'm on my way!"

By the time he pulled into the driveway I was having small, regular contractions. Now these contractions weren't intense, they reminded me of waves like when the ocean meets the sandy beach. Small, consistent reminders that Koda decided today was the day.

While my husband, Brandon, put our pre-packed hospital bags in the car I called my midwife to let her know what was going on and quickly took a shower to freshen up. My contractions during this time never increased in intensity or pain, but they did stay unwavering in their consistency. I was able to shower, get dressed, and converse with family without a ton of discomfort.

After getting the cue from Brandon that we were ready to get headed to the hospital, we kissed Talon goodbye and handed him of to the in-laws. That's when a contraction hit followed by the unmistakably urge to push. I quickly dismissed the rising panic that overloaded my brain, because there was no possible way it was time to push, was it? Then bam, another contraction hit with my body forcing myself to push. I looked at my mother-in-law and quietly said the words, "I'm not going to make it. I need to push now!" Which in turn caused her to run around the car and tell Brandon that we needed to "leave right now!"

Now this next part is where the comedy takes place. From Brandon's perspective, he was waving goodbye to his parents and Talon, along with the neighbors from the next house over as he pulled out of the driveway. He then turns to me to see I have taken my pants off for the entire neighborhood to witness! You can imagine the confusion along with the embarrassment he felt as I literally stripped naked in the front seat of our Toyota Prius. I'll never forget the look he had when he asked, "what are you doing?!" To which I replied, "no, you don't understand, this baby is coming right now!"

Disclosure: this next part gets a tad graphic, but I promise to try my best to keep uneeded details to a minimum.

With my pants down around my ankles, I could feel the top of Koda's head as my body gave another push. By this time we had made it literally down the street. Brandon pushed on the gas and turned the corner to the stop light, which of course was red, when I looked at him and asked him to help me catch Koda. Being the amazing husband he is, he kept one hand on the steering wheel as he reached with his other to help in any way he could. Next thing I knew, Koda was in my arms.

My first reaction was panic because the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. In a microsecond I had all the fear of him not being able to breathe and I quickly unwrapped it and held him to my chest, listening for his small first breaths. Koda in turn made the smallest, most adorable squeak. After he squeaked and was breathing normally, I felt the world come back into focus. Brandon was driving as fast as he legally could to the nearest hospital, while I wrapped Koda in the only towel we had and held him tightly against my chest to keep him warm. On the short drive to the hospital all Brandon and I could do was look at each other and try not to panic as we laughed and asked how does this even happen? How did this escalate so quickly? How did we miss the signs he was coming so soon?

We pulled up to the front doors of the birthing center, and Brandon ran inside to find help as I held Koda in my arms, still trying to wrap my head around what just happened. Also keep in mind my pants were still around my ankles, lol. Brandon came running back with a couple nurses who had brought a blanket and a wheelchair. When they opened the door all I could think to do was smile and cheerfully say, "hi! Do you need me to pull my pants up?" To which in response made the nurse laugh and order me to just get in the wheelchair. Once again I felt like I was in a movie as the nurse literally ran while pushing me to the nearest birthing room, where other nurses were already setting everything up. They helped me get out of my clothes and were so gentle with Koda as they got us situated. I couldn't have been better taken care of by everyone there at the hospital.

After the excitement died down, and family members were called and updated, Brandon and I could only sit in the hospital bed ogling over our new addition to our family. Koda was, and still is, in every way perfect. And for all the chaos he created by coming into this world in such a manner, he is such a chill guy.

I want to thank the nurses and doctors at Yavapai Regional Medical Center in Prescott Valley, Arizona for taking immaculate care of us. Also a huge thank you to my husband for keeping calm and driving us safely to the hospital. Even though it's been months since Koda's birth, we all still talk about that crazy day and how comical it all was.

Since then Koda has fit perfectly into our family. Talon adores him and constantly needs to know exactly where he is. He has taken the big brother role with open arms! I definitely have days where adjusting to being a mom of two is difficult, but I wouldn't trade it for anything and I love having two boys! It also helps Koda is so easy going and up for anything. We feel like our little family is complete, and I am so excited for the next adventures we get to do now as a family of four.

Thank you so much for reading about my unique birth story! Have you or someone you know have a crazy birth story to share?