Birth Story of Christopher Alan Kohler

Christopher Alan Kohler
December 25, 1988 at 2:30 pm
5 lb 12 oz

When Christopher was born, it was a shock to my husband and I and we were totally unprepared. I will try to explain.

We were living in Anaheim, California. We had no family out there and just friends that we worked with to give us a hand if we needed it. There was no one to call to come to the hospital. Our families were in Wisconsin. The hospital that I was to deliver at was in Newport Beach. That was 45 minutes from where we were living if there was no traffic. If we hit traffic, it could take a couple of hours to get there. We were just hopeful that God would make sure that we made it there. Since this was my first pregnancy, the doctor felt pretty confident that things would not happen too fast and we would have plenty of time to make it there.

Christopher was due on January 25, 1989. He did not want to wait that long. On Christmas morning, Dec 25, 1988, he decided that it would be time to come into this world. I woke up at 9:00 am and decided that it would be a great time to devour some of those nice fattening chocolates that my husband had given me the night before. I got out of bed, took my chocolates and decided that I would lay down on the couch and eat them. I had very bad morning sickness all the way through and I hoped that if I ate some chocolates it would help keep the sickness away just once. After eating just a couple, I was very thirsty. I stood up to go and get some milk and had the shock of my life. My water broke, I thought.

I went to the bedroom and shook the waterbed for Mike to get up. I told him that my water broke and he said that I was probably just leaking a little since I had just got up. then came the big gush that everyone talks about!!! He knew that it was for real. He got up, got dressed, and called the doctor. His exact words were, "My wife's water just broke. She is not due for 4 more weeks. Can you put it back and stop it?" I thought that was cute. He was so nervous and I was very calm. The doctor calmly told him that we should get to the hospital right away. There was no way to stop this and we were going to have a baby.

Thank goodness it was a holiday. There was no one on the freeway on Christmas morning. We arrived at the hospital by 11:00 am. They put me in a birthing room which was really beautiful. I looked out the windows and watched the holiday sail boat parade in Newport Beach Harbor. I had not felt a contraction yet. We called our families back in Wisconsin and wished them a Merry Christmas and then told them what was going on. Around 1:20 I started to get a little back pain but it did not feel like cramps or contractions. The nurse said that I was in labor by the tape that she was watching. Mike said that he was hungry and he was going to go to the cafeteria and get something to eat before the labor really started. I told him ok. He did not make it down to the cafeteria. As soon as he got on the elevator, I was told to start pushing. I still had not felt too much pain. Just a little back ache.

The nurse called downstairs and told them that when he got off the elevator, he should come back up. He was going to be a father. When he came into the room, I had pushed for the third time. The doctor told me one more should do it. I pushed one more time and at 2:30 pm 5 lb 12 oz Christopher Alan greeted us by not breathing. Since he was premature, they whisked him away. Mike went right along with him. He stayed right near him in case anything was wrong. In the meantime, they sewed up my little tear and told me everything would be okay. Being my first one, I did not know what to expect. I started to make calls to tell everyone that we had a boy.

By 5:00 I still had not seen my little boy. Mike kept telling me that everything was ok but I assumed the worst. I thought that something was wrong with him that they would not let me see him. I cried a lot and the doctors told me that they were still monitoring him to make sure that his lungs were fine and he mad matured well enough to come out of the incubator. At 7:00 p.m. I was finally allowed to see him. He was absolutely gorgeous!!!! They said that he was fine and he would be okay. I had to nurse him every two hours from then on, so he stayed at my side. I would not let him leave even to be weighed or checked. I told them that they had to keep him in my room and he would never leave.

Since my labor was so short and not too painful, I thought I would have 10 more. I told Mike that as soon as I recovered I wanted to try again. I did exactly that. See the other stories of the births (Tiffani and Cassidy ) that I had with them to see how our family grew.

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