WARNING! The following story does contain some mildly graphic birth descriptions, in case you are faint of heart. Otherwise, enjoy this miraculously TRUE story!!
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Imagine two friends, friends since the day one recognized the other as sharing a Lifespan Psychology class with her at Waubonsee Community College as they were both getting their java fix at the BP Amoco at the corner of Route 34 and Orchard in Oswego.
And, by that afternoon, the connection was made. Both were going to nursing school, having the same number of classes left to qualify for entry into ONE TOUGH PROGRAM, and – GASP – they lived in the same subdivision. Fate, I tell you!
Petra accidentally locking herself out of her house (barefooted, mind you) as she strained to see Kimm’s house while the two were talking on the phone together to ascertain the distance, made it a friendship built on coincidence and humor. Which, Kimm believes, has benefited them during the most trying of times. That, and Riesling.
Friends whose relationship grew. They were married. They were suburban – heck, they were about to be medical professionals. The day the mail lady delivered their acceptance letters into the highly competitive nursing program at Waubonsee was another day that lives in infamy.
Petra, who lived closer to the beginning of the mail lady’s route, received her big, certified acceptance envelope first. And, in tears, she called and asked if Kimm had received hers – she had been trying to call for some time and Kimm had been moseying around in the backyard with her dog. Petra then told her that the mail lady had informed her she had a similar envelope for 105 Eisenhower, Kimm’s former address. And so it was…
Tears of shock, joy and relief followed. We had grown close. We were truly friends – after surviving A & P with Dr.’s Holmes and Martinez, who wouldn’t be?? Starting nursing school separately would be devastating. Besides, these two were clearly the most gifted students in the class (ha ha to any other classmates reading this).
The next 2 years were grueling, both academically and personally. This is complicated, and really not worth anyone’s time as it is in the past, where it shall remain. Petra and Kimm now know the truth of what happened, and why they grew apart. It took many nights of wine drinking and intense conversations, but both realized there is a bond that will exist forever. They now have legitimate proof.
Some incredible fate brought these two friends back together (okay, actually it was an email from Petra to Kimm asking her how she was doing…thanks, Petra!) That swung a door wide open; the door to rekindling a broken friendship and bonding over swollen bellies.
Petra had been laboring for several days – she was due February 24th; Kimm was due February 15th. Kimm spent time with Petra while Ken had to work.
Poor Petra – she was the epitome of discomfort. She hadn’t slept or eaten. She was a mad mess. Kimm, who was used to being a mad mess, tried her best to comfort her.
They walked around Fox Valley together to try to regulate the contractions. Inside, a deep jealousy was welling, though, because Kimm had JUST been released from a 4-month bed rest prison related to bleeding during her pregnancy. Multiple ER visits, terbutaline injections and call-ins to work finally made the doc pull the plug on Kimm’s newfound profession. What great timing, as she and Chris had just moved into their new house.
The morning of Wednesday, February 1st, dawned cold and blustery. Typical Chicago winter day. Kimm had an appointment with her OB/GYN at Edward to do an u/s – they said she was carrying big. It revealed a happy baby girl weighing in at about 7lbs, 8ozs – healthy and normal. No reason to induce (darn it). Just go home, walk some, rest some – relax, it’ll happen. But if the bleeding happens one more time, we are taking the baby.
Fine. No problem, except that Kimm wanted to have this baby NOW. Chris goes back to work, Kimm goes to bed. Hey, pregnant women get that luxury. That and Filet o’ Fish sandwiches ( Petra ) and Twinkies (Kimm).
1PM – the phone rings. NOT gonna answer it. Watching re-runs of Little House on the Prairie. Kimm sees that it’s Petra . UGH. Okay, better answer. Rolls her gimongous belly over to the phone and answers to….
“Hey, it’s me….guess what? You’ll never guess…don’t be mad….I’m in labor.”
Jaw drops. Tears spring to Kimm’s eyes. Vice grip on the phone. Through gritted teeth, “Oh, really? How wonderful…I’m sure you’re so excited.”
“Will you come visit? Please?”
Well, the answer was obvious to Kimm. NO. She was going to lay in bed and scream and cry like a toddler (which Kimm now has experience with, and, yes, that is exactly how she was going to react). But reality set in. This was exciting. This was important. This was what a good friend would do – besides, she had been let off of bed rest, so why not??
Kimm called her mother to share the news – she was admonished for even thinking she should be driving 25 miles in February when she was 80 months pregnant. But Kimm, with her stubborn side as strong as Petra ’s in many respects, said she would be fine. A call to Chris, Kimm’s hubby was met with “What’s the worst that can happen – you’re going to a hospital, after all?”
As Kimm drove to the hospital, the song “Alive” by POD played. This is a very vivid and poignant memory. Because Kimm, who struggles severely with religious spirituality and claims Darwin knows the truth, prayed – for the first time in many, many years – that she would be happy for Petra and the birth of her new baby. It wasn’t that Petra was stealing her baby. She was having her own. And Kimm would be, too. Just not today. Just not now. And Kimm prayed for peace, serenity and excitement (and all that jazz).
And when Kimm arrived at Copley, the very hospital she had been working at up until the time of her bed rest restriction, she nonchalantly told the nurses at the nurses’ station that, no, she wasn’t here to deliver. She was visiting a friend. Because at least 3 of them stood up when Kimm’s big belly came marching thru their doors.
Into Petra ’s birthing suite. The Blues Brothers is playing on the TV. The happy couple was working on thank you cards from the baby shower.
Petra is in epidural heaven, legs spread wide, encouraging the baby to make his move. Foley in place. Sonia, their dear family friend, was there to be the support and coach when Ken was lost in theatric quips. Again, through semi-gritted teeth, Kimm arrives. Wearing PJ pants and a sweatshirt. There are relatively awkward conversations. Partly because Kimm had been so absent from Petra ’s personal life for so long (of Kimm’s own unfortunate design) and also partly because Petra was in la-la land.
Kimm doesn’t remember much of the conversation that took place; neither does Petra (again, reverting back to the epidural). All that is certain is that Kimm received a call on her cell from hubby Chris telling her that he might work late, if that was okay. Kimm said “Noooooo problem, I’ll be heading home in the next few minutes.” Then Kimm asked Petra the fateful question of what outfit she was planning to bring the baby home in. and after that, she was planning on heading home. It was about 5:30PM .
“Oh, it’s in the suitcase there on the floor. It’s the blue one from Becky Exline. Ken, help her.”
“No, no, I’m fine.”
Kimm bent down to see this adorable outfit….light blue, maybe overalls?
Then, like an old unwanted friend…..a sudden warm trickle, then a gush…followed by total bedlam. Kimm was familiar with this. This very thing had been happening to her for her whole nine months. However, the volume seemed a lot more intense.
A mix of emotions and confusion in one. Kimm remembers stepping into Petra ’s bathroom telling everyone present that everything was fine, sorry for the problems. When clearly it wasn’t fine. There was a huge trail of blood and amniotic fluid leading to the bathroom and then everywhere IN the bathroom. As Ken puts it, “Kimm, you killed our room. It looked like a murder scene!”
As Kimm is struggling to get a hold of her own emotions, she is dialing Chris at work and demanding he get there NOW (there being Copley – NOT the hospital where all Kimm’s prenatal work had been done). All the while, she is standing in an ever growing puddle of blood and amniotic fluid.
Ken, being instinctively ER, comes in, assists Kimm into a wheelchair and calmly wheels her three doors down – to her own birthing suite. He knows what has happened. He is just concerned about the blood. A fetal monitor later, we know all is well. Blood is probably cervical irritation as they have already ruled out (again and again) placenta previa. He calmly calls Chris back on his cell phone (or at least this is the way Kimm remembers it) and instructs him to drive carefully – no worries. He places the cell phone to the fetal monitor so Chris can hear the heartbeat. All is well. (Kimm learns later that Chris made it from Morris to Aurora in record time.)
All the while, poor Petra is laboring alone. AND wondering what’s going on with her friend. Being a labor and delivery nurse, this was agony for her.
After that, both women are in an epidural-induced fog. Kimm did suffer through a 25-minute epidural insertion due to her darn crooked spine (and Chris nearly passed out from all the blood and amniotic fluid on his boot while he supported Kimm during its placement). She was also told she was dilated to 5 cm. Amazing after having been shut up tight that very morning before her u/s.
It was a race.
But who cared??
Both girls were feeling mighty good.
Dominik Josef Kozbiel entered our beautiful world on Thursday, February 2nd, 2006 at 12:22am , 7 lbs, 12 ozs after his poor mother pushed and pushed and subsequently snapped her tailbone and had to apply suction (vac) to have him. He was born with a cone head, and he was slightly jaundiced. Nonetheless, both he and his mother were beautiful. They were the picture of gorgeous newborn baby and new mother, proud, dignified and ready to start the new journey. You can see how proud she was and is of him in every photo. Dom amazes us all every day with his incredible aptitude for puzzles and video games. Also, his speech is impeccable, and he is such a social butterfly!
After 10 hours of labor and not progressing more than 5 cms, Dr. Druhan, whom Kimm had never met before, let alone shaken hands with, decided an emergency section was best. And there, incredibly, was a waiting line. Kimm still couldn’t believe she wasn’t being transferred to Edward to her beloved Dr. Josupait.
At 3:17am , Lucille Margaret Ahasic joined life, weighing a teeny 6lbs, 6ozs. Beautiful dark hair, dark brown eyes and a serious expression. She was incredible from the word “go”. Unfortunately, a bout of hypotension and then an overdose of Zofran left Mama Ahasic from being engaged during the section. Kimm remembers very little. Her most vivid memories are of Lulu being carried to her by Chris for her to hold for the first time, but her eyes were bouncing from nystagmus, possibly a side effect from Zofran (an anti-nausea med commonly given during surgery) and, later, of holding Lu and walking around cuddling her (much later) while watching it snow outside. Kimm remembers Daddy's homemade Buffett CD and Lulu's receding hairline. And how much the breast pump HURT.
Truthfully, and without tooting their own horns, the hospital was a-buzz with the story of these two friends.
After they were moved from labor and delivery, they were placed in rooms adjacent to each other on the post-partum unit. And the bond grew stronger. Learning to nurse. Learning to love. Learning to heal. It was all an incredible, life-altering experience. Plus Chris saw Petra with her booty up in the air trying to manage the pain from the broken tail bone….how do you EVER go backwards from that moment??
Dom had to stay because of his jaundice. Lucy had to stay because she was a section baby. But, they were born the same day, and they left the same day.
Life for them will always somehow be intertwined, these two Groundhog Day babies. Who knows what the future holds for them, but it is certainly full of hope and opportunity. Which is what Petra , Ken, Kimm and Chris have decided they want for them -- that, and nothing but the very best.
Hey, maybe February is the best month to have a baby? Who knows….
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