Jackson’s Birth Story – Born on 10.11.12 at Kapiolani Hospital

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Jackson’s Birth Story – Born on 10.11.12 at Kapiolani Hospital

I can’t believe it’s been three years already! Procrastinator that I am, it’s taken me this long to put together a little blog about my birth experience with Jackson. Watch the video below to see the “birth story” we recorded for Jackson at Kapiolani Hospital the day after he was born.

Prior to meeting my husband and becoming pregnant, I was introduced to my OB/GYN. Dr. Angela Pratt is everything I could ever ask for in a doctor. Caring, gentle, matter-of-fact and smart as a whip! I liked her instantly and knew I wanted her to be my doctor.

Years later, I meet my husband and what do you know!? They are COUSINS. Growing up in Hawaii, instead of 6 degrees of separation, it’s ONE degree of separation! So, now my doctor – is my ohana. It all just felt SO RIGHT. In addition to that, Dr. Pratt’s office is at Kapiolani. Come to find out, my husband’s great-grandfather, Dr. James R. Judd is one of the founders that envisioned and helped to establish what is now Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children. If you would like to read a short history of how the hospital came to be, click HERE. There is also a wonderful video that brought me to tears… I highly recommend taking the 6 minutes to watch it.

It really warms my heart to know that the vision of my son’s great-great grandfather has helped so many of Hawaii’s children and continues to do so on a daily basis. Jackson being born at this hospital was truly a full circle moment for my family and I.

My husband and I had moved to the Big Island prior to Jackson’s birth, but I never once expected to give birth anywhere but at Kapiolani. You might be surprised by just how many of our neighbor island friends choose to deliver on Oahu. We moved to Oahu for the last 3-4 weeks of my pregnancy and waited for our son to arrive. Our reasoning was quite simple. Pregnancy, labor, delivery and everything that transpires when you’re going on this journey to parenthood – is unpredictable. If something “bad” were to happen to our child, we wanted our doctor to be able to simply walk him across the hallway to the best NICU in the state.

Fortunately, we did not have to use the NICU facility but it gave us such peace of mind knowing it was there. My labor and delivery at Kapiolani went seamlessly. The level of care AND CARING we received from our nurses and doctors was top of the line. My husband still talks about it to this day. It was also extremely comforting knowing my OB/GYN ‘s practice was right upstairs from my L&D room!

What an incredible journey! Although we now live on Maui, Dr. Pratt was also my doctor through my second pregnancy. We had every intention of giving birth on Oahu but baby came early and quickly… so we ended up laboring and delivering here on Maui. I cried when I called Dr. Pratt to tell her she wouldn’t be delivering my baby. It hurt my heart. If we have a third, we will do everything we can to make sure we deliver on Oahu at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children. I just feel SAFE there.