Kemah and her husband, Alex, are a military family who had their first daughter while Alex was deployed to Afghanistan. Kemah chose to see an OB for prenatal care, and wanted to try to achieve an unmedicated birth in a hospital. At 39 weeks 6 days, Kemah’s water broke after having a prenatal massage. She arrived to the hospital and was administered Pitocin. Pitocin contractions were intense and she ended up asking for an epidural. She delivered a healthy baby girl and with help from Skype, Alex was able to watch the birth while deployed. After birth, Kemah had a retained placenta which was manually removed by the doctor. Alex met Aria for the first time in person when she was four months old.

birth story military family

With their second pregnancy, Kemah and Alex were surprised to find out they were pregnant months after switching from Nexplanon, an arm birth control, to a pill birth control. Kemah chose to go to a different OB for her prenatal care. Her new doctor supported her goal of an unmedicated birth. Additionally, the hospital had resources in their labor and delivery suites to support coping measures in child birth. Due to her BMI, Kemah was required to do external fetal heart rate and fetal monitor activity appointments during her last trimester. And following one of those appointments, at 36+6, the baby was not passing kick-count tests. This led to another induction with Pitocin. Kemah was able to walk to cope with contractions and make it to 7 cm before requesting an epidural. Alex was home for this birth and was able to support Kemah throughout her labor and delivery. 

Kemah Muñoz Bio

Kemah and her husband, Alex, live in southern Arizona with their two little girls, Aria- 6, and Isabelle-3. Alex is a recruiter for the Army National Guard and Kemah recently opened an Etsy shop called Teemah by Kemah where she designs and screen print T-shirts. 

Babylist

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