The Story That Changed Everything | William’s Birth Story (Part 2)

Some stories never stop shaping who you are.

In Part 2, Keech shares William’s birth story for the first time on the podcast—the terrifying moments after he was born, the diagnosis that changed everything, and how watching him overcome every obstacle has forever changed the way she sees life.

This episode is about resilience, perspective, hope, and the incredible lessons one little boy continues to teach us every single day.

Whether you’ve followed William’s journey for years or you’re hearing it for the first time, we hope this conversation leaves you believing that impossible doesn’t always stay impossible.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:09

I do want to circle back to like William's first story.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

If you're okay with it, I uh I mean, just in general, I've always been almost too open and too sharing with some things, but I wouldn't take any of that back either because it's what's helped support me and hold me up. So that's what's helped me get through what I've gone through with William is talking about it. Of course, the people who are close to me, but also just to like to anyone, because I am a different human being today than I have been in my life. And we all are for a lot of reasons. But when William was born and my journey raising him is a pivotal moment to who the core of me is and like what matters to me. So happy to share. I think I'll be able, I think I'll be able to get through it. This is really a big part of who I am today and like a pivotal moment in my life. And honestly, probably something that may have really impacted and changed the course of my marriage too. So William is my oldest, he's nine years old. And so like my pregnancy was totally normal with him. But before William, I had a miscarriage, and it happened like far enough along to where I mean, it's hard no matter what, but far enough along to where I was just afraid and like anxious through my pregnancy with William. So I gave birth to William. It was not pretty, long labor, pushed for like close to four hours. Like I can remember I would fall like dead fall asleep in between pushing. That's how tired I was. And anyway, the doctor was finally like, he's not coming out. Like, and for some reason, you know, you go in giving birth and you're like, I don't wanna, you know, I want to do it naturally and whatever.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

And so anyway, no, I went in going, I'll take the epidural.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Yeah, no, I didn't mean that, meant like C-section natural un unnatural, epidural must.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Tell me when I can get it. You're in modern medicine. What are we doing here without an epidural? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

So anyway, long labor, all that got rushed in for an emergency C-section and had the C-section. That was that was just all a whirlwind because when it's when you have a C-section and it's planned and scheduled, it's calm, cool. But when it's an emergency one, you're you're just getting like wheeled back there. It's a whirlwind. I think my when I got back, like my blood pressure dropped so much that something happened there. So anyway, we're we're finally like settled. William like wouldn't stop crying unless he was on my chest. As soon as I would put him on my chest, he would stop crying. I actually have a video of this right before this all happened that I'm about to tell you. But anyway, he was I was laying in the bed, he was laying on my chest, and like I'm sure we're both exhausted. My ex was, you know, next to us too. And I remember the nurse walked in. They had like a blanket, not fully over, but over him where you couldn't really see his body. And the nurse was like, All right, we're all set here. Do you need anything? And I was like, actually, if you could get me some ice, that would be great because hospital ice is the greatest, right? So I remember she took she took a couple steps outside the room. I couldn't see her anymore. And then within like a second, she literally ran back into the room, ran back into the room, pulled the cover down off of William, grabbed him off of me, and then sprinted down the hallway with him. I and my ex and I like no idea what had just taken place, like what just happened. Afterwards, she had told me, which is so miraculous, but she had told me that she took a step outside the room to go get the ice and something stopped her in her tracks and was like, you need to turn around and go check on the baby before you go. So she turned around to do that, and William was purple on my chest. And I didn't, I didn't notice it because he was laying there, he was like calm. And anyway, they brought him to the NICU at Doylestown Hospital. They had no idea. It was a couple of hours they were doing all these tests. They had no idea what was happening, but he kept having seizures with infants. It's not like a seizure like you see people have, it just looks different without getting into it. It just looks very different. But then they had him hooked up to stuff and you could see on the machines and stuff when it would be happening too. And I mean, it was horrible. We were waiting for Chop to get there to come pick him up because we didn't, he kept having seizures. Nobody knew what was going on, nobody knew what was happening. And I remember the nurse just be in the NICU being like, if these machines go off, just like flick his foot, like to try to keep him like awake or out of it. And I can't even explain to you that like I was fresh off a C-section, which is super painful. But I'm in a wheelchair in the NICU, sitting there with, and every time these machines would go off, my heart would drop.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

I'm like, like, am I gonna am I gonna lose my baby right now? It was like it was super scary.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

So anyway, they couldn't figure it out. Chop finally got there, and thank God we live so close to Chop because they showed up four nurses, a doctor, the ambulance driver, and I think there was someone else. All of these people came from Chop in the ambulance to pick William up and they like put him in like an incubator kind of thing, brought him to CHOP. I had to stay overnight at Doylettown Hospital because I was like hours out of my C section. I couldn't sleep at all that night. My ex was keeping me updated, but they're like running all these tests. We're still not getting answers at CHOP, like, no idea what's going on. And I was just like, I can't, I I cannot not be with my baby right now. Like, so I discharged myself out of the hospital. I was walking through CHOP to get to William, not even 24 hours after the C-section. Like what your body can can do when you're in a moment of like fight or flight is just amazing. So, anyway, we're we spent like, I don't know, maybe two weeks there doing all kinds of different tests, like all kinds of different tests. And he was having seizures so much that they had to put him on a medicine that basically like an induced coma. He wasn't awake for most of that time. And I couldn't hold him for the longest time. We just like sat there by him. It's like this little bed in CHOP, and he's hooked up to so many things. They're poking and prodding him and putting like IVs in him, getting no answers, having no idea what's going on. And they have, you know, a really great team there. But we finally got an MRI, and I think they couldn't do an MRI for a while because of how like unstable he was. And it with the MRI, you have to be like completely still. So they would they kind of had to like put him to sleep a little bit, which is dangerous. So anyway, we got the MRI results back, and then it was like everything was answered at that point. I remember we were there and there was a team of doctors, neurologists, pediatric, all these specialty doctors, and they uh showed us a picture of the MRI. Well, they actually they asked if if we wanted to see it, and they told us William had a massive stroke. Do you want to see the MRI? And I saw it, and um a large part of the left side of his brain was injured, and uh your brain doesn't regenerate. Your brain, as you grow and develop, creates pathways from when you're a baby and even into adulthood, but especially within the first three years of your life, every movement you make is like carving a pathway from the movement to your brain. So it tells you like the part of the brain that was injured, it can't regenerate. So that part that's dead, in a sense, we knew would impact the right side of his body, left side of your brain, right side of your body. So they told us, like physically, what to expect. Cognitively, they said, we don't know. Like you essentially anything could happen. It's a pretty big brain injury. So we'll see, basically, is what they said. So at that moment, the seizures were happening as a result of the stroke. So they were gonna keep him on seizure medicine, but besides that, there was nothing, there was nothing more that being at CHUP would do to help him. Like that event occurred, and that's that. So I remember the neurologist saying, telling us that William likely will never be able to walk. False. And if he does, it will be with a walker, but most likely he'll be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. False. And basically, like if if you're looking for a diagnosis, it's cerebral palsy, is like big picture what hit what the diagnosis would look like. We don't actually know what happened, but this is the most answers that we've even gotten a little bit close to or given us any kind of idea because obviously I'm like, what did I do wrong that made my baby have a stroke?

SPEAKER_01 10:10

But that's poor. I understand that you carry that, that doesn't sit with you. Like, there are things that happen in a human body that are uncontrollable. Yeah. And the actual birth process is actually really traumatic for a child. And I don't think people give it enough credit of how traumatic it is for the baby, but also the mother. Like, it wasn't until recently where like the US increased their percentages where US women lived through birth. Yeah. And it's like it is a very traumatic situation. Honestly, without modern medicine, like I don't like William is and I know you probably have a different view of this, but like William is thriving in my eyes.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

He is. I know I'm talking a lot here, but I will say, so we left shop, and you know, I remember that car ride home with him in the car, and I had never known anything other than you give birth, you have a healthy, beautiful baby. I've never known anything different. I've never and I've I grew up tons of cousins, like never knew anybody where something like this had had happened and or even heard of it in like an hour-old baby having a stroke. Like I'd never heard of it. And you know, you're pregnant and you're starting a family and you have these dreams for your kids. And I played sports my whole life, so and I think a lot of people probably have this dream of like watching your kid play sports and being an athlete and all this stuff. And I just remember not that that's the only important thing, just all the dreams you have for your kids. And I remember just driving home in the car being like, I don't even know what to dream about for him. I don't know what's his life gonna look like. Like, what's our life gonna look like? All those things are you're told your child's never gonna be able to walk. I'm like so confused, right? Now, what I will say for those who don't know William is um he has defied all the odds like every everything that they said. William started walking when he was one year old, which is sooner than some kids walk.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Um he does everything and anything that any other kid does.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

Um now, it may not look like it, and a lot of people can't see it, but everything's also harder for him. But he plays sports, he's playing travel soccer, he wrestles, he wrestles, which and he's a really good wrestler. And he does it with one arm and weakness and tone on the right side of his body, and like he's he doesn't only just like participate in these things, he's one of the better and one of the best on these teams. Like that boy is a fighter and is determined, and like he uses it to his advantage.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Like, I've never seen anything like it. Like, he uses his right arm, but he knows how to use his right elbow, and that's stronger than his hand, and so he just uses that, and he has he still has more like muscle on that side of his body than it. Like, he is so strong.

SPEAKER_02 13:47

He is, and there's like a lot, there's a lot to like one of the reasons that I always share this story is because I feel like a lot of people have had always avoided asking about it because it's people don't know what to say, right? And you don't want to like ask the wrong thing or say the wrong thing, like um ask the question. My advice to you there is is ask.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Like people people want you to ask because you you carry this with you, you know and like my kids have asked like why is William's hand the way that it is, and I I explain it and I'm like it it's it's out of his control, and you like you judge a person based off of their their personality qualities, and like William is a great person and he's super supportive to you, and like I want them to ask questions about it and they have, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

I've heard Brooks ask questions, which is like he's Brooks asks so many questions, and William handles it so well too. He handles it better than anybody else. He's just like, I this is how I was born. We call it righty, and it's like basically fisted. Hard for him to open his hand up or like use his hand at all, and even his right arm in general. But like what you don't see is it's actually toned down the whole right side of his body. So it's what's very visible when somebody can't use two hands that that's more visible to your eyes. But like him sitting up in a chair in school all day is harder for him than any other kid in school because of the muscle it takes, or just walking long distances, or any of it. Like it's it's just harder for him. And think of all the things that we just take for granted having two hands and having two arms, and you know, our body just does what we want it to do, right? William has taught me so much. The struggles that that boy has to go through and has been faced with and has to overcome in the nine years of his life is nothing I've ever had to experience. It's made my life so much better because it's changed my perspective on what matters and what to appreciate and how lucky I am, right? So when I have a stressful day at work or whatever's happening, what what may have been hard for me pre-William isn't hard for me today. I can let so much more like roll off my shoulders and not derail my life and derail my mental health because William has shown me like what's important in life and what real joy looks like. And to like to see my baby like succeed at so much of the stuff that he succeeded at in his life is like the greatest gift. Like the pride that I feel in that boy is like the greatest gift I have ever been given. And it's made like that trauma of all of that has made my life incredible. Just really hard to put into words, but it's like it's opened me up to enjoy life so much more and to not accept like we are all truly so fortunate for everything we have and being here today, and all of the problems and issues and adversity that we've been given to. Like, we're all so fortunate for it, and life truly is so short and so fragile and not promise, and things can happen, right? And he's taught me those lessons, and he's also helped me see what matters, and he's brought a lot of positivity out of that story. There's also, you know, there's darkness to that story, too. The whole first year of his life, babies just lay there, right? They don't talk, they don't move much. We worried every second of every day and watched every movement he made, wondering, like, and picturing the worst of what his life was gonna look like. And it was really hard on both of us, and we both coped in different ways, you know. It changed us both, and that's not the only reason, but I think that that was definitely a pivotal moment in in our marriage too. But there's also like anger I carry from it too, you know, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

Like I can imagine all the emotions that you're carrying. Like there's an empowerment to watching him do the things that you didn't think he would be able to do, which is like probably so rewarding. And like this isn't discounting Rylan, but it's like even more re rewarding to watch William do those things. But like you still feel the joy of your like your second child doing those things, and Rylan doing those things. But at the same time, I know that it gave you anxiety going into your second pregnancy and your second birth. I can't speak to this. Like, I think when William was going through this stuff, you and I struggled to connect on this. It was like you have a child that has a disability at this point, and I struggled to connect, and we struggled to connect during this point. And it's like because I gave birth to like a mutant who was like my birthday the birth story of my first child is very, very different.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

I think you should explain that more because you left it uh I gave birth to a mutant. I I don't think you're painting the right picture there.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

Probably not here going, Yep, keep keep dig in more there, dig it more. So, like my birth story was very, very different. Of like, I gave three pushes and Lucy popped out like a football. Yeah, right. And like the OB was like, Don't tell your friends about this. And it's like, you don't even fucking know what has happened in the past couple of months, okay? She's like, Don't repeat this. This is like not a first-time birth. And I'm like, Okay, well, um, all right. And then Lucy wasn't walking at nine months, she was running stably. Girl was born jacked out the womb at nine months, and I felt like tremendous guilt. I can totally see that, yeah. Because it was like I was so excited to see every one of William's milestones, but at the same time, like you were excited for your child's milestones. And I I had a difficulty like connecting, like, and I I think you and I went through like a weird period during that time. And it's like you can't control, like, Brooks also didn't stably walk until he was like 18 months, and like one could say he's still not stable at walking. He's the type of kid where you're like, if there's a body of water here, you're standing on this side of other people get so much more nervous being around Brooks than I do because I'm just like, he's gonna fall, he's gonna trip, he's gonna slit his knee. We're I'm gonna be at the emergency room. It's fine. Accepted that as a mom for him, but like it's different because like Lucy was so different, and so like you do have those like different experiences, and like you had a different birth experience than I did.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

There's been a lot of growth that's nine years ago. How we communicate with each other today is not the same that we did, we weren't as open with and vulnerable. With our feelings. And it was different. I think if we who we are today in that moment, we would be having conversations like, hey, I feel guilty celebrating my own child because of this, the position that you're in. And one, you don't want to feel that way. Two, you don't want to feel guilty. Three, you don't know how to, like, how do you ask about a kid with special needs? After William was born, I joined the board of a nonprofit that does equestrian therapy with kids with special needs. I met so many parents and families through that that one made me feel really lucky. But uh two, make it more comfortable to just talk about like kids with special needs. You don't have to like avoid them. You don't have to avoid the topic. Talk about it, ask about it, bring it up, right? It's kind of like divorce, too. Don't be afraid to ask about the divorce. It's yeah, but I will say there's a lot of emotions, and I just want to get this out because I think I've been holding this inside, and this might be the first time that I've put this out there.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

So this is like therapy for me right now that there are people in my life and who have really let me down or that I feel like very angry with because William does so well right now, but we go through stuff with him that nobody sees all the time, and we'll what schooling looks like, my conversations with teachers, what sports stuff.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

Like this past week, I spent seven hours at CHOP at their stroke clinic with like six different doctors, and we spend the whole day just picking apart the like picking apart what's like not perfect about William and what if some future or having to decide different like medical things that you just never want to decide or know what to do as a parent. I talk to my mom about this a lot because she's like been amazing for me. But people just like see, oh William looks great. William looks great. This sticks in my head. That like close family members just saying, William's doing great. Like as if as if Nicole's just like feeling bad for herself or like William's fine. I carry anger with some of that. All we want to do is protect our babies, right? And to not be able to protect him in this or fix it for him and have to just like watch him struggle through it. Like, kids are not nice to each other, especially as they get older. He's going into fourth grade, and you know, he's physically part of him looks a little bit different. I think my message there is just, and this goes for myself too, but you never know what somebody is going through. Just because what you see on social media or the pictures or what you assume, you don't know what's happening in people's lives. So give people grace, be kind to people.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

I wholeheartedly believe this. You never know, and this is something that I've gone through with like even my support group is like, you don't know what you don't know. You don't know what someone else is going through. So, like when someone beeps at you and you're driving, you don't know if that person had a shitty day at work or if they just got like news that they have terminal cancer. Like, you don't fucking know what you don't know. And so, like, just give people grace and it will take you further in life.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

Like, you don't know if someone just had a divorce conversation and they're like they literally have their life packed in the back of their the trunk. Like, you don't know, and like you also don't know like the other things that have gone on in their life, so like just give people grace. Nine times out of ten, the way that people give frustration is misdirected, and it's not actually at you, right?

SPEAKER_02 26:35

It's don't take it personally, but like also ask questions and find out what it is. Yeah, be curious, not judgmental.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

Overcommit, but be underqualified. Sure. Thank you for sharing William's birth story.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

Thanks for asking about it, and thank you for sharing about your dad too. I know that took a lot. I know that took a lot.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

And well, I know sharing Williams took a lot.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

It does, but I want everybody to know William's story because the determination and the strength, and I'm a I'm a pain in the ass, and I'm stubborn, and I'm this, that, and the other. But guess what? Maybe those genes needed to be able to exist to make my boy who he is today, and he will never give up.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

And slards of fat needed to exist in another human being.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

And also, I promise you, um, the copy and paste of my daughter Rylan is payback enough for me. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

And peace out. And on that note, I think we should peace out.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

Peace out. All right, so uh good chat today. We have some really funny listener comments that we wanted to share. So stay tuned for those ones. Maybe a special edition. And share with us some impactful stories in your guys' life, what's been a pivotal moment in your life, what you are overcommitted to, underqualified, for.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

Yeah. Because we're looking for guests, and we have a lot of volunteers, but we're here for it. Peace. Peace. Peace out, Girl Scout.