Zoey's Birth Story

**Warning: This post is extremely long, and contains a brief amount of TMI...if you are a boy...or birth junk grosses you out, I won't be offended if you skip over this post. Seriously. My biggest reason for writing it all out is so that I'd remember.

It was the Sunday night before Halloween. Derek and I had gone over to Geoff and Heather Card's house to carve pumpkins with their family. Derek was hard at work carving an "Uncharted" pumpkin in honor of his favorite video game, while I was hard at work on my YMCA pumpkin. It was getting pretty late, and I was tired so I gave Derek the 10 minute warning. Derek was still finishing up his pumpkin, so I went to use the bathroom while I waited. In the hallway I felt a strange cramp, so I called for Derek. He quickly ran over excitedly and asked "Do you think the baby might come tonight??" before I could even reply, I felt a warm gush of water running down my leg. I quickly ran into the bathroom (I seriously didn't want to get junk on our friend's carpet), but the water kept coming. I had no doubts that my water had just broken. Derek was ecstatic. I was strangely calm. Heather lent us a towel, because the leaking just wouldn't stop, and we headed back to our apartment around 10 pm to get our things together.

All throughout my pregnancy, my goal was to labor as much as I possibly could at home before heading into the hospital. I hoped for a natural birth, and took classes with Derek to learn about breathing and relaxation strategies to help ease the pain of labor. Once we got home, I jumped into the shower, while Derek finished packing my hospital bag and making any last minute work preparations. As contractions came, I breathed through them, but they slowly became more and more intense. Once I started to time the contractions, I realized they were anywhere between 3-4 minutes apart, each one lasting over a minute. Although I wanted to labor at home, I also didn't want to have the baby at home, so Derek and I headed into the hospital around 1 am (with a short pit stop at work to drop off curriculum and my YMCA pumpkin).

Last Pregnancy Photo - 38 weeks 6 days

Contractions at home

We arrived at the hospital around 1:30, and they immediately took me to be checked. By that time, my contractions had picked up to a point where it was difficult to even talk. They checked me, and let me know that I was only dilated to a 2 1/2 (By the way, being checked is NOT fun. Especially when a contraction hits...). Because my water had already broken, and I was having regular contractions, they checked me in and took me back to my own labor and delivery room.

Once back in the room, they hooked me up to a contraction monitor, a fetal heart rate monitor, and an IV (which I had to be stuck 4 times for). Trying to have a natural birth, I didn't expect to be hooked up to so many things. It made moving around the room extremely difficult. Right around 2 am, the contractions had gotten so intense that I was throwing up with each one. I tried all of the relaxation, breathing and position techniques I had practiced, but still, with each contraction, I would throw up; magnifying each contraction. Honestly, it was awful. I wanted so badly to get in the tub to help ease the contractions, but at that time, the baby's heart rate was too stagnant, which worried the nurses. They didn't want me to take off the equipment until they started to see some variation in the baby's heart rate.

Trying to rest between contractions

Derek was exhausted, so I tried to let him sleep while I continued to have contractions. Every few minutes, he'd wake up to me throwing up (again...and again...and again...). Finally around 3 am, I told the nurses I couldn't take it anymore, and I HAD to go in the tub. I think they realized my desperation, so they went and found the portable waterproof monitors to hook me up to. Being in the bath took the edge of the contractions. Don't get me wrong, they were still awful, but I didn't have to throw up with each one. Unfortunately, baby Zoey's heart rate started to drop while I was in the tub, so after only 15 minutes, they made me get out. 

I spent the next 3 hours standing next to my bed, leaning against the wall, breathing deeply and crying through each contraction. Finally around 6, the nurse came back in to check me, and let me know I was about 4 1/2 cm dilated. I was exhausted, physically and emotionally drained, and having been awake for a full 24 hours, all I wanted was to sleep. I was afraid that if I didn't get some sleep, I wouldn't have the physical energy I needed when it came time to push. I asked the nurse to get an epidural.

First chance to rest after getting the epidural

As a side note, let me just say that the nurses at the hospital were AMAZING. My night nurse (Amanda) stayed with me almost the entire time, stroking my hair, holding me when the contractions got bad, and giving me words of encouragement. She helped keep me sane. 

The nurse called the anesthesiologist down, while I woke up Derek. I've always dreaded epidurals, because I am not a huge fan of needles; however, at that point in labor, I didn't care what they did to me, I just wanted the pain to go away (going through labor put all other pain into perspective...it changed things I used to say were an "8" on the pain scale to maybe a "3"). The epidural honestly didn't really hurt when they put it in which surprised me. And after about 15 minutes, when it started to kick in, I was able to lie down and fall asleep for the first time in over 24 hours.

The next 6 hours were kind of a blur. I was in and out of sleep, trying to catch up on rest and get my body ready for when it was time to push. Our hospital had a little remote that let us control the epidural to some extent (the dosage would only drop so low, or go so high). I kept the epidural dosage low enough that I could still feel the contractions, and I could even move my legs and feet to some extent, but the contractions were extremely manageable; more like period cramps than anything. 

The room felt more like a hotel than it did a hospital room

Because my water had broken, and I wasn't progressing quickly enough (by 11am I was still only 5 cm dilated), they put me on a low dosage of Pitocin to speed things up. I was getting anxious to meet our baby girl, and had no problem with the idea of getting labor going...especially since I had the epidural to manage the pain. 

Around 1:30, I felt my contractions intensify. I called in the nurse to see if my epidural was wearing off. She said everything looked good, but she wanted to check my progress to see where I was. When she checked she said "Well that explains it! The head is right there!" She immediately went to call the doctor. While waiting for the doctor to arrive, she had me push a few times to get the hang of it. I was always worried that if I had an epidural that I wouldn't be able to push, or even know when to push. This wasn't at all a problem. Because I could feel as each contraction came on, I not only knew when to push, but also I knew how to push.

Nervous and Excited to push

The doctor arrived a short time later, and I was able to "really" start pushing. After about 15 minutes of pushing, the doctor informed me that I was starting to tear naturally in the wrong direction, and if I continued to tear, it could really do damage. However, if he did an episiotomy, he could stop the damage. I opted for the episiotomy, and with 2 more pushes, Zoey's head was out. Once Zoey's arms were out, the doctor let me grab her under her arms and pull her to my chest. Zoey was born at exactly 2:04 pm. I can't even begin to describe the feeling when I first saw her. All I wanted to do was hold her and kiss her sweet cheeks. She was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen, and I couldn't even believe she was our baby.

First time seeing and holding the baby

First Baby Photo

She did not like being taken away from her warm mama

Getting cleaned up

Warm and ready to go back to her mom

The nurses let me hold her for a minute while they clamped the cord (Derek cut it). They then took her to clean her up, weigh her (8 pounds 6 ounces), and check her reflexes while the doctor stitched me up. After I was stitched up, I was able to hold Zoey on my chest. She was so tiny in my arms. All I could think was that she was beautiful. I couldn't believe she was our daughter. I put her to my chest, and she started breast feeding right away. As I watched her eat, I remember feeling this intense feeling of joy that I could provide for her needs.

Really getting to hold her 

The in-room baby station. It flipped right out of the wall!

After an hour or so of skin to skin time, they bathed the baby. One thing I loved about our hospital is that EVERYTHING was done in the room. The entire time we were at the hospital, the baby never once left my sight. Derek was able to help bathe the baby and really hold her for the first time. Watching Derek with the baby for the first time was one of the sweetest experiences of my life. Talking about it today, he told me "Before she was born, I loved her so much...but it didn't compare to how much I instantly loved her the first time I saw her."

First Bath

First time being held by her dad

Around this time, we moved out of the Labor and Delivery room and over to Mother and Baby. I ordered my first meal, which was AMAZING after having such an empty stomach for so long. The next 24 hours were a blur. Filled with tests, measurements, nurses, diapers, feeding, and lots and lots of sleep. We were lucky to have such amazing nurses helping us all along the way.

We were able to go home the very next day. I was so worried about her getting cold that I bundled her in 3 different blankets. She was such a sweet baby, and slept the entire way home. Derek went 5 under the speed limit.

Ready to leave the hospital

Walking into our apartment felt surreal. Our lives would never be the same. We were a family now. Zoey needed us, and we loved her more than we could have imagined. We couldn't have asked for a better daughter. She is perfect.