Zoey’s Birth Story
Tomorrow Zoey turns 2 months old. I can’t believe how fast time has flown! It feels like just last week I was at home waiting and hoping for my water to break at any minute! At 36 weeks I ended up in the hospital for 3 days with kidney stones! I secretly hoped they would induce me then… but no such luck. J I didn’t return to work after that. I went crazy for the next two weeks trying to keep busy. I was so burned out and ready to not be pregnant anymore! At my 38 week appointment I asked the doctor when, if needed, would be an appropriate time to evict Zoey. She said any time after 39 weeks I could schedule to be induced. I scheduled it for the day I hit 39 weeks before I left the office that day. After talking with Joe, my mom and our friend Crystal, who is a labor and delivery nurse, I decided to wait it out and see if she’d come on her own. 39 weeks came and at my appointment I hadn’t made any progress… NONE! Not dilated, not thinned out… she hadn’t even dropped at all! Even though he said it was completely normal, I was so frustrated and discouraged. I asked the doctor about inducing and he said: “if you were my wife I would not let you, you’ll end up with a c-section”. He said he would only suggest it if I got to 41 weeks. I cried on our way home. I remember telling Joe how uncomfortable I was, how badly I wanted things to happen on their own so we didn’t have to induce… How I absolutely, under no circumstances wanted a c-section. I went home and looked up the recovery and more details about c-sections that day. I read some blogs from mommies who had gone through it. I slept on it, prayed about it and woke up the next day feeling completely different and at peace. I made my mind up that if I made it to 40 weeks and nothing had changed I wanted to be induced. I decided that if a c-section is how I’d have my girl, then so be it.
My next appointment was at 39 weeks 6 days and I hadn’t made any progress… ZERO. The doctor advised against induction saying I’d more than likely end up having a c-section.. But my mind was made up.. So I scheduled my induction before leaving the office. I really wanted to be induced later that day, but the schedule was already full so they put me on the schedule for the following Monday. Again, I was so frustrated and discouraged. More tears on our way home. This time because I didn’t want to have to wait four more days. I knew she wasn’t coming on her own. I knew she needed a nudge and I was ready RIGHT THEN. I started chatting with Crystal, who is a charge nurse in labor & delivery at the hospital I’d be delivering at. She said she’d talk to my doctor and try to get me on the schedule for later that day. He said it was fine with him as long as there was room at the hospital, yippee!!! She said to pack my bags and she’d let me know when to come in and to try and rest in the meantime. I got the house nice and clean, did laundry and got everything ready for when we would bring Zoey home. I was so anxious I woke up every hour checking my phone to make sure I hadn’t missed her call! Well, it turns out labor and delivery was a complete mad house that night, we didn’t end up checking in to the hospital until 8am the next morning, on my due date. Joe was so excited, all along he wanted her to come on March 12th!
We checked in and got comfortable. Crystal had already gone home but she set me up with a great nurse, Jenny, who had taken care of me while I was there with my kidney stones. She set us up in one of their best rooms. We had a window with an amazing view of a brick wall and a nice cushy bench seat for Joe to sleep on.
First they needed to monitor Zoey’s activity for 20 minutes before getting things started. She was pretty calm that morning. Around 9am they started me on Cervidil, which is a drug that thins the cervix. The dose is for 12 hours. It was extremely uncomfortable to be inserted, but once it was in I didn’t feel it at all. I didn’t actually feel anything at all for the first few hours. I was able to relax and Joe and I just hung out and watched TV. Later that afternoon I started having some contractions. Nothing strong and they were about 8 minutes apart, then got to about 4 minutes apart a few hours later. Things were moving right along. At 7:30pm Crystal was back and checked on things. I was 1cm dilated and about 50% thinned out. It doesn’t sound like much but she assured me I was moving in the right direction at the normal pace. I knew going in it would be a long process and I was OK with it. My contractions were about 3 minutes apart by then. My pain level was only about a 5 at that time, but they gave me some pain meds to relax me so I could rest. Around 9:30pm they started the second round of Cervidil. My contractions had held steady at 2-3 minutes apart. Around 3am they checked me again and I was about 2cm dilated and 60% thinned out. The doctor came to see me and suggested we remove the Cervidil and start Pitocin to get the contractions going stronger and get things moving faster. She said my progress was “textbook” and perfect. They gave me some more pain meds to keep me comfortable. They started the Pitocin and we continued waiting and I tried to get some rest.
By the next morning I had gotten to 70% thinned out and was still at 2cm with contractions every 2 minutes. My pain level was still only about a 5 at the time, but they were going to start upping the Pitocin and Crystal suggested getting the epidural before the pain got so bad that I couldn’t sit still for it. Around 6am the anesthesiologist came in and gave me my epidural. I was so glad I did! It was AMAZING. I felt nothing. I was so calm and relaxed. Our parents and families came by to visit, my mom stayed with me so Joe could go home and shower and I got as much rest as I could. That afternoon they started increasing the Pitocin. It was at a level 4 for most of the day, they got me up to a level 6 and the contractions were getting stronger. As soon as they upped the Pitocin to a level 7 we started having some trouble. Every time I would have a contraction Zoey’s heart rate would drop and the monitors would start beeping loudly. I started to panic. The first time it happened the nurse came in pretty quickly and lowered the Pitocin back to a 4. She said it was probably just Zoey’s position and that she’d come back to up the Pitocin in a little bit. We waited a while then she upped it again. The same thing happened. The nurse called the doctor and he came by to check things out. He said that if they couldn’t push the Pitocin past a level 6 my contractions would not be strong enough to get the job done. He said if Zoey’s heart rate dropped again he would go in and get her. He also tried to break my water while he was there. He thought he had it broken, but the next time the nurse checked me she felt the bag and it had not broken, so the doctor came back and tried again. This time he got it. I still wasn't feeling anything due to the epidural. My contractions started getting stronger on their own and they didn’t need to up the Pitocin again.
Sometime during all of this I noticed that the nurse’s name was Josephine. All morning the other nurses called her Jovi, it wasn't until I saw her nametag that I noticed her name was Josephine. It took everything I had in me not to break down. I knew my Gram was there watching over us. It was such an emotional time and I felt so at ease after that.
The contractions kept coming and at 7:30pm they checked me again. I had finally gotten to 4cm and 80%, yay! This was the point we had all been waiting for, apparently things usually start moving pretty quickly once you hit 4cm. Unfortunately my epidural had started to wear off. I asked if the anesthesiologist could come back and give me some more medication. About an hour later he returned and he was VERY hesitant to give me more meds. I didn’t understand, Zoey was still hours from being born so I knew she wouldn’t be born all drugged up. He gave me a small amount that didn’t even take the edge off. I asked for more. He reluctantly gave me more with some narcotics and it helped. I was feeling pretty exhausted and was hoping I could get some sleep. The medication only helped for about an hour before I started feeling all the pain of the contractions. Around 9pm the nurse came back in to check on things. I was still 80% and had gone from a solid 4cm to closer to 3cm! Things had totally hit a wall. I was exhausted, in pain and frustrated. I didn’t understand how things could be moving backwards! The nurse figured it was the pain I was feeling making me tense up. She told me she was going to call my doctor to see what he wanted to do. She mentioned our “Plan B” (c-section) which we had discussed when Zoey wasn’t tolerating the contractions earlier that afternoon. I was 36 hours in and knew I only had about 7-8 hours left before a c-section was the only option since my water had broken. I told the nurse I was done. The epidural was no longer doing its job, I was exhausted and now things were moving backwards. I wanted the c-section, I was ready to meet our girl and be done. She called the doctor and he said he was on our way. We texted our families to let them know. My parents, cousins and aunt and uncle were in the waiting room. They had been there for most of the day. We told Joe’s family to wait since it would be a few more hours before Zoey would be ready to meet anyone. The anesthesiologist came in and was happy to give me more meds to help with the pain until I went in to the operating room. By 10:15pm I was on my way in. The anesthesiologist gave me more pain medication and I couldn’t feel anything from the waist down. Joe got all suited up in scrubs, it was go time! I felt a tug, then some pressure and she was out! I could see the clock on the wall, it took the doctor all of about five minutes to get her out. They pulled the sheet down so I could see her, I remember the light being so bright right above me that it was hard for me to see her face. I could see that she had hair! They took her away pretty quickly to get her weighed, measured and cleaned up while the doctor sewed me up. Then she cried for the first time and boy does this girl have some lungs! I never knew a crying baby could make me feel so happy!
Zoey Josephine was born on Friday, March 13th at 10:45pm weighing in at a whopping 7lbs and was 19.5 inches long.
They wheeled us in to recovery where we had our skin-to-skin time, Zoey nursed for the first time (like a champ) and we enjoyed our time as a family of three. Joe had skin-to-skin time with Zoey and then they took us to our room where we’d stay for the next three days. It was awesome, Joe had his own bed, and we were at the quiet end of the hall with no neighbors. Our families came in to see Zoey a little after midnight. They stayed for a little bit then left so we could all get some rest. A little bit later the nurse came in and helped Joe give Zoey her first bath, which she absolutely HATED! I rested and watched from my bed.
I wasn’t allowed to get up for 14 hours after surgery and all I wanted to do was shower! As soon as I was able to get up, I asked when I could shower. The nurses wanted me to walk around first. Later that night I took a shower and felt like brand new. I hardly had any pain. The nurses insisted I take the pain medication to get ahead of any pain I might have, so I did. It felt like I had done 1000 sit ups, I was just sore. We rested and had tons of visitors until Tuesday morning when we were discharged. I'm so grateful for those three days in the hospital with the help of all the nurses. We really had the best care and at night when the nurse had to take Zoey to the nursery to check her weight they would even keep her for a couple of hours so Joe and I could sleep.
I knew when I went in to be induced it was going to be a long process and a c-section was a very likely possibility and I was completely, 100% ok with that. It didn’t matter to me how it happened, I was just so anxious to meet our little girl. It turns out Zoey had the umbilical chord all wrapped around her like a seatbelt and she was face up! The doctor said even if I had waited another week as he suggested it was very likely I would have ended up with a c-section anyway. Being all wrapped up in the chord Zoey wouldn’t have dropped enough and being face up wouldn’t allow her head to put enough pressure for me to dilate fully. If I knew how things were going to play out and I could go back, I would have just scheduled the c-section. I have heard horror stories from friends who have been in excruciating pain and bedridden for weeks after, but for me it was a breeze. While the 37 hours leading up to it were worth it now that Zoey is here… they were unnecessary and I would have skipped them if I could have!
