Zoey's Birth

39 weeks

I had my weekly appointment that Wednesday - I was feeling great, no contractions and it was confirmed that there was no progress. My OB kind of chuckled at the fact that I was closed and high and said next week we'd talk about our induction date (likely June 3rd). I left work on Friday looking forward to one last relaxing 3-day weekend with Chris before baby. 

However, I woke up around 4 am and noticed a few "things" were happening. It was incredibly unnerving considering almost exactly a year ago, I woke up early to the start of a miscarriage. Needless to say, I didn't sleep after that. 

That morning as we were getting ready to have brunch with friends, I started feeling some unpleasant contractions but after eating they disappeared. We enjoyed brunch, ran some last minute baby errands and saw the much anticipated X-Men - Days of Futures Past. 

Chris had been anxiously awaiting this movie, unsure if we'd get to see it since it was released so close to Zoey's due date. I was having contractions off and on during the movie but managed to enjoy it thoroughly. We grabbed some groceries afterward and headed home. 

As soon as we laid down for bed Saturday night, my contractions came back. I walked around, did some stretches and bounced on the yoga ball but they didn't go away and seemed fairly regular. I decided to start timing them with the app on my phone. I was sure they'd timed out at the correct 5-1-1 so we made the call to head to the hospital around 3 AM.

3 hours later...we were sent home. My contractions stopped and I was only 1/2 cm.

Chris spent the next two days walking around the neighborhood with me, timing contractions as I laid in the tub, and distracting me with episodes of Warehouse 13 and Merlin on Netflix. That man deserves sainthood for being so amazing to me. 

Chris took these horrible photos of me in labor to show me later. This was Sunday.

This was Monday.

I slept on the couch Sunday night for about 10 minutes at a time. Contractions were non-stop but never consistently spaced. Monday night, we decided Chris had to go to work so after putting in a call to the hospital for sleep advice, Chris loaded me up with Benadryl so I could sleep and left me on the couch with old episodes of How I Met Your Mother. Around midnight, I realized my contractions were 4 minutes apart and I was so tired and in so much pain that I woke Chris up. After showing him the app, Chris insisted we head to the hospital. Although, in my sleep addled state, I was sure that we'd be sent home again.

This time the drive was painful and the contractions did not stop. The nurse's even reacted more seriously when we arrived. They led us straight to an L&D room and had me change into a gown. The nurse checked and told me "you're going to be so happy, you're a 3! I'll go call your doctor but I think you're going to stay and have a baby today." 

Another hour went by and a nurse came in to hook me up to the IV for fluids; that was our clue that we got to stay and have our baby on her due date!! Chris alerted the family and I progressed to a 4 during that hour. I had been loosely planning to go natural but after the weekend of no sleep, pain and the nurse telling me it gets "one million times worse", I ordered the epidural. 

Best decision I ever made. By 3:30 AM I was a 6, pain free and getting the most beautiful 2 hours of sleep ever. The epidural wasn't painful at all. I had full control of my legs and never had trouble walking afterward either.

After the epidural

When I woke up at 5 am, I had progressed to an 8 and the nurse broke my water. After teaching me how to push (only downside to the epi), the nurse and Chris were coaching me through pushing by 6 am. My contractions never regulated and despite upping the Pitocin, I'd push and have to wait 5-10 minutes for another contraction to push again. In between contractions we chatted about 19 Kids and Counting with the nurse and my OB. The whole delivery was an AMAZING experience, very relaxed and quiet the whole time and the epidural really allowed me to fully enjoy the experience.

The first thing I learned about my daughter was that she had hair and it was brunette. The nurse pulled the little alfalfa tuft (she still has it) out for Chris to see. I'm still kind of jealous about his vantage point of the whole deal. I never thought I'd want a mirror but maybe next time...or maybe it's better that I just imagine what's going on.

Finally, at 7:50 AM, she came out into the world and proceeded to poop all over my OB. I heard her cry and my world stopped for a moment. Then I had to make sure she was a girl...I'd been so worried about that for months! I had a few stitches which I didn't feel because my daughter was looking up at me as she lay on my chest. Best moment of my life.

I couldn't have asked for a better experience and as soon as I saw my girl's face, those 48 hours of painful early labor melted away. I'd do it all over again immediately.