So Zoey is 2 1/2 weeks old and I am barely getting around to posting her birth story. Things have just been so crazy that I haven't been able to actually get on the computer. Better late than never.
On Thursday the 4th I was feeling super sick, so I ended up calling off work. I had a massive headache and was feeling sick to my stomach. By early afternoon my headache was super bad, so I decided to call the doctor just in case. The nurse told me to come in, so Scott came home from work and went to my appointment with me. They checked my blood pressure several times and had me pee in a cup. They eventually told me to go home, take it easy, and come back in on Monday. So I spent the afternoon feeling like an idiot for going to the doctor for a headache.
Around 11:00 that night I was getting ready to go to bed and went into the bathroom to pee. As I sat down I heard a kind of plopping sound in the toilet, so I turned on the light to see what it was. All kinds of weird things were going through my head. I couldn't see anything, but there was a slight tinkle of water going down my leg. I just stood there for a minute trying to figure out if my water had broken or what was going on. I walked out to the living room where Scott was asleep on the couch and woke him up. I told him that I thought my water had broken and then all of the sudden there was a gush of fluid coming and I said "Ok, I know my water broke". I ended up calling the doctor, who told me to go ahead to the hospital. I waddled my way into the hospital where they sat me in a triage room for like one minute before they realized by the fact that my clothes were soaked and I was making a mess on the floor that my water had indeed broken, so they set me up in my labor and delivery room. The whole time I just kept thinking to myself how strange it was that I wasn't having any contractions. When the nurse asked how far the contractions were apart I told her I didn't think I was having any.
They hooked me up to the monitor and I was indeed having contractions and they were pretty close together. Makes me wonder if my water wouldn't have broken how long into labor I would have gotten before I realized it was happening. When I got to the hospital I was dilated to a 3. I stayed that way for several hours, so they ended up giving me something to try to boost them along. I moved very slowly and hours passed. I finally started feeling contractions and eventually asked for an epidural. At that point I was still only dilated to a 4. While the epidural made me feel no pain in terms of contractions, I still had this horrendous headache that would not go away. I tried to sleep, but the headache made it difficult.
So many hours went by and the progress was so slow. I was really thinking I was going to end up having to have a c-section. However, things eventually got going and I quickly moved to a 9. By this time, I had been in labor for so long after my water had broken that I developed a fever and they had to give me antibiotics. This caused my epidural to start to wear off, so by the time I was at 9 cm I was feeling each and every contraction and so much pressure. At one point I just kept saying "I can't do this" and crying. The nurse sat down and said "Look you have two options. You can sit here and continue to be in pain and this baby will eventually come on its own, or we can let you start pushing". I said "Fine, I'll push".
I ended up pushing for about 30 minutes and then my beautiful little Zoey was born on Friday November 5th at 6:37 pm. Ok, she wasn't exactly little. She weighed 9 lbs 7 ozs and was 21 inches long. When she came out all the nurses and the doctor kept commenting on how big she was and taking bets on how much she actually weighed. Scott was by my side the whole time whispering encouraging words and holding one of my legs to help me push. When Zoey was born and laying on my chest, I looked over at him and he was crying. It was such a special moment.
The hardest part was after they took her from me to check her out and clean her off. She was so far away and I just wanted to hold her, but I still had to deliver the placenta and have them stitch up the tear that is bound to happen when you have a 9 lb baby. I have to tell you, that hurt so bad. Anyhow, I eventually got to hold my baby again and try to breastfeed. Truly one of the most amazing experiences ever.
Here are some pictures right after she was born:
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