The Birth Story

As promised, below is the story of Miss Zoey’s birth.  It’s long.

Last weekend, Brian and I went to Alabama for the Montgomery Christmas (my Mom’s side of the family gathering) and Christmas with my family.  Since we had it all planned that Zoey would not be here before Christmas, but we knew I shouldn’t travel after last weekend, just in case.  Brian and I had our Christmas weekend all planned out and I was looking forward to having one Christmas just the 2 of us at home.  We had a great time, several of my aunts said that my cousin who is due 2 weeks after me would end up having hers before me due to she was carrying so low. 

I felt fine all weekend, just the normal of Zoey balling up in a ball at the top and staying there.  Sunday was the same.  We headed back home and decided to stop and eat dinner before getting home. I wanted sushi, don’t worry it was all cooked, so we went to Mist.  We got home and did our normal Sunday afternoon chores and and packed from the weekend.  I had been debating on whether or not to work from home Monday and Tuesday, then take sick days Wednesday and Thursday since she wasn’t here and I had sick days to burn.  Plus I had a LONG to-do list which needed to get done before Monday when I was admitted to have Zoey.  So I sent Jimmy an email stating all this and he was fine with it.

We finally got in bed around 9ish and decided to watch SNL with Jimmy Fallon hosting from Saturday night.  Brian always jokes that Jimmy Fallon is my TV boyfriend; I do love him.  We were laughing our butts off at the skits.  At some point I heard a “pop” (probably around 9:45).  I had to pee shortly after that; when I went I honestly couldn’t tell if I did in fact pee or not.  The fluid did not look like pee, but was more clear.  So I told Brian I thought something might have happened.  (I didn’t tell him I heard a “pop”.)  I mentioned that I didn’t know if my water broke or not.  So, what do we do, we googled “how to tell if your water broke”.  Didn’t find much at first.  While he was looking for info, I was going on how I was not going to go unless I was sure.  I did not want to be that girl that goes and just gets sent home.  Brian was telling me that we needed to go and I just did not want to be that girl.  Finally, he finds an article that mentions hearing a “pop” and he asked me if I did, and I say yes.  Of course he was like why didn’t you tell me that at first.  Since I was not planning on it to happen this way I did not have a bag packed; so I had to pack.  I had no clue what to pack.  But keep in mind, I still wasn’t convinced that I was in labor.  We were not in a hurry at all.  We finally headed to the hospital.  (Keep in mind, I still had not had ANY contractions at all.)  We arrived and got in the pre-delivery room around 10:45. 

They hooked me up to the monitors and said that I was having contractions.  I think after that, I started to feel them. Funny how the mind works that way; as long as you don’t know, you don’t feel the pain.  They did the litmus test to see if my water broke up couldn’t tell.  Next thing I know they are telling me I’m going to have to be checked out by a NP to see and it will be like getting a pap smear.  Um, NO THANK YOU! By this time, the contractions were getting more frequent and were hurting.  Unfortunately, they had some student NP do the checking; she barely got the clamps (or whatever those horrible things are) in and my water broke.  The student then checked me to see how fair I was dilated; she said, you are 8 cm.  I was like what.  Thankfully the other NP checked behind her and I was only at 3cm.  Oh, I forgot to mention that as soon as I got there my blood pressure was high, so no pain meds for me yet.  Since it was high they had to take a urine sample via catheter.  Man, I forgot how PAINFUL those were; plus add in the pain of contractions.  On top of that, they took blood to run test to see why my blood pressure was so high.  I kept telling them if they would just give me pain meds it would go down.  Needless to say they did not listen to me.  After all this, they sent me to a delivery room. 

Once in the delivery room, my L&D nurse was AWESOME!  Even though I was only at 3 cm she had already called the anesthesiologist to come put in my epidural.  I was begging for something for the pain.  Sadly Dr. Hudson was out of town (oh, here is the funny part.  He was in Decatur while I was in Hartselle.  For those of you who do not know, Decatur is 10 minutes from Hartselle.  How crazy is that!) and had not gotten back in town yet.  (One of the many things I love about him, regardless if he is on call, he will come in for certain patients.) Dr. Turner was the doctor on call, thankfully I knew her and was ok with her being the one.  She came in and said as soon as the blood work was back, they would give me something for the pain.  I didn’t’ care what it was, I just needed something. Finally a few minutes later I was given something.  It didn’t really take the pain away, just made me loopy and drowsy.  Not that I could go asleep yet.  The anesthesiologist shows up to give my epidural; woo hoo!  Getting an epidural is NOTHING compared to getting an IV.  I would rather have an epidural given to me over an IV.  I thought I was golden once I had it.  WRONG!  Sadly the first one did not take.  My nurse checked me again and I was at 4 cm now and Zoey still had not dropped.   Here is where I say, Susan, you are a stronger woman than me!!!  I do not know how you did your whole labor and delivery with NOTHING.  By this time, my contractions were VERY STRONG and were almost one after the other.  I could not stand it; I was in so much pain and was in tears from it. I was begging for the anesthesiologist to hurry up and come back to redo it.  Once he arrived and gave me the second epidural, I was GOLDEN.  My nurse checked me again once the meds kicked in and I was at 5 cm now; still not dropped.  She said that if I did fall asleep, she would not wake me to check me unless it had been more than 2 hours since she last checked me.  I believe now, the time was just after 3ish or right before it.  We decided it was time to call the grandparents that we were at the hospital.  We didn’t want to call them earlier due to we didn’t know how long it would be and wanted them to get a little more sleep.  Oh, the whole time, my blood pressure still was elevated; man those cuffs in the hospital get TIGHT.  Having it check about every 2-5 minutes was not pleasant.  Thankfully, I feel asleep and slept off and own for a good 3 hours.  Around 5 or after I woke up and Brian’s parents had arrived.  My nurse came in around 5:30 or 5:45 to check me again; this time I was at 10 cm and Zoey had finally dropped.  She told me it was time to push and once she crowned they would call the doctor in to finish.  Um, not at all I was expecting to hear!  This is when I start to freak out and said no I was not going to.  I was worried my epidural was wearing off; my legs were not as tingly and I did not NOT want to feel ANYTHING.  The nurse and Brian were telling it was going to be ok and that I had to push; and I was adamant about not.  I did not want to do this nor think I could.  They finally convinced me to push.  Thankfully it wasn’t bad at all.  I barely felt any pressure. After about 3 pushes, she was crowning.  Dr. Turner came in and I pushed I think 2 or 3 more times and Zoey was here!  I do wish Dr. Hudson had made it, but he came in about an hour or so after she born.  He was upset he missed it, but everything turned out great.  Total time of labor (from the time we arrived at the hospital to the time she was born) was just over 7 hours.  It wasn’t near as bad as I thought or feared.  My parents got there just shortly after she was born, they took a wrong turn getting to the Women’s Hospital but that was ok.  It’s not like I had anyone else in the room with us; just me and Brian.  Zoey weighed 6 lbs 13 oz, 18.5 inches long born at 6:19AM on December 19.  The perfect size!  She is a small little one though.

Here are a few pictures from the first couple of hours after she was born.

Look at all that hair! 

Eyes wide open.

Proud Daddy holding Zoey for the first time!

First family photo!

Overall, things went great.  My blood pressure was evaluated most of the time while I was in the hospital.  Not sure why since I did not have any issues during pregnancy.  Dr. Hudson didn’t seem too worried about it and said that it’s normal for people to have to go home with meds for a couple of weeks.  I had hardly any pain afterwards.  Thankfully, it went down Tuesday night and stayed down Wednesday morning so I was able to go home. I do have to go back sooner; a week later; to have more blood work done to check on things and a follow up appointment.  

I’ll admit I’m glad I went in on my own instead of being induced and that’s it all over.  Brian says that I would be sitting here today (Dec. 26th) worried and thinking about it all day if I didn’t.  I don’t think so, but he seems to know me better than I know myself. 

Here are a few more pictures from the hospital.

Aunt DeAnne loving on Zoey.  She hated that she had to work on Monday and couldn’t get here until late Monday night.  She stayed with me that night in the hospital so Brian could go home and get a good night sleep.  Not that she minded at all since she got to love on Zoey the whole time.

Aunt Krista and Zoey.

Dr. Hudson getting to finally hold Zoey. 

Daddy already learning to mult-task. 

Wide awake!

“Going home” dress Granny made which swallows her whole.  She was not a fan of being put in a dress.  I was only able to get about 2 pictures of her in it. 

It’s been surreal this past week.  I’m very thankful she is here and it’s all over.  She has been a GREAT baby.  She typically sleeps 4 hours at a time at night and goes back to sleep after nursing.  The second night at home, she sleep for 6 hours before waking up!  Too bad, that won’t happen ever night.

We did have a scare starting Thursday night.  Brian woke up around 1:30ish throwing up.  He thought he has food poisoning, but I had a feeling it was the stomach bug.  I immediately got up and went to sleep on the couch.  I was not about to chance it.  He ended up getting sick through out the night.  In the morning, I had him check his temp and it was a low grade fever.  I called to make him an appointment to see if it was for sure the stomach bug.  Sure enough it was.  He was all upset and worried that he had given it to Zoey due to holding her and loving on her the night before.  I told him she was fine and I was more worried about me getting it than her.  I felt so bad for him, he was so sad and upset about it all.  Not only did we have a newborn at home, he was upset that he had “ruined” Christmas.  I tried to comfort him the best I could.  I told him I would call the pediatrician to check on if they thought Zoey would be in danger.  They didn’t seem to think so; which was how I felt.  I told him I was more scared about me getting it and not being able to care for her or nurse.  Thankfully, we made it through and I dogged the bullet.  Friday night his fever broke so I knew it was going to be ok.  Thankfully it was only a 24 hour stomach bug.  We had a great Christmas and was still able to do everything we planned to (before and after Zoey arrived). 

I hope you all stuck with me and read the whole post, I know it was long, but I wanted to make sure I got it all down before I forgot!

Negative Nancy Post - Warning

It’s official.  I’m ready to be on maternity leave.  I have been pretty proud of myself not to be the “hormonal” pregnant woman, to let things get to me (mainly at work), but I’m to the point where I just want to be at home doing nothing.  I’ll admit that I’m having a hard time focusing on work and keeping comments to myself and not snapping at people. 

I still need to get the pictures hung in the nursery, do some final straightening up in there, and make sure I have everything ready.  I have the diaper bag pack, I think.  I’m just waiting on Mom to finish her coming home dress; she works better under pressure so I’m sure she will be bringing it to me in the hospital.

I haven’t even thought about packing my bag yet. I really don’t even know what to pack in it.  Any suggestions?  I don’t see a point when I have yet to dilate at all.  II will be that woman who either is running around packing my bag if I go into labor at home or will be packing it on Dec. 26th before he puts me in that night.  Yep, that’s right ladies and gentlemen, I am official on the schedule to be put in on the night of Dec. 26th and to be induce on the 27th!  I think that Dr. Hudson doesn’t think I’ll have it before then so he went ahead and put me on the schedule for that day.  Yeah, I know that being induce typically causes more pain, but at this point I do not care, that’s what the epidural is for!  I tried my best to get him to induce me earlier, but he won’t budge.  At least he is willing to do it on my due date and not make me go any longer!!  I can suffer that much longer; I think. 

This week Zoey has decided that she wants to curl up into some type of tight ball or something and not move.  She has yet to drop so it’s right near the top and it hurts like hell.  Thankfully today she seems to have moved out of that spot, but goes right back to it during the night which causes for me to hurt greatly and wake up very uncomfortable.  I long for the night when I can sleep on my stomach (even though I’m not a stomach sleeper).

Last weekend we did get the house all decorated for Christmas. I’ll post pictures this weekend.  Brian was good up until putting the lights on the tree.  I swear it’s a genetic wiring for all men to get bent out of shape when putting on Christmas lights.  I don’t get it. Sure it’s time consuming, but it’s not that big of a deal.  I ended up helping to make sure it went smoothly.  This year hasn’t been as much fun for me nor have I wanted to get all into the Christmas spirit.  Typically the night after the tree goes up I wrap gifts, but this year they are still sitting in their pile in the dining room waiting to be wrapped. I just do not have the motivation to do it.  Maybe I’ll get to it this weekend. 

I apologize for the Negative Nancy post.  Please don’t hate me or think I’m too crazy!

Tupelo Shower

I’m a couple of weeks behind posting about the second shower we were given for Zoey.  Our lovely friends from Tupelo hosted a beautiful shower for us.  Instead of trying to do everything justice, I’ll share in pictures!

34 Weeks.

I told myself I was not going to fall behind again on blogging about all the events we have had the past few weeks, but alas, I have.  I’ll start now trying to catch up.  They are not in order due to I do not have my camera with me at work, so I do not have pictures share so I’ll start with just the boring pregnancy updates.

Today I am 34 weeks!  Time still feels like it’s crawling by for me.  I have determined that it will never speed up for me.  Next week will be my last biweekly checkups; then I start the once a week ones.  As much as I’m not looking forward to being check each visit, I am excited to find out at times if I have dilated at all. 

On the pregnancy front, this week has been a great week for sleep!  I have slept through the night the past 2 nights (ok, so my definition of sleeping through the night right now means only waking up between 11:40 and 12:40 to pee, and then again around 4-5:30 for good).  I finally figured out why, we have not had the heat on at night and last night we had the air on.  I sleep better when I’m cold.  The plan is turn the heat off at night so I can sleep better.  Thankfully we have a very heavy winter comforter for Brian to use to stay warm.  I feel like I am as huge as a house; seems like my belly has grown the past week.  Ugh. 

We are halfway through our birthing classes.  Last night we were the only ones in the class; there is only one other couple in the class now.  The annoying couple was only there the first 2 classes.  I do have to share the story on them.

“Last night we found out that she had the baby Friday.  She had pre-eclampsia so her doctor decide to induce her on Thursday night.  She was, I believe, 35 weeks or so.  They gave her the meds to make her cervix ripen, but it did not take.  They tried again Friday morning with the same procedure, but did not happen.  After a few hours of no progress, she had to have a c-section.  It’s ironic due to all she would talk about was how she was going to have it naturally, use a doula, etc.  (Hey, I’m all for that if you can do it, but she was putting down those who used drugs for pain.)  Moral of the story, things do not always work out as you plan.”

Not sure what dreams mean when you are pregnant, but I did have an interesting one last night.  I dreamt that I has Zoey this week.  Maybe I’m just so ready for this to be over and her to be here, that my brain is on over load.  Of course it was a weird dream, but I do remember having her.  Does that mean she will arrive sooner than later???  Maybe all these classes are getting to me.  Since I have no read anything about pregnancy the whole time, I have not had dreams like this and now that I have been in taking the information of the signs of labor I’m starting to have them. Crazy. 

Baby Update!

Today was a fun doctor’s appointment! On top of a doctor’s visit, today is 33 weeks.  Only 7 weeks left!  We got to see Zoey today; been awhile since the last time we had a sonogram was at 19 weeks.  Boy, has she changed!  Sadly we didn’t get many good 4D pictures due to she wasn’t having it.  She had her hand in front of her face most of the time and wouldn’t turn toward us to get a good view.  We got one ok one and if you look at it far away you can make out her face.  I personally cannot tell much from it, as far as who she looks like, but you can tell it’s her face.   

On more exciting news, you can see she has HAIR!  Ok, so I know this is not a big deal to most, but I did not have much hair until I was about 2 years old.  I have been hoping she would have hair, even just a little, so people wouldn't stop and say “what a cute little boy!”
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Even more exciting news, I have a definite end in sight!  Since my due date is the 27th of December, I have been worried about my doctor being out of town.  (Side Note:  While I understand that doctors can’t always be on call and have to rotate on who is on call, but I really want my doctor to be the one who delivers the baby. I spend all this time seeing him and building a relationship that I want him to be there when the time comes.)  I went ahead today and brought it up on what the plan was.  Thankfully Dr. Hudson is not going out of town during the holidays.  He has a few days before that he will be out, but hopefully when I start going every week we will be able to tell before that if things are progressing fast enough for me to go into labor while he is out or not.  One reason I love Dr. Hudson is he prefers to deliver his own patients regardless if he is on call.  Ok, so I know that was a bunch of ramblings, but the point is, he said he would not let me go past my due date!!!! While I have never been a fan of inducing I have been worried that I would go past the New Year and wasn’t thrilled about that at all.  Dr. Hudson prefers not to let you go past 40 weeks; which means no later than the 28th Zoey will be here!!!  So if she has not arrived on her own by the 27th, we will induce.  I am praying she decides to come on her own, but I am thrilled to know we have a definite day when she will make her grand entrance!

Only shot of her face we were able to get.  Maybe you can make it out if you look at it from a distance.

In this one you can see her hair!  Amazing how you can see that on the sonogram.  All I have to say is I can say that the old wives’ tale is true, heartburn/acid reflux = hair. Too bad we can’t see what color it is.

Where in the world is Leah?

Wow, I cannot believe it’s been almost a month since I last posted.  Things have been a little crazy around here.  I know in the next few weeks it will be even more crazy! Here is a long recap of what we have been up to.

Two weeks ago was my 28 week check up and the lovely glucose test.  OH MY.  All I have to say is it sucked.  I barely choked down the lovely flat fruit punch “drink” in the allotted 10 minutes.  I felt worse after drinking the crap than I did going without food that morning. When I was waiting to see Dr. Hudson, I looked down at my hands at some point and they were very pale.  I can only imagine what my face looked like. I swear my blood sugar dropped more after drinking that crap than going up.  I really thought I was going to be starving afterwards, but by the time I left the office, I was no longer hungry.  The visit was great, I’m not anemic and I passed my test.  Well, I should say I’m assuming I did since it’s been 2 weeks and I never heard from them saying I failed.  Woo hoo!  Funny how now that I have that out of the way, I want cupcakes!  I guess I was more cautious about watching my intake of sweets than I realized. 

Last week (ok now it has been 2 weeks since I first started this post) I was in Seattle for SQL PASS.  Yes, I know.  I’m a geek, but I love it!  I had a good time and my brain was ready for me to come back.  It has been a long time since I sat in a classroom for 8 hours (not all back to back, but total) learning things.  It’s a lot different than working 8 hours a day.  Brian was able to take a week of vacation to come with me.  Granted he had more fun than I did and was able to see Seattle more, but we did get to do a few things at night. 

Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Before we left for Seattle, the nursery bedding was finally read and we picked it up.  I can’t wait to share it all set up with you!

I’m hoping by the middle of November to have the nursery all set up.  I find it amazing that I haven’t freaked out yet about it not being all ready.  We are ripping up carpet and moving furniture around this weekend.  I still have to figure out what all to put on the walls.  I do have a plan for some art work, aka initials, but other than zero ideas. 

This week (last week) starts my bi-weekly doctor’s appointments.  Yep, that means we only have 10 WEEKS left!  I’m sure going every 2 weeks will help speed up time, plus the holidays are about to be in full swing. 

Friday (last Friday) Mom and DeAnne are coming in town to go to Celebration Village.  Maybe I can add a few more gifts to my Christmas pile.  I have a good start on it, but not near where I was hoping to be by this time.