Zooey's Birth Story

As the time is drawing near to meet le bebe #2, I think back to how Zooey came into the world. Recently I've heard some pretty dramatic birth stories from family, friends, and coworkers (EX: a baby "exploding" out of a mom!), but I'm here to tell you that they aren't all that dramatic (at least that was my experience with Zooey).

37 weeks with my first (Zooey)

Even though Zooey was due around Thanksgiving 2012, I knew weeks prior that she would most likely be late. My body was showing zero signs of being ready. I just joked with everyone saying that she loves Thanksgiving leftovers too much. But during that time it seemed like everyone was giving me advice on how to induce labor. One example being, "walk the curb," which being one foot up on the curb, one foot on the street. "Walk the curb" they tell me, "W A L K the curb!" Truth be told, I didn't walk the curb.

Around 1pm the Wednesday after Thanksgiving I noticed I had cramps and occasional tightening of the belly, but I didn't get too excited. It wasn't until 11pm that Wednesday night that I knew something was happening, and that's because... (cover your eyes if you're squeamish and honestly just look at the pictures in this post and ignore the text) but I lost my "mucus plug." It wasn't something like, "huh. I wonder what that is?" It was most obvious, and a clear sign to me that the combo of cramps, tightening of my belly (contractions) and the mucus plug equaled labor. We called the hospital's "warm line" to give them a heads up that things were progressing with me, and they suggested trying to get some rest. That sounded great, but by that time my contractions were getting painful and anywhere between 4 to 10 minutes apart. I tried falling asleep, but just couldn't.

So I timed the contractions and attempted to watch TV. By 5:30 AM I was finally so exhausted that I started falling asleep between contractions, which at that pointed averaged 7 minutes apart. Right as I was drifting off to sleep I got a sudden gushing, wet sensation. I knew I wasn't losing control of my bladder (that was obvious), so I knew that my water broke. I was actually pretty excited about that, because that guaranteed I would be admitted into the hospital! (If you go into the hospital and your contractions aren't close enough, they will send you home. But if your water breaks, you are admitted and should have a baby within 24 hours. So my water breaking was my "golden ticket"). The only problem was it's not like in the movies where there's a cute splash of water and then it's done, every time I had a contraction more water came out (my tip is to wear a pad)!

So, we called the warm line again and are told to come into the hospital. We get our bags and are headed out the door. It was fun passing my husband's work (a high school) on the way to the hospital, because. everyone in the school was going on about their day as if it was a typical Thursday, but we knew this wasn't a typical Thursday for us, we were welcoming a baby girl or boy!

40 weeks with my first (Zooey)

When we arrived at the hospital I imagined we'd be escorted into a room right away since I did the smart thing and sent in my information and insurance in a preregistery form. Only, instead, I had to fill out MORE paperwork during my contractions and additional gushes of water! Eventually I am taken to my labor and delivery room where I'm am immediately strapped down, hooked up, and poked multiple times looking for a good IV spot. After sufficiently freaking me out I am asked more questions until the doctor comes in saying, "I hear your water broke. I'm going to have to check that." He rather uncomfortably "felt around" trying to tell whether or not my water had broken to announce that he couldn't tell. Now I know the difference between peeing myself and my water breaking that I desperately tried thinking of what I could do to prove it. Luckily, though,  I got another contraction right as he was about to leave the room and with that contraction another gush of water. He was able to verify that yes indeed my water broke and then became rather "old school" and announced, "Bed rest, no food, no liquid by mouth," and that my contractions needed to speed up so start an inducer.

Rather quickly my contractions became close together and strong. Nurses were still asking questions and filling out forms. To be honest I have NO idea what they were asking me. I was in a lot of pain and barely able to talk to them through the contractions. On top of that my blood pressure cuff kept setting off alarms that my blood pressure had plummeted into the negative numbers! They tried a few different cuffs on me, but all the same result. Not sure why it was doing that, but I nonetheless had to wear the cuff the ENTIRE time I was in labor!

I dilated rather quickly, and gave the thumbs up to a walking epidural. No one had ever really talked to me about what that felt like, so to my surprise even with a numbing shot prior, it hurt. It was a very uncomfortable sensation, but at least it worked! I've heard some stories of epidurals not working properly, and my story is that it did! I was able to "feel" the contractions but not with intense pain, and since I received a walking epidural I was able to move my legs (not walk of course), but I could nonetheless move them and feel them.

The whole experience thus far left me freaked out and shaking like a leaf. David luckily convinced me to let my sister visit while we were still in the "getting ready" process before pushing. I was very hesitant at first since I felt like a total mess, but am glad that I finally said ok. She normalized me to the point I wasn't shaking anymore and I actually started laughing again.

After some time had passed, I was ready to push. The nurses had me switch to being on my left or right side to try to help the baby even out. Apparently, my little one was not coming out straight, and my guess maybe a shoulder would have gotten stuck? I was very grateful to have nurses at this point who were total cheerleaders. At the very last moment is when the doctor came in with plenty of other crew to do all the little jobs that must be done post delivery.

Zooey Day 1

Our little one made the nurses and doctors laugh, because the very moment the head came out this baby wanted to scream. After clearing out her mouth and nostrils, I gave my final push and she was born. It was so much fun to hear that we had a baby girl after my last baby push. We never found out the gender, and it was such a special moment to know that I had a little girl.

To be honest, after I delivered Zooey I don't remember the order of everything that happened. I know that I delivered the placenta, was stitched up, David cut the umbilical cord, I held and nursed her right away, she got hand and foot prints and got cleaned up. Shortly after and totally unexpected I was asked to order dinner. We had been admitted at 7:30 am, she was born at 5:55 pm, and I hadn't eaten anything but peanut butter toast before I left our house in the morning. Apparently, the kitchens were closing at 6:30 pm and they wanted me to get food in my tummy. It honestly felt like 5 minutes before family came into the room to meet Zooey, and it honestly felt like 5 minutes later that I needed to go to my room.

Again, I really don't remember the order and timing of everything, but I know I did eventually eat, visit family, and pee for the first time. Even though we were expected to get sleep eventually, I'm not sure I slept at all for about 72 hours straight to be honest. I couldn't sleep really, because nurses kept coming in the room to check on me or draw blood, and every peep or sound Zooey made I woke up to, because I just didn't know what her little noises meant yet. Not to mention newborns eat every couple hours, and Zooey was a little connoisseur. She loved taking her time to eat.

Even though our two days in the hospital flew by I think it is really important as a new mother to get out of bed, shower, change into regular comfortable clothes, and sit anywhere else but your bed. I was sore, but for the state of my mood I tried to make my time as normal as possible. In fact I think the nurses even noticed. Whenever I had a new nurse, they came into our room and saw me with Zooey looking pretty relaxed on the couch they said, "This is your second?" I always took that as a compliment that it looked like I knew what I was doing!

1 Week Old Zooey

A couple hours before it was time for us to leave, a nurse had us watch a video on taking care of a baby, and then we were off. I always imagined I'd be whisked off in a wheel chair to the car holding my newborn baby and a bouquet of flowers, but in all honesty it was quite the opposite. The nurse speed walked to our car helping David with Zooey and our bags and gifts while I painfully tried to keep up with them, w a l k i n g. Wasn't as romantic as in my head originally.

We continued to get cards, flowers, food, and gifts from family, friends, and coworkers throughout the following week or two. It was amazing to see all the love from everyone. That love combined with the cuteness of a newborn baby made our first few sleepless weeks possible (thank you 3am banana bread)!

In all honesty, I am still scared to death to deliver my second baby. I know that every pregnancy and every delivery has its own stories. I just hope and pray that my second will be just as dull!

Good luck to all you future mommies out there! You will all do beautifully!

XOXO, MiddleCoastMommy