Birth Story

I tried not to set goals for my delivery and did not create a birthing plan.  I did however want to have Zoë as naturally as I could.  The Medical Center does not offer much to help with that.  I did not want to get induced and wanted to try and not get an epidural. 

My due date was Oct. 26th on the 28th I went in to see Dr. Gass.  We were all worried about the size of Zoë.  Also my parent were due to fly out the following Wednesday.  I wanted to make sure they were going to get to meet her.  I had been having contractions on and off but as soon as they would get strong and come regularly it would just stop.  I was so tired and so ready to meet you we all decided to induce the next morning.  We spent the rest of the afternoon nesting.  We ran all over town tying up all our loose ends, cleaning and packing.  I did not sleep much that night.

I got up at 4:30 am and got ready and said goodbye to Blu.  We had to go into the emergency entrance at the hospital since it was so early.  The long walk from the Parking lot to the emergency room we giggled the entire time.  We got into the room and I got into the bed which I unfortunately had to stay in the entire time.  The first nurse I had was at the end of her shift and was I guess pretty tired.  She got me hooked up to all the machines and then put in an IV.  I told her as soon as it was done that it did not feel right, and it might be in wrong.  "No its fine"  Well I passed out right after that because my blood pressure drop so much.  "Oh honey you are just squeamish." I said again I think the IV is in wrong.  Nothing was done about it.  I can say hands down the IV was the worst part of the labor and delivery.

Since I passed out they waited until 7 am to start the Pitocin.  I had been having contractions prior to that and I could handle them just fine.  I was still just fine after the Pitocin started and was at 4 cm.  At 8:30 am Dr. Gass came in to check on me and broke my water.  The very next contraction was not so fine.

I kept thinking that everything I read said there was at least a minute or two break between contractions.  Well I felt like they were no stop, I would watch the monitor and wonder when the line would drop back down.  I was so tense and was trying so hard to relax but I could not.  At about 11:30 I asked for the epidural and got it about 30-40 minutes later.  I was really nervous about trying to hold still while he did the epidural.  I could not believe how fast it kicked in!  I was finally able to relax and felt so good.  I was as 6 cm.

I tried to sleep but could not.   I was giggling a Derek and I got some time to visit alone.  Soon after I had a major urge to go to the bathroom.  I was embarrassed to call the nurse to help, so I waited a little bit.  Then I could not wait any longer so I called her in and told her.  She check and I was at 10 cm and it was about 12:45 pm.  She called Dr. Gass over and Derek stepped out to tell the family.  The nurses had me start pushing to "See how well I was going to do".  I thought that was weird.  Dr. Gass came in and we started pushing and I had to get some Oxygen since my blood pressure started to drop a little.  I remember Dr. Gass said after every push "Just one more and she will be here"  I think he said it about 4-5 times.  

I pushed for about 15 minutes and then out came Zoë.  She was born at 1:13 pm.  Derek cut the cord and snapped her first photos.  I was in tears and loved having her on my chest.