Zoey's Zany Blog: Welcome to the World!

Zoey's birth was a very special and unique birth, it only lasted 2.5 hours! On Thursday December 15th, Mike and I went into our doctor's office to get cytotec to try to speed Zoey's arrival. We arrived at 8:30 am, went on the monitors were given a dose, then back to the monitors. They sent us home and had us come back in the afternoon. Day 1 was unsuccessful even though 75% of women go into labor after day 1. The next day we repeated the process, and went home that afternoon without a single contraction. I was so disappointed that I even cried! That night, I was determined to do everything I could to get her to come. I walked, bounced on the birth ball, tried to stay active, continued my evening primrose oil. That night at 11:30 I started to feel crampy. Within just a few minutes I knew it was labor. Our midwife told us to not come to the hospital until my contractions were 3 minutes apart for 2 hours. My contractions went from 5 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart to 1.5 minutes apart within an hour. We decided to go to the hospital when it felt like I needed to push.

That 7 minute drive was the longest drive of my life! We pulled up to the hospital and Mike ran in to get me a wheelchair. He wanted me to wait for him to park and then take me up stairs. I told him I couldn't wait, it hurt! So he took me up to the labor and delivery floor (with the truck running downstairs) and they immediately checked me and lo and behold, it was time to push! They took me to a room and got the doctor. I have to say, I had NO idea what I was doing. The first couple of pushes were pitiful, so pitiful the doctor thought he might have to do a vacuum assist. When I heard vacuum, I decided no more messing around, I was getting that baby OUT! After that, each push got her closer to my arms. Less than an hour later she came into the world with one little cry and began checking out her new environment. This kid was alert and curious from birth. The first thing I asked Mike was "is she ok? and Does she have hair??" Because we did delayed cord cutting, she laid on my chest for 10 whole minutes before the wisked her away and cleaned her up. Once the doctor was done checking me over, they brought her over for me to feed. What a strange and wonderful thing! I fell in love with her so fast.

We had a lot of family waiting to see her. Some of them didn't even get to the hospital in time because she decided to come so fast. After about an hour, everyone came in to see her. My mom, Aunt Kelli, Hau, my Dad and Nancy, Nana and Dennis were there. Mike's Grandma, Dad and Cheryl were there. Our friend Chris was there with Dan...they were the ones who parked our truck and brought our bags up for us. It was a pretty crowded room, and almost everyone held her.

We spent two long days in the hospital and went home on December 19th. She had a bit of a jaundice scare, but was able to fight it away. We got used to breastfeeding and she was a champ right away, feeding 20 minutes or more per side. While in the hospital, she only lost a few ounces, which the doctors were happy with. She was the smallest baby in the unit during our stay, born at only 6 lbs 7.4oz. She may have been small but she was strong, supporting her head from day one!