Our Baby Girl is here!!!

November 14th......

Could possibly be the best day of my life! I am so grateful to God for this beautiful gift He has so graciously given to us.....our Zoe Jane. I mean seriously....I said this when I first became pregnant and seeing my first ultrasound and still believe it now if not 100x more.....how can someone go through a whole pregnancy....every up and down...good and bad part.....week by week....and finally have a baby...and not believe in God! There is no perfection greater!!!! He is amazing and should be praised! And to feel this amount of love.....what a gift to be able to feel the way Zach and I feel right now!

On this special day that I will never, ever forget.....I could not be more thankful than for our family and friends...I could feel all your prayers and love surrounding us all...whether you were here or not. Thank you all so much for keeping the three of us with you through this pregnancy, labor and delivery and arrival of Zoe Jane.

Warning: This is a long post....I wanted to get down my memories in writing so I can look back and remember everything....and I loved reading people's experiences for piece of mind before I did it myself.

So....you are probably wondering how we got to this point based on my last post....because I sure wasn't expecting Zoe Jane's arrival this soon!

After my appointment on Thursday, I went on to work and was cramping but nothing serious...I just figured it was from getting examined. That night I continued to cramp throughout and went to the bathroom probably 10 times. I finally woke up around 6 on Friday morning and was bleeding...nothing I was too concerned about but I still called the doctor to double check. They told me it was probably from the exam but to call them if the bleeding continued. So, I went on to my playdate with Mary and Katie to meet Joshua and Max. I continued to bleed and my cramping got a little bit worse. I decided to call the doctor again around 3:00 to let them know everything going on. They had me come in and get checked again. I was about .5 cm dilated and the doctor still was not too concerned about anything progressing too much (little did we all know Zoe's plans). Dr. Pohl wanted to monitor the baby's heart rate to make sure everything was okay so I did this before heading home.

On the way home, cramping become more regular and had a start and end, so I decided to start writing down when I was feeling them. I would say this was all around 4 pm. At this point, everything felt more like menstrual cramps....very manageable. So off to the mall we went!!!! I had heard, as I am sure all of you have, that walking is great to bring on labor....AND BOY DID IT! By the time we left the mall around 9, I had steady manageable contractions about every 8-10 minutes, some closer together and some further apart. Once we got home it was closer to 10 and I figured sleeping would probably be very important so we went straight to bed. Sleep was not in the cards for us though. The contractions started getting much stronger....not something I could sleep through. I called the doctor around 11 because I was still bleeding and now contracting and just wanted to make sure everything was okay and I was doing what I should be. He said not to call until my contractions were 5 minutes apart for about 2 hours. Around 2 am, I was about 90% positive my water broke and I was contracting every 10 minutes or so. I called the doctor and he said the head on into the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital around 3 am and I swear contractions were coming every 3-5 minutes and were a ton more painful! The nurse checked me and I was 3 cm....they were going to send me home but saw how quick contractions were coming and she decided to check me in. We got into our room and monitored the baby for about 30 minutes....Labor was definitely in full swing.

One thing I would definitely suggest to anyone who wants to go naturally or is not able to get an epidural right away is to take full advantage of the TUB! Water helped me so much in those early stages!

I got into the tub and stayed for about 45 minutes until I had to be monitored and checked again. At this point, I was about 5 cm. I decided to walk around and keep moving, while I still could. A little while later, I got checked again and was 6 cm and was in crazy pain. I decided to get IV fluids at this point. The nurse let me know that in no way would this take away the pain if that is what I was hoping for, but rather take the edge off. The fluids definitely helped me rest in between contractions too which was great since I hadn't slept at all. I had a lot of back pain because the baby was face down....I pray for anyone who is pregnant that they don't have back labor. Ouch! Once I reached 8 cm, my progress seemed to slow down. The nurse had to give me petocin to get things going again....which didn't help with the pain. One round of IV fluids lasted 2 hours....and I could definitely tell when that 2 hours was up! THE EDGE WAS BACK! I ended up getting 3 rounds of IV fluids....so to get from 6 to 9 it took about 6 hours, not typical since the transition phase of labor is usually 45 minutes to an hour.

At 9 cm, the nurse let me know that the doctor suggested getting an epidural because I was having a really hard time relaxing (YOU THINK) and my cervix was swelling some....making it more difficult for the baby to come through. I said absolutely not....I made it this far and I was not about to get an epidural. At this point too, the baby was still face down so we had to try and get her to turn. I had to get up and sway back and forth and when laying down, I had to rotate side to side.....much harder than it sounds. By this time too, all I could scream, and I mean scream, was that I had to push. I don't think I actually dilated to 10 cm fully....they checked me one last time and at about Noon, Dr. Pohl came in and I was we were ready.

Another thing too for anyone even thinking about going natural is....the urge to push is no joke! Once you are dilated, the pain does go and you know exactly when to push. There is no pain really, just lots of pressure when pushing. I pushed for about 20 minutes and Zoe arrived!

That moment was so amazing! I couldn't believe.....one....she was a she....and two.....Zoe was finally here! Zach and I just held each other and cried.....it was such a beautiful moment that I will never forget! I got to hold Zoe Jane immediately and then they cleaned her up a little.. Zoe was born at 12:19 and is 6 lbs 13 oz and 20 inches long. Zach went out and told everyone the news and came back with everyone. Grammy, Grandma, Aunt Kaitlin, Aunt Chrysti and Ms. Brenda came in to oooo and aaaa at Zoe and we all cried. It is so wonderful sharing such a gift with everyone. Oh, I love her so much!

As a side note: I have the most amazing husband EVER! He was phenominal during the whole labor and delivery. He did anything I demanded him to do....and I was demanding. He was so supportive and positive. He helped me focus on something else and counting through contractions. He was just great and I could not have made it without him. For all dads, do whatever your wife says, practice massaging now to stregthen your hands, and bring tennis balls!