zoe's arrival

Sooo...Z baby decided that she did not want to make her arrival on her own accord, and after our 41-week ultrasound and the technician measuring her around a whopping 9 pounds, my doctor decided it was time to induce. She was 9 days late and I must say I was quite ready.

On the way to the hospital, I started to think that this wasn't half bad. We had seen my doctor at 9 am on January 25 and that is when she told us we needed to get this baby out. She told us that she wanted us to come back to the hospital later that night and we would start the induction. She also told me after they gave me the little insert, I would most likely fall asleep for the night and labor would get going sometime in the morning. So, it was sounding pretty good. We spent the day playing putt-putt with our good friends Erin and Cody (I won...although part of me thinks they let me since I was about to pop out the baby). Then we all met Suzan and Orvell at Java House and ate a wonderful meal together. We went home, I took a shower, we got all our stuff together and headed for the hospital. So yeah, on the way there I was thinking maybe induction is the way to go. On your terms, planned out, no surprises. Not bad.

We got to the hospital a little after 9 pm and two of our sweet bosses (love them!) met us there. They helped Nate fill out all the paperwork (thank goodness, Nate was a little scatter-brained) and then they prayed with us that Zoe would come quickly and she would be healthy. Amen to James 5:16
"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective"

When they left, they gave me the little insert and Nate turned on the discovery channel (the only channel we could get in the room). We watched a show about women cops and then I started noticing I was not feeling so hot. Contractions were coming strong and hard and it had only been maybe an hour since I got the insert. The nurses would bring in a machine every so often to measure my contractions and I kept my eye on the machine and noticed just how strong and fast they were coming. I knew something was up when my doctor showed up (obviously awoken from a deep sleep) around 2 am. I turned to Nate (maybe a little grouchy by this point) and said "Why is she here?" She told me that my uterus was "over-reacting" to this insert thing and she was going to give me something to "help my uterus rest." Also, she warned me that this medicine had the glorious side-effect of nausea. Super. The resting part didn't happen, the nausea did. Go figure.

At this point, I was in quite a bit of pain and asked for something to help. However, I was only 2 cm dilated and they told me they couldn't give me anything until I was 3. Ok...just a little bit longer, right? For the next few hours, I was in some pretty intense pain and poor Nate didn't know what to do. He kept asking me to eat a rice krispie treat to keep my strength up and after about the third time, I firmly insisted that I did NOT want a rice krispy treat. (Before you think badly of us...it's a little different here, they don't mind you eating and actually encourage it so that you will have strength for labor)

Then came the vomiting...some serious vomiting. Now I am used to vomiting because I get motion sickness quite a bit and I'm able to handle it pretty well now. However, vomiting mixed with super painful contractions...not fun. Finally, Nate tracked down a nurse and asked her to please come examine me so that hopefully I could get some medication. When she came in, I informed her that I needed an epidural and I needed it badly. So, she examined me and I was now 7 cm dilated. 7!! And do you know what happens when you are that dilated? Apparently, it's too late for an epidural. She told me she could order the medicine but it probably wouldn't get here in time and I was about to hit the worst of it. Wonderful.

I was progressing so quickly that she took me right into the delivery room. After a few minutes (although it seemed like forever) she examined me again and I was 9 cm dilated. I told her I needed to push and she told me no. No?! Excuse me?! Luckily, the doctor came in a few minutes later, broke my water immediately and told me to push away!! So I did and little Zoe was out just a few minutes later. They threw her on my chest and there was the most beautiful baby you have ever seen. Nate cut her umbilical cord and then went with her to have all her tests done. He said she was wide-eyed and alert the whole time. Maybe she was realizing it wasn't as bad out here as she thought it might be. Oh, and she was 3.8 kilos (not the 9-pounder we expected, just a little over 8!)

We are so in love with her and we could not be more thankful for this precious gift from God.