part 3 and she is here!

***ETIDED TO ADD PICTURES***
Ok so blogger will not let me move the pictures any more... so they will just have to stay at the top. Sorry.

Zoe sucking in her hand right after she was born.

Three generations of Thompsons. Kurt, his dad Brad and Zoe.

Daddy holding his sweet baby girl for the first time. He loves her so much already.

The nurse looked at me like I was a little crazy. I don't think she took me very seriously. But she casually said, "Ok I will check you."

And she did. At this point the anesthesiologist was walking in the door.

Then a little panic overtook her face.. she said, "umm you are 9."

It took a second for that to set in. as she told me I would NOT be receiving my epidural I was counting on. The anesthesiologist turned around and walked right back out the way he came.. taking my dreams of no pain with him. *sigh*

Then I could feel panic on MY face. I looked at Kurt and started to freak out a little and kept saying, "I can't do this, I can't so this." Rockstar indeed.. HA!

He tried to calm me down and make me focus. He was pretty much amazing and I have no idea what I would have done without him there. I would have been one of those crazy people screaming and passing out.. which I almost did.. but I digress.

Then the worst part of the entire labor.. my body wanted to push, needed to push. But the nurse said I still had a little cervix left and that I had to wait. Seriously?

My body was pushing and I was trying to stop it. It is very hard to control involuntary muscle spasms. Add in the hyperventilating that I was doing because I was freaking out saying, "I don't want to do this anymore." As if I was going to get up off the bed and walk out the door to go home. They had to give me oxygen because I was hyperventilating and my hands were going stiff and I couldn't move them.

At his point it was about 4:30am. And they were telling me that I might have to push through that tiny bit of cervix because my body was obviously ready. So push I did.

I wish I could have pushed through every contraction that I ever had. It made them feel so much better. You are not thinking about your contraction at all.. just pushing.

As I was doing the initial pushing, there was a sort of frenzy around me. My mom and Kurt were making phone calls to our families who went home. My dad went home to sleep and told my mom to call me when I got to 8cm.. I guess I skipped that part. Sorry dad. The doctor and nurses were quickly pulling my bed apart and wheeling in equipment. Chaos I tell you.

Kurt's mom go there just in time. I think she was there all of 10 minutes before Zoe was born.

Anyways, I kept pushing as hard as I could during each contraction, then tried to focus on breathing regularly in between. I didn't want to have to wait for contractions, that was no fun. At one point they asked me if I was having a contraction so I could push again and I told them, "No but I want one." HA I was delirious I think.

The doctor was there and my baby's head was halfway out. He told me to push one more little push to deliver the head. I pushed a little push, but apparently I was stronger that I thought. My sweet little baby went form having half a head out to being delivered to her waist. Then she just came on out. I was looking at the doctor as she came out and he literally had to catch her because she did a flip.

Then I heard the most wonderful words "It's a girl!" followed by the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. My daughter crying.

My eyes must have been so wide when I looked at Kurt and just said, "a girl!" I think that was all I could manage to say at that point. I was pretty tired. But not too tired to hold the most beautiful baby girl ever. (ok so I may be a little bias)

Zoe Adalyn was born at 4:56am on April 14, 2009.

Right after Zoe was born. We were in complete bliss.

The next couple of days were all a little blurred together. Zoe's pediatrician wanted her to stay at least 24 hours. So we stayed until the 16th. I am glad we stayed an extra day. I was not really in any condition to walk or even stand. My very quick delivery was not without consequences in the form of stitches. (TMI I know, but hey it's reality ;) )

The time spent int he hospitla was a whirlwind of visitors and nurses coming in and out to check on Zoe and me, different people coming in for tests and certificates. But no pictures.. that lady never came. She went home and we had to come back the next day to get her picture taken.

I was trying to soak up every minute of my experience and my new little girl. But we were definitely ready to go home by the time we were discharged.


*Blogger is not letting me post pictures. ugh.. so I will post them later.. sorry. I know what is a birth story without pictures!*

6 weeks ago... part 2

After the initial shock wore off, we both started to laugh. I mean seriously, it is pretty awkward I'm not gonna lie. I quickly got dressed (as quickly as a 9 month pregnant lady in labor can) while Kurt gathered our things. We made sure we had everything before heading out the door to the hospital.

On the way we called our families who were pretty excited even though it was 10:30 at night. Kurt also called the hospital to let them know we were on our way.

The entire way to the hospital I had one contraction. It didn't even hurt but just felt like a Braxton Hicks contraction. Which made me a little nervous. I thought "oh great I am not even in labor they are gonna send me home." I even old Kurt that I was not in that much pain and they would probably send me home. He told me that we had to go in because my water broke. I agreed, but still thought I was not going to be admitted.

When we got to the hospital, we had to go through the ER entrance. I got some interesting looks as I waddled through the room. We made it to Labor and Delivery, which is rather a long walk from the ER. I was put in a room and told to undress.

A nurse came in to check me.. which by the way is one of the most painful things. I all but squirmed right off that bed.

She told me I was 4cm dilated, but my water didn't break. "oh great so I just have no control over my bladder." was my thought. Kurt and I were even joking about that on the way. Real funny.

We laughed and told the nurse that, but she said that come people have a forebag on the outside of their amniotic sac, which was probably what broke.

We are going to go with that... forebag NOT incontinence.. got it? good.

SO she left the room to talk to the dr. Again I told Kurt I thought we were going to be sent home. I have no idea why I was so convinced I was not in labor, maybe because the contractions really didn't hurt all that bad.

The nurse came back in with an armful of supplies. things to start an iv and such. I laughed nervously and she said.. "you're being admitted."

It was about 11pm now She asked me lots of different questions about my background and was joking that she was disappointed about how boring I was. She even said "ever had chlamydia? that would make you a party girl!" again, disappointment. She was so funny and I really liked her. It made me so much less nervous and anxious.

I told her that I might want an epidural but we were going to see how things went. She started my IV because to get an epidural you have to have fluids. I have never had so many things attached to my body in my life. monitors and IVs and a blood pressure cuff. It made going to the bathroom an interesting task. Since my water had not broken yet, they asked me if I wanted them to break it. I said no and wanted to wait a little longer to see what happened.

So we waited around and I was having regular contractions that were getting more intense, but nothing that I couldn't handle with a little breathing. My mom took a nap and Kurt tried to take a nap, but he was sitting in the chair next to me and I would squeeze his hand every couple of minutes. I can imagine that would make it hard to sleep.

They came in to check me again at around 3AM. I was 5 cm dilated. They again asked me if I would like them to break my water. I asked them if it would change my progression at all if they did. The dr said I would probably continue to progress the same. I figured why not.He broke my water at about 3:30- 3:45 AM. Very interesting experience.

The next contraction I had was the worst contraction ever. There was no more cushion to protect from the pain. I think I only made it through 2 maybe 3 contractions before I was telling Kurt I wanted an epidural and couldn't handle it anymore. He asked if I was sure, at the same time a very hard contractions hit. I was sure.

He called the nurse, who said she would be back to check on me at around 5:30 or 6. OR sooner if I needed anything. We told her I wanted an epidural and she said it would be 45 minute before I could get one. She offered me a general pain killer while I waited for the second bag of fluids to be pumped into me. I accepted the pain killer, fentinol. She said it would just take the edge off and that it would still hurt. All I could think was that anything was better than what I was feeling.

The nurse was nice and even put a pressure bag on the iv bag to make it go faster. The fentinol didn't' help much, but I guess I wouldn't know if it would have been worse without it. She came in every 5 minutes or so to pump more air into the pressure bag around the fluids.

About 20 minutes passed and she started to wheel in the equipment. I could feel the relief set in... that is until I felt something else.

I looked at the nurse setting up the machine and said, "I feel like I have to push!"

6 weeks ago...

I was in labor. wow

but before I go there, lets back-track a little further shall we?

Friday April 10th, I had a doctors appointment in which they told me some exciting news. This came as quite a shock considering I was only 37 weeks and 5 days along. But of course we were soooo excited to hear it. I had only had some minor cramping the day before and a few contractions.

I was still having contractions on Saturday and was starting to get excited and nervous. We packed our bags for the hospital and made sure everything was ready.

Sunday was Easter. We got up and went to sunrise service, which was amazing and beautiful. I was still feeling some cramping that morning, but was fine to go to church. I had contractions on and off all day on Sunday. It was very hard to hide it from my family. I didn't want anyone to make a big deal out of it just in case it was a false alarm. I mean after all, I was 2 weeks early. That just doesn't happen often for first pregnancies.

My contractions were coming every five minutes apart and lasting about 30 seconds. But I would only have them for about 30 minutes and then they would stop for a few hours. This happened all day and all night for the most part. VERY frustrating.

I had a few more contractions on Monday the 13th, but by the afternoon, they had almost completely stopped. I was mostly just uncomfortable all day.

I was so discouraged and disappointed. Which was silly because, again I was 2 weeks early.

When Kurt got home from work, I was tired so tired. I was sad because I was not in labor, feeling a little silly because I thought I WOULD be in labor at only 38 weeks, and tired because I didn't sleep the night before and was to uncomfortable to take a nap during the day.

At about 8:30, I started having contractions again. We were timing them and again, they were every 5 minutes apart and lasting the same as they had before.

This time, they were getting stronger and I was having to breathe through them a little. But they were not HORRIBLE like people described. So we timed and and hour went by.

I was still having them... I thought this might be it. If any case we could at least go to the hospital and get checked to see if I WAS in labor. But we decided to wait it out a little longer.

I had previously decided that I wanted to labor at home and be comfortable as long as possible. So we went for a little walk around the neighborhood. After the walk, I decided I wanted to take a shower because my back was hurting.

It was about 10pm when I got out of the shower, I was about the get dressed when it happened...

My water broke.. a slow little trickle.

Oh crap.. this is it! was all I could think.. Kurt and I stood there staring at each other for a second.

Nothing better...

There is nothing better in the world than this. This was after her first doctor's appointment when she was just a few days old.

Now my baby is fast approaching one month and it just seems like she was born yesterday (although it no longer feels like it. Thank God!)


I promise I am working on her birth story because well.. if this amazing gal can do it just days after having her baby.. I can do it within the month. ;)

Big Sister

Zoe has the best sig sister ever.

Daisy.

She has claimed Zoe as her own and always makes sure she is ok and will watch her.
When we come home. Daisy is right there waiting to sniff her baby just to make sure.

The other night, Kurt's parents and aunt were over. Zoe was hungry and as I was feeding her, Daisy had to make sure I was doing it right. She after all is a professional. She had 4 puppies almost 2 years ago.

Then when it was grandpa's (or crap-pa as Aubrey so affectionately calls him. ;) ) turn to hold Zoe, Daisy had to make sure he was doing it properly. She loves her baby and has to be certain she is being well taken care of.

Finally Aunt Patti got her turn for some baby snuggling. And who do you think was there supervising.

Now she is not aggressive or mean in any way. She just likes to observe to see what you are doing to HER baby. When Zoe cries, Daisy is right there to look at her and see what is going on. It is so cute. Daisy sleeps in our bed, and the bassinet/Pack N Play is pushed up next to our bed. During the first few days, everytime Zoe would cry or make a peep, Daisy would get up and peek into the bassinet to see what was wrong.

She loves her little sister and is the best supervisor.

Just know that if you come over and want to hold her baby.. you will be watched and possibly judged.. who knows. :)