The Houston Family: Zoe Jai Houston

I guess it is about time...Ok, ok, way passed time to blog about bringing my beautiful daughter into the world. She is 3 months old after all. It is amazing how much she has changed in just those 3 short months though!

Here is the story of her arrival.

At my 34 week appointment I was measuring small, at 32.5 inches. Dr. K wasn't too concerned but he said he'd like to keep a close watch on it because if I measured 3 inches too small we'd have to find out why. At 35 & 36 weeks I was measuring about 2.5 inches small so he ordered an ultrasound. It showed the amniotic fluid was a bit low, an 8 when it should be a 10. Still he wasn't too concerned he said it didn't get too dangerous for the baby until it reached 6. Then at 37 weeks I went in and was measuring 3.5 inches too small so he ordered another ultrasound. My fluid was now just barely 6, with a couple of pockets measuring even less than that, so Dr. K scheduled me for induction 2 days later, on Friday March 26.

The hospital called at 6 am and told me they were ready for us. After a quick stop at WalMart for some Zicam for Nate, who was coming down with something, we were off.

I was settled in my room and hooked up to monitors by 7, and by 8 they had started me on a VERY slow pitocin drip. I started feeling a few twinges, but nothing that was at all painful, and I could tell we were in for another long labor. I was at a 3 when I went in, and nearly 4 hours later I was almost at a 4. They called Dr. K to see when he would be there to check me and he said an hour (this was at about noon).

At a quarter to one the nurse (who was WAAAAY too chatting and quite annoying) came in to tell me the anesthesiologist was going into surgery and asked me if I wanted my epidural now or if I wanted to wait until he was out of surgery. Now, please and thank you!

I would've loved to have taken a nap after getting my epidural, but as I just mentioned my nurse was far too social to let that happen. I must've been her only patient, because I think she was in my room basically the entire day! Just blogging about this is getting me all frustrated again :) Ok, I may be over exaggerating things a bit. I did take a nap and when I woke up it was almost 3 and the Dr was just getting there.

He broke my water and told them to keep the pitocin at the same dosage for 2 more hours. I wasn't even to a 5 yet so I was a little disappointed that he didn't allow them to up it at all.

Nate and I watched a movie on the laptop, discussed what we were going to name this little bundle when she finally did arrive, had a few visitors, and suddenly it was shift change and Chatty Cathy was coming in to say goodbye. The nurse I got after her was FABULOUS! Penny was her name, and I could tell she was a take-charge kind of gal. She checked me shortly after she got there and I was still just a 5, she said she was going to call the Dr and see if we could up the drip. 45 minutes or so later she came back and sure enough he had given her the green light.

It was nearly 8 pm by then, 12 hours since being induced. My labor with Hudson was 12 hours and 42 minutes, and I was very disappointed that this was was clearly going to be much much longer than that. I had always heard it's faster with each kid. Not in my case I guess, but when have I ever been the "typical" type?

I tried sleeping a bit more, but I was anxious. My mom and Judy came to be with us around 9. Nate tried to keep me entertained, but I wasn't a great audience. I was ready to get this baby here and in my arms. Not to mention I had been too anxious to eat that morning so I was starting to get pretty hungry.

Once the contractions got going the baby's monitor kept slipping and they ended up putting one on her head so they could keep track of her heart rate, same thing happened with Hudson. It seemed like once that happened things started moving very quickly.

I was incredibly numb, more than I remember from before. I could feel nothing. Penny had been having me switch sides trying to get the baby to move down ever since she came on shift and I was of no use to help myself move.

At midnight she came in and checked me and said I was almost there and asked if I felt like I was ready to push. I seriously felt nothing at all. So she left and came back about 20 or 30 minutes later and said that we were about to have a baby. The other nurse ran to call Dr. K and luckily he lives about 7 minutes away from the hospital. While we were waiting for him Penny had me push once and made me stop. Baby was that close! FINALLY!!

Dr K walked in at 12:40 am, and I asked if we could shoot for this baby arriving at 12:42 am, same time as Hudson...Maybe a little weird, but I thought it would be kinda fun. So we had a count down going, as soon as 12:42 hit I gave 2 good pushes and she was here! She cried one tiny little cry, and of course I was crying too.

The first thing I noticed and commented on when I saw her was how small she was, then how she looked like Hudson. They laid her on my chest and Nate cut the cord, something he didn't get to do with Hudson. I held her for just a few minutes, long enough for Judy to snap some very pictures, then they took her so they could clean her up. My mom took that time to run to Denny's to get a sandwich for me.

She hardly cried at all when getting bathed, diapered, dressed, poked and prodded. A little fussing, but for the most part she just seemed to be taking in her new surroundings with a lot of curiosity.

Our little Zoe Jai was born Saturday, March 27th, 2010 at 12:42 am. She weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz., and was 21.5 inches long.

We stayed in the hospital until 3 pm on Sunday. We were a little nervous taking her home. Hudson had been diagnosed with RSV the previous Monday, but the pediatrician reassured me that he was no longer contagious and we would be safe taking her home to meet him. I was so happy to hear that, because I hadn't been away from him for more than 1 night, and I was sure missing my little monkey!

We arrived home and my fantastic mom, who had been staying at our house with Hudson, had decorated our garage with a cute banner and balloons. My grandma was also there waiting to meet Zoe.

All in all it was a pretty low-key delivery. I was nervous the days leading up to it because of the slight complication. Turns out I had nothing to be worried about. I am actually very thankful now that she came 2 1/2 weeks early. Much better than 10 days late...ahem..Hudson...

And without further ado...Some pictures of her first couple of days.

Just minutes old and already looks like she's up to something.