The DeShazer Family: Zoe Jae's Birth Story

One thing I learned this time around was that no two pregnancies or deliveries are the same! I don't know if it was from chasing Grevin around or as some say if you are having a girl, you fight over the same hormones...whatever it was, this pregnancy was more exhausting! Also, since Grey was 9 pounds 13 ounces, we kept an eye on the size this time around and I was told numerous times that this baby would not be nearly as big as Grey. I had lost 10 pounds during the first half of the pregnancy and only ended up a positive 10 pounds by the time Zoe decided to make her entrance. I was also told numerous times that second babies come early and come fast. Not in this case!!

Zoe's due date rolled around-Monday, February 21, 2011- and I was only dialated to 2 cm with no signs that she was coming any time soon. I ate lots of spicy food, went for lots of walks, had a pedicure, a massage, and tried just about anything other than castor oil since the doctors were talking inducement at just over a week over due.

In the early hours of Thursday morning, we thought my water had broken (ended up just being ALOT of cervical fluid-I didn't pee myself which was my second thought!). We headed into labor and delivery later that morning since contractions hadn't started. My midwife was on duty, confirmed it wasn't my water, and did a membrane sweep, I was 4 cm but with no contractions...sent us home and said she would see me by the end of the day to deliver our new little baby! Since it was the day before our anniversary, Zippy and I went out to brunch and to a movie as our anniversary date. My contractions started so we left Grey out at Grammie's for the night since it was storming and didn't want her to drive out in the rain in the middle of the night. Well, they didn't get very close or very intense so I slept on and off that night.

Friday morning, on our anniversary, we headed out to breakfast with Grey and Grammie then to the park. I was still having contractions, again not close or intense, and we figured today would be the day and again left Grey at Grammie's. My contractions never got closer than 6 minutes apart. I called labor and delivery and they said to come in when they were 5 minutes apart and more intense. With Grey, I had back labor so these contractions were nothing but annoying compared to them. I tried to go to bed that night and couldn't sleep well at all. I called labor and delivery again around 6 am and she repeated that there wasn't anything to do but wait it out and come in when they were 5 minutes apart. But to hurry then because baby would come fast. I broke down in tears at this point and she said I could come in and get checked. They would offer me morphine to sleep and go from there since I was so exhausted. I really didn't want this and she kept saying just to come in. I said that we would in a little bit.

Zippy and I went for more walks, contractions would get to 3 minutes apart as we walked but would go back to 6 minutes and would go away completely in the shower. It was frustrating!! One of our friends had her baby Friday so we decided it wouldn't be a wasted trip if we went to get checked and sent away. Around 2:30 pm on Saturday afternoon, we decided to head in again but didn't bring anything in with us because we assumed we would be turned away. They hooked me up to the monitors and around 5 pm, they checked me and I was 5 cm with the sac of waters almost ready to break so they admitted us!

We went to see our friend in post partum and visited her for about an hour before heading back to get my IV port in and finish the admittance process. They checked me again and I was 7 cm. This was still with no change from Thursday in my contractions-intentsity or timing. The nurse was impressed I could still talk through the contractions and was thinking that I could easily have this baby without an epidural. If my labor had just started, I would have considered it but after 3 days of no sleep and annoying contractions, I asked for it before my water broke :) I want some comfort and rest! The doctor on rounds came in to evaluate me after he heard Grey was almost 10 pounds. He checked the size of the baby and said that baby was going to be big but not NEARLY as big as Grey was!

The epidural was in around 7:30 pm and Zoe was still pretty high so we just let my body do what it needed to do. I dialated to 9.5 cm by 9:30 so they broke my water and I was at 10 cm shortly after and ready to push. The midwife on duty just so happened to be the same one who delivered Grey. I started pushing at 10:30 pm and we started taking bets to how long it would take. I said 11:26 and the midwife said I would have a baby WAY before that. Well, we would have if this big girl didn't get stuck on my pelvic bone. She was stuck for over half an hour and I was afraid that I would end up with a c-section so we tried multiple positions and I pushed really really hard and she slipped under my pelvic bone. Zoe made her appearance at 11:47 pm!

The midwife immediately said that Zoe must be bigger than her brother was. She let us cuddle and nurse for awhile until she finally said that she just HAD to put her on the scale. With Grey I had no tearing and with her I ended up with 3rd degree tearing. Of course this made sense since she was 10 lbs 2 oz, almost 5 oz bigger than Grey and came alot faster even getting stuck for so long. I also hemorrhaged and lost alot of blood. Everyone was very concerned because they couldn't get it to stop. It finally slowed down after 2 bags of pitocin but I was not allowed to do anything for the first two weeks after birth since I was high risk to hemorrhage again.

Zoe has been such an amazing baby. She immediately latched on and has been a good eater ever since. She is a good little sleeper, too, she loves to curl up against my side in bed and will only wake once or twice to eat at night. She loves to cuddle and watch her brother run around. She really completes our family and it feels as if she has always been here.