Meeting Zoe

For a whole week, we've been a family of five.

{Minus Scotty}

After nine long months of insisting that I would not be induced, I scheduled an induction for Friday, November 2 (the day after my due date). I agonized over this decision, but as soon as I made the choice, I felt completely at peace.

(I'll tell the rest of that story another day).

On Friday morning, we dropped the kids off at their grandparents' house and snapped a quick "oops-almost-forgot" 40 weeks + 1 day photo:

{40+1}

The problem with trying to take a picture in front of the in-laws' house is that there is usually a mischievous individual standing somewhere off to the side waiting to throw a tennis ball.

{Catch}

{Throw}

When we arrived at the hospital, I changed into my super sexy hospital gown and waited to meet my nurse. When I checked in, I overheard someone mention that my nurse was Lisa. I had prayed my entire pregnancy that I would have the "right" nurse, and as soon as I heard her name, I knew my prayers had been answered. I know it might sound silly, but when she walked in, I immediately thought, this is the nurse Heavenly Father picked for me. 

And she was great.

And she had just started her shift, so she was there the entire time.

The only thing that didn't work out well with Lisa was that she started the Pitocin and forgot to run it into my IV. So I hung out for 45 minutes thinking I would go into labor any second and then got up to go to the bathroom and noticed the tube just dangling freely. 

I forgave her, though.

From the time I was really induced, to the time I had the baby was about seven hours. Not too bad, in my opinion. Nicky took 24 and Daisy took 8, so I am ever improving.

As not to make this into a novel, here are a few memorable things about my labor:

• I spent my painless time reading Son by Lois Lowry.

• I laughed hysterically when my doctor broke my water, and I kept saying, "This is so disgusting!" Then every time I felt a gush of fluids, I'd squeal in horror.

• I went to the bathroom no less than ten times before I had my epidural. I was actually excited to have a catheter because I was so sick of wheeling my IVs into the bathroom every 20 minutes. 

• My doctor told me I could pee in the bed, and he'd never know. (I did not pee in the bed). (I think the doctor and the nurse were as sick of my peeing as I was).

• When I got my epidural, the anesthesiologist hit a vein and the catheter filled with blood. He said that only happens 1% of the time, but I wasn't listening because he was talking during a contraction, so maybe he didn't say that at all. All I know is that I didn't die, so that's good. He had to put in a new cath, and since he had dosed the first one, he didn't dose the new one. Forty minutes later, I still couldn't talk through a contraction, so the anesthesiologist came back and gave me another dose. From then on, it was sweet, magical bliss!

• We tried watching Robin Hood to pass the time, but the DVD player had no remote and no fast forward button. When we finally got to the episode we wanted, we couldn't turn the subtitles on (we watch everything with subtitles), so we gave up. (The episode ended up being about a woman in labor with a breech baby, and Little John had to turn the baby and deliver it. What are the odds that this is the episode we would have watched while I was in labor?)

• My labor stalled for a while when I was dilated to a 4 (this tends to happen every time), but as soon as I hit a 5, it was smooth sailing right to 10. 

• Scotty left me for a while so he could go to Costco and eat some pizza.

• I had two epidural farts, but I decided to just pretend they didn't happen. 

• When I started feeling a slight need to push, I called my nurse in and asked her to check me. I quietly explained that I either needed to push or fart. I figured that being honest about it would make it less awkward if I, indeed, needed to fart. It was push time! But I farted anyway.

(I think my censor is getting weaker with every baby I deliver).

I pushed for about ten minutes, and our baby was born at 8:52 p.m. Scotty told me we had a girl. The nurses laid her on my stomach and started wiping her clean. She was so big and healthy, and I noticed right away that she had fat rolls on her arms and legs. (Squee!)

{Thigh Rolls}

She also had a head of dark hair, which is oh so exciting!

{Daddy's Hairline}

She kept trying to push against me with her arms to lift her upper body to look around. She was quite fussy for the first hour, but she was an angel for the rest of the night. 

{Mom & Zoe}

We had a list of three possible girl names, but when I saw her, I didn't feel like any of those names fit her. It took us 24 hours to come up with something else, but we decided on Zoe Rose.

{Zoe Rose}

Nicky and Daisy came to meet Zoe right away. Scotty and I were so excited to see Daisy's reaction to a baby sister. Daisy fell in love immediately. She was so confident and proud to be a big sister!

{Big Sister Daisy}

Nicky played it cool, but he couldn't fool anyone. He was excited, too, and it didn't take him long to realize he is outnumbered.

We brought Zoe home on Sunday.

{Going Home}

We are all doing great, and Zoe is a wonderful addition to our family. We are so blessed to have this little one in our lives. It's amazing how quickly a new baby fits in. It already feels like she has always been ours!