Labor and Delivery

So, many things to blog about . . . so little time.  I guess I should start with the story of our new little Zoey's birth.  It started with my 39 week visit to the doctor, where, I have to admit, I was sooo anxious to finally meet our baby that I practically begged the doctor to strip my membranes.  This was on a Tuesday and he said he expected I would have the baby before the weekend since I was already dialated to 3 cm and about 75% effaced.  About an hour later my contractions started.  Although I was having contractions for the next two days straight, they were irregular (one would be 5 minutes apart, then the next 11 minutes, then 3 minutes), so we didn't end up going to the hospital until Thursday morning at around 10:30 am, when it was clear that they were not stopping and they were getting more painful.  When we got to the hospital I was dialated to 4 cm and then a couple hours later, I was about 5 cm.  I was starting to wonder why I had come to the hospital so early, I was sure that I would be progressing faster than that!  Then with each contraction I started getting muscle spasms that radiated from my back and through my legs, so I decided it was time for the epidural.  I got the epidural at about 2:30 pm and sent Tobby down to the cafeteria to get a bite to eat so he wouldn't be famished through the whole birthing process.  My mom showed up around 3:00 pm and about a half hour later the doctor came to check up on me.  To our surprise, he told us that I was fully dialated and ready to push.  What?!  We called Tobby's cell phone, (luckily he had it), and waited for him to come back up to start.  Since I had just had the epidural an hour before, I was completely numb and couldn't feel when I was having contractions.  After about 35 minutes of pushing, Zoey Evangeline Harward was born at 4:22 pm. 

The first time giving birth was really surreal, and it was just as awesome this time.  My recovery has been 100 times better and all I really needed for the pain afterwards was ibuprofen for back pain.  We feel so blessed to have our little Zoey in our lives and although it's been hectic and an adjustment, we have a lot of helping hands around.  Tobby has been such a great dad and husband through this whole experience.  We are looking forward to getting to know our baby girl and love to see Lily and her interact.  Thank you for everyone for the love and support!