Happy Birthday Zoe! (3/17/10)

So Adorable!

Grandma & Grandpa Herrud with all 4 grandkids!

Zoe & her cousin Adyson. Can you believe they are only 2 months apart?

Workin' with Daddy!

Ty & Zoe (So precious)

She loves her binkie!

We are so excited that our little one is here and healthy. She wasn't supposed to be here for another few weeks, but mama's body just couldn't keep her in. Monday the 15th, I woke up at 4 am from a migraine that I had had for about 5 days. I was having contractions and in a lot of pain. My midwife told me to meet her at the hospital and get checked out. My blood pressure was through the roof & all my labs came back not so good (all signs of pre eclampsia). I had not had any problems throughout my entire pregnancy other than back pain, so I sure was glad we decided to go to the hospital. The contractions were Braxton hicks, but they still wanted to keep me over night to be monitored. They ran my labs again and they came back worse. The only real cure for pre eclampsia is to deliver. Although I was 37 weeks and considered full term they were still worried about Zoe's lung development.

We decided the best choice was to induce. Tuesday morning they induced me starting first with Cervidil and then were going to start the Pitocin that night around 9 pm. My body started to finally have regular contractions about 7 pm on Tuesday and continued throughout the night. They continued throughout the night w/ me on a slow drip of Pit and cranked it up in the morning. When morning came I had progressed a little. I was about 2 cm & 70 percent effaced. I got an epidural at noon (which was fabulous) & cranked up the Pit once again. I couldn't feel much of anything! The anesthesiologist did miss the first time he inserted it and hit a vein, but in the end got it right! By about 5 pm on Wednesday the 17th (St. Patrick's Day) I was still in labor and had only progressed to 6 cm. Her head sucked back up and it didn't seem like she was ready to come on her own. Her heart rate started to increase which happens when babies get stressed. At this point I had been in the hospital for 85 hours and in labor for a good 22 hours... I was exhausted! Flora (my midwife) came in the delivery room and told me we were going to have to get her out pretty quick or she could get very sick. They put me on oxygen to help Zoe while we waited for them to prep an OR and for the Dr to show up.

Once I was in the OR, everything happened so fast. The craziest thing happened as the anesthesiologist was strapping my arms down. One of the nurses passed out on the floor, and I saw the whole thing. Yikes! I asked him, "she's not going to help with this now is she?" The whole time this is going on, Ty is waiting patiently outside. The next thing he knows a nurse comes out of the OR screaming and frantic. Ty is totally freaked that something is wrong with me. Stupid nurse! You just don't do that. Finally it was time! Ty came in, held my hand and tried to comfort me as much as possible by trying to take my mind off of the fact that I am awake and having major surgery. It was definitely a trip! She was out in about 5 minutes. I kissed her and don't remember much after that. They stapled me together and the next thing I remember is waking up in the recovery room. Thank goodness for medicine! I don't know what I would have done without it.

They wheeled me into the nursery to see Zoe. She was on oxygen and had an IV in. She was having a hard time breathing, but quickly recovered. They took her off of oxygen about 6 hours after delivery. The IV stayed in just until I was able to feed her.

What an insane and amazing experience!! It took a while to get her here, but she is healthy and happy and Ty & I couldn't ask for more.