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Zoe is here!

by JoyRenee, Oct 26, 2009 11:38PM
5016980?1256618323
I know a couple members let you guys know she was here (laura and chantal- thank you!)! Here's a short snippet of what happened on Friday:

Friday morning we all got up as usual and Daddy took our oldest to school. He doesn't work Friday so he came back home. Not long after we got up I told him I needed to go lay down. I was in bed, trying to fall asleep, when my water broke!

It felt like I peed myself but I KNEW I hadn't. I stood up and sure enough more fluid gushed out. I started shaking horribly like you do while in labor. I think part of it was nerves, too! All of a sudden I felt really unprepared.

Daniel's dad came to get our other daughter and we headed to the hospital. I got there expecting to be at least 5cm but I was only 3cm!!! And her head was still not engaged enough for them to let me get up and move around as we wanted to prevent cord prolapse (where the cord comes out before baby's head which would then compress the cord and cut off her oxygen supply and she'd die).

Well the contractions started coming and coming hard. I felt a ton of pressure. And so after about 10 extra minutes of monitoring they checked again and her head had come down. Phew! I was allowed to get off the monitors and to get up to labor. The only thing I ended up doing was getting in the tub and then side-lying on the bed.

Went epidural-free but I did start begging for something. Midwife gave me something to take the edge off (not exactly sure what it was). It didn't help except to make me a little nauseated and dizzy. And that's the reason I ended up staying in bed instead of walking and moving around.

I kind of went into my own little world and labor seemed to fly by. 5 hours after my water broke I was pushing. Midwife let me push on my own- no one was counting or telling me to hold my breath. I just pushed as I felt necessary. And Miss Zoe came into the world in about 1 minute of pushing (heck, I was desperate! The pain was barely tolerable and I knew if I pushed and she got out it would stop). I gave birth to her in a side-lying position.

One funny thing was that the midwife ended up catching her all by herself. Nothing was ready. I don't think they realized how fast I'd get this baby out. The nurse had gone down the hall and my midwife didn't have time to break down the bed. She had one hand up to catch baby as she reached behind her with the other trying to get what she needed.

I had no epidural, no tears/stitches, no IVs and only about 30 minutes total of fetal monitoring (with the big bands around the belly), got to hold her immediately and for a very long time, delayed cord clamping and cutting... it was everything in my birth plan and I'm so grateful I switched to a midwife who respected me and my birth plan (and refused to give me that epidural when I started demanding one! Ha ha!).


Zoe Beth H. was born at 2:06pm on October 23rd weighing 8lbs 4oz and 20.5 inches long. She's absolutely precious! I attached a picture of her with her daddy on discharge day. You can click it to enlarge.

Thank you guys all for your well wishes!
Member Comments (53)

by misslollipop, Oct 26, 2009 11:59PM
Well done she is beautiful congratulations Joy

by Linzola1, Oct 27, 2009 12:42AM
Congratz Joy she is perfect and I am glad your labor and delivery went the way you wanted it to

by Diva2317, Oct 27, 2009 01:46AM
She's beautiful and so cute! I wish my labor had gone like that, but I needed lots of help to get my girl out of poor little me. I used a midwife too and I loved her! She had to catch my daughter too and was not expecting her when she popped out. My sister caught her attention when it happened. I was so delirious from all the pain meds and epidural I don't remember a whole lot, mostly what people tell me. Congrats!

by Sunkissed19, Oct 27, 2009 02:06AM
omigosh joy! she is SO adorable, congrats!! great birth story too....one minute of pushing! d amn girl you werent messing around haha! congrats again!! she is just too cute...love the chubby cheeks!

by smjmekg, Oct 27, 2009 02:10AM
Congrats Joy!!! She's so cute! I'm so glad your labor and delivery went as you had planned, and WOW! I agree with sunkissed, you weren't messing around with getting that baby out!

by Tabby_Cat, Oct 27, 2009 03:26AM
Congrats on the beautful baby, and congrats for having an intervention-free, unmedicated hospital birth!

They are so rare these days, but exactly what I hope to have. You have officially become my labor and delivery inspiration. :-)

by gillianl, Oct 27, 2009 04:03AM
congratulations glad your labour wasn't to bad and she looks adoreable!!

by Rosa20, Oct 27, 2009 05:14AM
wow so beautiful!! Althougth i wouldnt expect anything any diffrent then that!! :) Womderful birth story...i hope to go this time without any meds too!!

by tarajanes, Oct 27, 2009 05:27AM
Conratulations joy.she is gorgeous..

by Steph_b, Oct 27, 2009 06:46AM
She is beautiful.  Glad everything went as planned!

by LosingMyMindInGA, Oct 27, 2009 06:55AM
OMG!!! JOY!!! She is just the most precious little thing.  OK, I have SERIOUSLY been bit by the baby bug now.  Congrats...you did awesome and she is just BEAUTIFUL!!!!

by sim23, Oct 27, 2009 07:02AM
very beautiful baby. and yes u didn't have epidural and no tears ? i must say that is great of u.
congrats.

by Victoria01, Oct 27, 2009 07:08AM
Congratulations, Joy! She's a beautiful little princess. :)

by mamabear27, Oct 27, 2009 07:09AM
shes beautiful!!! i kno im not a regular with your posts but i read them all and its amazin the type of friendship (i guess u can say) that is formed on a board! congrats to you now you get to enjoy that precious angel :)

by Lance06, Oct 27, 2009 07:31AM
Joy, she is precious! God bless.

by Limonada, Oct 27, 2009 07:53AM
Congratulations!  I'm so happy that all went well and she arrived safe and sound :-))

by niki_beth, Oct 27, 2009 07:55AM
Congrats Joy!! She is absolutely precious!! So glad that you got the birthing experience that you wanted!!

by blueeyedtabbycat, Oct 27, 2009 07:56AM
Congrats Joy!! She is a beauty! (I had the same sleeper for Taylor too, so soft)

by martikadragoon, Oct 27, 2009 08:00AM
Congrats!! She's absolutely gorgeous! and your a trooper for not getting the epidural! :) I don't think I could go all natural, i'd be about ready to kill DH.

by Jhumia, Oct 27, 2009 08:21AM
To: JoyRenee
Congratulations Joy!!!! Zoe is adorable....lots a lot like her sisters.....we are all so relieved for you having a wonderful delivery.....how are you feeling now?

by Jhumia, Oct 27, 2009 08:21AM
I mean looks a lot like her sis

by rdh1981, Oct 27, 2009 08:22AM
She is perfect! Congrats!

by jdamico, Oct 27, 2009 08:57AM
congrats she is lil  cutie

by mamaofonetrying42, Oct 27, 2009 09:18AM
Congrats Joy! What a great birth! Hope you are taking it easy, she is a cutie!

by mrspookie, Oct 27, 2009 09:29AM
OMG she is a good size baby!!  Congrats.

by spade22, Oct 27, 2009 09:31AM
What a beautiful birth story.  Congratulations on the arrival of beautiful Ms Zoe

by aly79, Oct 27, 2009 09:39AM
congrats joy she is definitlly a cutie i hope my labor goes that quik again congrats to you and you precious daughter

by Grandmatobe, Oct 27, 2009 10:18AM
Congratulations Joy - - you did a wonderful job and Zoe is beautiful.  She looks so comfy laying on her daddy's tummy.  Enjoy and get some rest.

by Heatherm4, Oct 27, 2009 10:42AM
Yay....welcome to the world Zoe!! Her and I share a birthday!!! :)

by wanttobeamumagain, Oct 27, 2009 11:57AM
Congratulations she is perfect and she shares a birthday with my mum. X X

by justice6920, Oct 27, 2009 12:33PM
Oh congrats! She is just Beautiful! You did a good job Mom!

by CYW, Oct 27, 2009 12:46PM
aww congrats joy! it's about time she makes her way into this world.. she is absolutely gorgeous

by chantal21, Oct 27, 2009 12:57PM
Congrats again Joy!! She is a cutie. =) You did great...seriously, I thought my barely 10 min of pushing was great...how about 1 minute!!! lol You did awesome!! I bet your girls are just so in love with her!!

by faith2086, Oct 27, 2009 01:20PM
congrats shes adorable

by nickieb85, Oct 27, 2009 01:38PM
She is so adorable and so big!

by BTS1022, Oct 27, 2009 02:34PM
To: Joy
Congrats! She is absolutely beautiful!!! You gonna try for a little brother anytime soon??

by tinytoes201, Oct 27, 2009 04:34PM
omg she is soo cute,a lil angel. congrats xx

by UmYusra, Oct 27, 2009 06:35PM
Congrats :)

by Gina209, Oct 27, 2009 11:15PM
What a big girl! She's so precious! Congratulations Mommy!

by faye83, Oct 27, 2009 11:52PM
Congrats girl! Not only is she beautiful but she was also born on my birthday :-D

by JoyRenee, Oct 27, 2009 11:54PM
To: Everyone
Thank you all so very much! She is such a great baby. This is the first time I am able to breastfeed without supplementing as well. I had a hard time nursing my first two and not because of them but because I didn't know what I was doing. Zoe is doing awesome! She practically nurses all the time it seems but I'm just soaking it all up. They grow too fast!

Healing-wise I'm doing amazing as well. My insides are sore as things shift back into place and so I'm just taking it easy. DH is doing every little thing (and without griping!). I basically sit on the couch all day nursing. I try to get up and walk around though. Bleeding is down to spotting already and I had her only 4 days ago. I recommend drinking the raspberry leaf tea! I really attribute that to the tea.


TabbyCat- YOU CAN DO IT! So long as you have a doctor or midwife that is on the same page as you there's no reason you can't strive for a similar birth experience.

BTS- Daddy does want a boy (or two) but definitely waiting! LOL! I really need to lose the weight first.

martikadragoon- Surprisingly I didn't want to kill DH. I was so focused on the pain that I didn't even really think of him except to grab his hand at times. I think I bit his hand once, too. LOL!

LosingMyMindinGA- BABY DUST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chantal- my oldest is enamored by Zoe but our 2-yr-old doesn't really want much to do with her. She's sweet about it, though. Sometimes she'll ask me where Zoe is (even when I'm holding her) and tell me, "He's so cute!" But other than that she doesn't really care at this point.

by Cheyenne_08, Oct 28, 2009 01:15AM
She is very cute, and shares my birthday! I was born on Oct 23rd :-)

by Tasia32, Oct 28, 2009 01:16AM
Congrats Joy, she is a doll. She is chunky like JT was when he was born but he was just a little bigger. You did an amazing job during the delivery too!

by KellyA74, Oct 28, 2009 01:43AM
COngrats.....she's gorgeous!

by Cindy, Oct 28, 2009 07:20AM
To: Joy and Zoe Beth
CONGRATULATIONS!!!  Zoe Beth is absolutely precious and we're all very glad that everyone is healthy!  Keep those photos of Zoe coming - she is just adorable!  

Cindy Thompson
MedHelp

by Gerry774, Oct 28, 2009 02:03PM
Wow! What a great birth you had.  She is beautiful.  God bless!

by sweetangel7, Oct 28, 2009 03:18PM
Congrats...and BRAVO for no meds!

by Yazzay, Oct 28, 2009 07:21PM
congrats! she's beautiful :-)

by Sasha80, Oct 28, 2009 11:13PM
Congrats on your new addition!!  She's beautiful.  

by TeddiH, Oct 29, 2009 02:18AM
Awww, thats great that everything went well! Im so happy for you! Welcome Zoe!!

by akl_cdl, Oct 29, 2009 03:24AM
Congrats on your new arrival.  I am glad everyone is doing well!

by Ready_4_Baby_2, Oct 29, 2009 08:04AM
Congratulations. She's beautiful.

by kellyjo82801, Oct 29, 2009 06:55PM
To: JoyRenee
Congrats Joy!!!!! Wow you were a pro!!!! So glad you and baby did well!!!
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