Welcome Zoey!

Sorry for the delay, we've been a little busy :-)

Zoey's arrival definitely kept us on our toes; just like my entire pregnancy! I arrived last Monday to my scheduled NST appointment at 9:30am. About 2 minutes into the appointment the nurse was staring at the ultrasound machine with a strange look on her face and said, "Today might be the day". About 30 seconds later I processed what she just had said and asked her worriedly, "What did you just say??!" She explained my amniotic fluid had dropped below 5.0 and she had to go talk to the perinatologist. About 5 seconds later he came into the room and said, "Well, looks like you are having a baby today. You've done well with your diabetes and put up a good fight, but your amniotic fluid is too low we need to induce. Can you please head over to the hospital?” I asked him if I could have an hour or two, I'd like to go home and get my things together. He agreed, and I immediately called Dave and told him it was BABY DAY! I rushed home and we frantically began packing our last minute items, and tried to wrap our heads around the fact that we were actually going to meet our little Zoey soon.

We checked into the hospital and met our first nurse. She explained that we would first begin with cervidil for the induction process, and then go from there. A few minutes later my endocrinologist showed up, and really put Dave and I at ease. She spoke with all the nurses about my diabetes, pump processes, and let them know to call her if anything came up. She is just amazing! So after I had my IV started and the cervidil in place, we just had to wait 12 hours for the stuff to start working. In a matter of just a few hours my parents had arrived to the hospital and my contractions had started. The contractions started to get closer together and increased with strength, but by the time I was ready for bed they promised me Ambient to sleep and said the pain shouldn't be too much to handle. I'm convinced none of the nurses have ever been in labor before. I didn't sleep a wink and was crying through the contractions towards to wee hours of the morning. About 2:30am, they checked to see if I was dilated, and my body was not cooperating. They spoke to my OB and they were just about to start another round of cervidil before the nurse told me to go walk around for 15-20 minutes. I had to be in bed for 2 hours once they started it, so it's nice to move about while I could! We got back to the room and I was hooked back up to the monitor so we could see the baby's heart rate and my contractions. The nurse quickly came in and said the baby wasn't cooperating and I needed to go on my side for a bit. One LONG hour later, she came back in and said that wasn't helping the baby's heart rate, I needed to lie on my other side. Another LONG hour later, she came back and explained every time I was having a contraction, the baby's hear rate was dropping. They hooked me up to some oxygen and came back an hour later to check on me. I was a wreck by this time, the contractions were so strong I couldn't really talk through them, and I was worried about the baby at this point. Around 6am the nurse came in flipped on the light, and said, "I have some news". Great, just what everyone wants to hear during labor. She explained that I needed to have an emergency C-section because of the baby's distress, and my OB was already at the hospital. I asked if I could use the bathroom before I was off to the OR, she said only if I was fast, geez they sure mean business!!

I walked into the OR in a daze. Dave and I were totally fine with a C-section; we just wanted a healthy baby. But the entire night kinda hit me at once, and I realized that I was going to meet Zoey in less than an hour. They started my spinal and laid me on the operating table. Dave was able to join me and even bring in my test kit in case I got low. I was able to wear my insulin pump throughout the entire procedure, which put my mind totally at ease. C-sections are weird; you can feel the pressure of the doctors pushing on your body, but absolutely no pain whatsoever. Very strange! In less than 30 minutes, we heard the best noise I think I'll ever hear in my entire life. Zoey crying. We were concerned about her lung maturity, just one week prior her lungs weren't developed enough and we were concerned they still wouldn't be ready. I was prepared for the worst, for her to be whisked away to the NICU. But the second I heard her belt out the loudest, most joyful cry, I lost it. Tears streamed down my face as I stared at Dave, I knew our lives would forever be changed. Praise God! Zoey was born at 6:55am, and was the most beautiful baby I had ever laid eyes on. And the best part is, she is ours!

I was able to see Zoey for a split second before she was whisked away for her APGAR tests and everything else. She scored a 9 on the first one, and a 10 on her second. Her blood sugar was 59 at birth and 75 an hour later. The doctors were very pleased with her blood sugar and didn't feel it necessary to supplement with formula. I couldn't believe we actually had a healthy adorable baby after waiting a grueling 9 months. I was able to hold her in recovery and bond with my precious new daughter. As I recovered over the next week in the hospital, I kept finding myself staring at Zoey in disbelief. She is such a little miracle, and God has trusted us to keep her healthy and happy. We have our work cut out for us, that's for sure!