Zelie Marie's Birth Story

Our little Miss Zelie Marie arrived Tuesday, July 30th at 7:14 pm.
This is her first story.

At one day past our due date, Dr. K told me that the time had come and that the pool water was too shallow to swim in anymore. Somehow I was still surprised (even being overdue) and unprepared for this news. I was to report to the hospital "soon" but could go gather my necessities. I really was excited at the prospect of having my baby that day, but my hopes for a natural birth without an epidural felt shattered. I'd felt pitocin contractions and quickly gave up the natural battle for his birth. Meanwhile, I hurriedly did important things like start a new load of laundry, clean the toilet, and mull over which outfit we'd use for our new baby girl. Kelby was enlisted with tasks like cleaning the grapes and picking up the basement. He finally drew the line when I begged him to let me make a blanket real quick for the baby. Apparently he didn't find that necessary.

We packed up the car and headed to my parents' house where Max had been during my appointment. He was overtired and didn't exactly like the idea of us leaving to go get baby sister. Something like "NO BABY SITTER!" was shouted as we said our goodbyes.

So at 2:30 (and 111 degrees, I might add), we calmly walked into the admissions at St. Joe. We got into our room and by 3:30 they'd broken my waters. I asked to be allowed to progress on my own for awhile to see if I could avoid pitocin. As luck would have it, I did progress a centimeter in an hour. The contractions started to get stronger and I was hopeful that just maybe this would all work out perfectly. By 5:50, Dr. K was in to see me and said I hadn't gotten any further along. He suggested giving me a "whiff" of Pitocin to speed things along a bit. A little reluctant, I agreed. So at 6:00 they started me at a 2--whatever that means. Half an hour later or so, the contractions really kicked in. Kelby sat calmly at my side trying to rub my back and help me relax. He did his best but it seemed that physical touch was the last thing that I needed or wanted. He was so understanding and loving though. Up climbed the pain and down climbed the amount of rest time between contractions.

Finally, I was sure I couldn't handle it anymore and I whispered to Kelby that I wanted the epidural. Doing his job, he told me he believed I could do it and asked if I was sure. I told him yes. He told the nurse who also asked encouraged me to which Kelby said, "she said 'yes, please.'" She said that my doctor was right outside and that I should at least wait to decide after he checked me. Almost in tears, I agreed and they brought him in. One painful contraction later, he checked me and announced that I was at an 8! Embarrassingly enough, I grabbed his arm and asked if he was lying. Well, we all know he wouldn't and he wasn't. They asked me if I still wanted to get the epidural. After saying no, and realizing that I was actually going to really feel it all, I turned back to my side to ride the whole thing out. I guess I never really believed that I could or would.

Not five minutes later, I knew it was time for me to push. I told Kelby who alerted the necessary personnel. My friend Amanda, a first year resident, came in with Dr. K. Everything was quickly prepared for the birth to take place. My head was spinning. As soon as they gave me the go ahead, I pushed. I hate to imagine what my face looked like, but I'm sure it was something like a tomato colored blowfish. The pushing was such a relief compared the the painful no-action contractions. One more push later and she was born! Instantly, the pain was gone and I was holding my beautiful, screaming, dark-haired (HUH?) baby girl!


And not to be overly cliche, but everything faded away. Kelby was there kissing me and kissing her and I could hardly believe what was going on. She cried off an on and we just loved on her. It was all so beautiful. We thanked God for our perfect little girl and Kelby went off to alert the media.

From the delivery room, I ordered dinner and we waited for everything to settle down. My mom, Anne, and Jude brought Max in to meet his new baby sister. He was a little shy but managed a couple kisses on her little head.

They took her then and got her stats. I couldn't believe it when they told me I had 7 pound 4 ounce baby. I'd been gearing up for a porker like my 9 lb 8 oz son! She measured 19 3/4 inches. But that hair! Where on earth did that come from? I couldn't help but laugh when I watched them combing it after her bath. We couldn't comb Max's hair until he was a year old!

After all the visitors left, we got settled into our suite and soaked up the joy that our new baby, Zelie Marie had brought to us.