Mo's version of the birth story (finally!)

We arrived home from the hospital today. On Friday, Sept 12, our due date, on the way out to a celebratory 'date nite' at Mandola's, my water broke, conveniently in the parking lot just as we were getting out of the car. We hopped back in, me sitting on a sheet normally reserved to keep our car clean of dog hair, missing our last meal as a couple, but looking forward (and quite giddy) to the adventure on its way. Phoned my folks, who had to cancel their flight they had made just a half hour ago to come out on Tuesday, to fly into Austin arriving at 2pm Saturday, with strict orders not to have their first grandbaby before then.

After some last minute packing at home (we were anticipating having early labor to do some of that!) and stuffing our face with leftover pizza (with jalapenos - not the best 'last meal'), we headed to NAMC, birthing ball in hand and no contractions in sight. We checked in, and were surprised to find a very not-busy L&D despite the low pressure (glad to hear we at least had company elsewhere!). We settled in, and started napping to await contractions. Around 2am they started, and I was able to work through them fairly well, though I have to say I went through several of those hospital 'barf bags' - it seems my stomach was refusing to keep anything down, even ice chips. On to an anti-nausea in an IV, which was quite welcome. Sometime that morning (I had by then lost track of time, but Kyle may be able to fill in specifics, perhaps 8 or 9am) I asked to have my progress checked, and was quite surprised to find out that we had made it all the way to 100%, 9.5cm, and +1 without any anesthesia. I felt completely empowered, like I could do anything. Kyle had been such a great guide offering up many different positions and pain coping techniques. My midwife had brought in her rice cooker with a heated sock, which came in quite handy, and I have to say lavender scented washcloths are pretty awesome.

My midwife gave me the go ahead then to push when I felt the urge, which I started to soon after. After three hours of pushing, with every position known to man tried out, and still no progress on the station, we had a conference with the midwife. Given that there had been no progress made, the midwife suggested going for an epidural, and a small dose of pitocin to perhaps encourage some stronger contractions to help in pushing this hold-out out. We agreed that it was time to try something else, and shortly thereafter (I have to say that while I now very much appreciate anesthesiologists, this one didn't necessarily have the best bed-side manner) we waited an hour for the pit to kick in, and pushed for another 1/2 hour or so. Everything remained unchanged, and I was slowly losing steam, as were my contractions, which were coming further and further apart. The midwife called in the OB on call. She was great, which I very much appreciated. Given all of the progress we had made beforehand, she had me push for another 1/2 hour or so, originally encouraged by the strength of the pushes still in me. However, our little one remained at +1, sunny-side up, with an identifiable cone head and one ear, though not much else able to be identified. We all decided a Cesarean delivery was best at this point, and proceeded along this course.

At this point I have to say that I am so thankful for our birthing classes. We felt we had gone through the labor so far that we had wanted, and were quite comfortable with the epidural and Cesarean at this point. We were able to accept this as our birth, and all of the L&D staff were so supportive of what we had already gone through.

After all of this work, it seems that our little one had had enough - while she did take her first breath on her own, she needed resuscitation and was well taken care of by the NICU team. She was originally to be kept in the NICU for a day, to receive IV fluids and be kept for observation, but after only an hour she was already screaming and rooting around (so I'm told) quite dramatically looking for the breast, so we were able to come together as a family shortly after the birth. After receiving the report from the OB, it turns out that the sunny-side up nature had created a retraction ring/Bandl ring in my uterus, which was preventing a vaginal birth.

It was a long stay in the hospital, and I have to say that Cesareans are interesting things to recover from (which is of course ongoing), but we are happy to now be home with our girl (and her conehead, which is finally dissipating ;). Thanks to everyone for their support - we'll definitely keep you updated!

Happy Birthday Zoe Frances Voosen

by Kyle Voosen, Guest blogger and new father

Mo and I are excited to welcome our little Zoe to the world!

The Vitals

Zoe was born at 4:10 PM on September 13, 2008.  She weighed 8 lb. 1.5 oz. and was 20.75 inches tall.  

The Story

Maureen will be able to provide a blow by blow synopsis a little later.  Here is my attempt at the Cliff's Notes version:

Zoe did not come into the world without a fight.  Maureen was making it look easy when she went from 3 cm to 9.5 cm in a matter of a few hours.  We hit a stumbling block when pushing Zoe out.  After Maureen pushed hard for 3 straight hours (with no anesthesia), our midwife decided that the baby was stuck and ordered a Caesarean birth.

Zoe had been wedged in Mo's pelvis for 12 hours, and the stress took its toll upon delivery. It took a few terrifying minutes to resuscitate her, but soon enough Zoe was screaming her head off as we all breathed a collective sigh of relief.  Here is a picture of her right after the birth in the NICU.

Zoe...screaming

Zoe quickly turned on the charm and is now a perfectly healthy and happy newborn.  On top of that I've done some research, and I can now objectively say that Zoe is the most beautiful baby ever born.

cute

The Supporting Cast

By the time Zoe was born, both sets of new grandparents were ready and waiting to welcome her into the world.  We are totally grateful they were able to be here to share in the experience (and diaper change duty).

More new to come.  For now, I'd better get back to the hospital.

Here comes....

Water broke in the parking lot of Mandola's! We're headed to the hospital, and will keep people posted as we can.  

p.s. Afterwards, if you want to visit, please call the hospital ahead of time - we don't know if we'll be up for visitors or not!  Thanks for everything guys - we're looking forward to this new adventure!

Here comes Ike....

Ike's center leaves Cuba; storm appears headed to Texas - CNN.com

Hurricanes bring with them low pressure systems, and supposedly that can cause an increase in births if the system just sits there. So... perhaps this weekend we'll have a birth day to celebrate? Here's to hoping (though hoping the hurricane does not cause too much damage to those in it's path)! One of my friends here in Austin (due two weeks after me) gave birth today to a healthy baby boy, just under 7 pounds. I was teasing her that the doctors must have gotten our estimated due dates mixed up ;)

Sept 11 Update: It seems that Ike has decided the world needs some additional time before encountering Sputnik. He's now headed more for Galveston.

Week 39!!!

So, week 39 or day 273 or T - 7 days until the due date!  Though, it could be another 2 weeks after that, but I'm trying not to think about that one.  Here are some nice clean photos of Sputnik's room, all prepared and ready to go.

 We've got the bassinet in our room, and the car seat and stroller are ready to go into the car.  Lola and Sophie can't figure out what is going on for the life of them.  It's started to cool down a bit, so I'm thinking some nice long walks in the morning are sounding pretty good right about now.  There was some small progress at our last visit on Tuesday, and we'll certainly keep everyone posted if there is anymore.  The next appointment is the 9th!