Zoe Chrisden Finch
It's the moment I've waited so long for....she's finally here! After a long labor, we made it. Thank God for mom and Lisa; without them I'd have never made it through the past few days.
The labor story follows...in case you haven't heard it yet. :-)
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Tuesday, November 28th my mom and I went to the hospital for my routine fetal heart monitoring and blood pressure check. We told dad we'd be back in an hour, and left my suitcase at the door. A few minutes after arriving at the hospital, Dr. B examined me and told me I was running out of amniotic fluid, and would be "having a baby today". Well, my first thought was, "I can't, I don't have my suitcase!" An hour later, I was in my hospital gown (black socks and all) with my pitocin drip started. By 3 that afternoon, Lisa had arrived after stopping at my house to let my dad know mom and I were in the hospital. Around dinnertime, I got my first epidural. Yes, I said 'first'. As I was pushing, Lisa was rubbing my back, my mom was rubbing my feet, and the nurse was telling me"the baby has hair". Well, we all thought it must be happening any moment now. Mom even took a picture of the clock on the wall (5:30 p.m. Tuesday) thinking this was the big moment. By midnight, mom and Lisa were bleary-eyed, I was swollen and sore, and nothing was happening. I was feeling a lot of pain, but just thought I was supposed to. When I finally couldn't take it anymore, I told the nurse to bring in the anesthesiologist. After she did the "scratch test", she realized I needed a 'bump' of whatever makes the pain go away. A while later, after the bump, the pain was not going away. It felt like a hot poker on my back, in a spot the size of a dime. No one but me could reach the spot, though mom and Lisa kept trying. I think my head may have spun around a few times when they tried to rub that spot on my back. I kept pushing, they kept rubbing, and still nothing. Around 7 or 8 the next morning, Dr. M came in to examine me. He took one look and said, "Carlen you are going to have a c-section. Zoe is stuck in the birth canal and she has pooped." I had absolutely no reaction. What I wanted to say was, "You mean to tell me I've been pushing all this time for nothing?" I don't think it would have come out that nice if I had tried to say it. When Dr. M walked out to prepare for my c-section, the nurse said, "You know what the means, right? That means you are going to have a vaginal delivery." She went a grabbed a gymnastic bar, wrapped a sheet around it, gave one end to me, and said, "Now, push!" I looked at my mom and thought this nurse is nuts. I told her I just couldn't, I didn't have an ounce of energy left. After wheeling me into the OR, they called a new anesthesiologist in to give me a spinal block. This numbed me from the armpits down. It was the first time in over 36 hours that I could sleep. I faded in and out as they took Zoe from my belly. Mom was there to watch and she was able to hold her within minutes. Zoe was finally born at 12 noon on Wednesday, November 29, 2006. She was finally placed in my arms around 2:00 that day, and my life has been forever changed.
