I have been working on getting this blog up to date and this is the last blog post needed to have it all up to date. Here are the other posts if interested in catching up with other blog posts:
I recapped 2016 and 2017 in this blog post.
I recapped 2018 in this blog post.
I recapped January - March 2019 in this blog post.
I recapped April 2019 (the month we added a new baby girl to our family) in this blog post.
I recapped the rest of 2019 in this blog post.
I recapped 2020 in this blog post
Let me preface by saying laboring with Zoe was HARD! Much harder than laboring with Mia. If you want to read Mia's birth story, you can find it here.
I had a lot of false labor with Zoe since she was not in an optimal position. She wasn't completely posterior (sunny side up), but she was partially posterior, which was the reasoning for the false labor.
A week before she was born (Tuesday 4/2/2019), I had an OB appt, where I was 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I had been having regular chiropractic care during my pregnancy to allow for optimal labor and delivery. I made an appointment and my chiropractor worked on my psoas since it was tight and she suspected Zoe was posterior. I was doing puppy pose, pigeon pose and downward pose by spinning babies to try to get her in a better position.
The next day (Wednesday 4/3/2019) I inserted evening primrose oil vaginally at 2:30 am. This was recommended previously by my OB when I was pregnant with Mia. You take the evening primrose oil capsule and poke holes in it and insert it vaginally. Make sure to wear a panty liner for any dripping oil. Two hours later, I started having contractions. They were initially 8-10 minutes apart for about 1.5 minutes for 14 hours. I called into work that day. I drank 4 cups of red raspberry leaf tea and inserted more evening primrose oil.
At the urging of pretty much everyone, I went to the hospital around 6 pm. By 7 pm, my contractions had stopped. While at the hospital they hooked me up to monitors to check in on Zoe. They said she was having decels (where her heart rate drops with contractions). I started paying attention to the monitors, since this is a concerning abnormality. What I noticed was every time she had a "decel" the monitor was either off of me completely or the monitor was having interference with either my gown or the sheets. I notified the nurse of this and she said we would still need to monitor me and that no doctor would sign off on my discharge with these decels.
I said that they weren't true decels but were in fact artifact and she just nodded. I decided to let them monitor me for a bit longer. When it happened again, sure enough the monitor wasn't on me. I asked what she was reading as a "decel" to figure out how low Zoe's heart rate (HR) was dropping. She said she's going down to 120 beats per minute (BPM). I let her know that her baseline was 135, so not only are the "decels" artifact, the "decels" are not too far from her baseline HR. She said she would speak to the doctor.
So some of you guys are probably thinking, oh my, she's one of THOSE patients and yea...I AM when I know that this kind of situation can lead to all sorts of unnecessary interventions that I want no part of AND my baby was in absolutely no danger. So...I took off the monitors and stood by my bed. The nurse came in and asked if I needed to use the bathroom. I politely told her I did not and would like to know what my options were so that I could go home. My contractions had stopped being regular at this point and Zoe was definitely NOT having decels. She said I would have to have a sono to check on the baby. I gladly accepted this option. The doctor came in (who was so kind and pleasant) and checked on Zoe. She was doing great! Her HR was 138, the placenta looked great, the fluid looked great, she was still mal-positioned but we were cleared to go home.
The next day (Thursday 4/4/2019) I went to work. My co-worker, Manny, did not appreciate me being there, HA! He viewed me as a ticking time bomb and was terrified I would have the baby at work. While there I lost my mucous plug. I had another chiropractor appointment and walked the neighborhood after work.
Friday (4/5/2019) I lost more of my mucous plug at work. I did some yoga and squats when I got home.
Last Day of Work
Saturday (4/6/2019) I was having contractions on and off. I ate some pineapple, spicy Thai food, cleaned the entire house and inserted more evening primrose oil.
Sunday (4/7/2019) I had a prenatal massage, walked the neighborhood and inserted more evening primrose oil.
Monday (4/8/2019) My contractions started at 3 am. I walked the neighborhood and stayed home from work. I lost more of my mucous plug. At 9:20 pm, after laboring at home for 18.5 hours, I went to the hospital. I was still ONLY 3 CM. I cried and told Mikol that she was NEVER going to come! At 1:30 am I was 4 cm and they sent me home for lack of progression. I just wanted to go home and try to sleep in my own bed at this point. I felt SO defeated. We got home around 2 am.
I couldn't sleep since my contractions were getting more intense. I started to cry and we went back to the hospital and were admitted at 4 am. So we were home for about 1.5 hours before we just turned around and went back. When I arrived to the hospital, I was 8 cm dilated!! The contractions were long and hard. They were every few minutes lasting 1.5-2 minutes. At this point, I was exhausted, so I asked for some nitrous oxide (laughing gas). I felt like pushing and they checked me again and I was 10 cm. FINALLY!
Side note: With Mia, we had a pretty awesome soundtrack going. With Zoe, I remember I was about to push play on my L&D playlist, when I was consumed with a strong contraction, so we never had any music playing. However, when Mikol and I had been walking the neighborhood leading up to her birth, he had kept playing Old Town Road (which had just come out) to try to lighten the mood, so that God awful song reminds me of being in labor, HA!
My doctor arrived and told me to let them know when I needed to push. I had a sudden urge to push and I used the call light to let them know. No one came and I couldn't resist the urge to push, so I did. I called out again and told them something was coming! Something came out of me, but I had no idea what it was. It felt like an alien. Mikol was freaking out. I was freaking out, I told him to take a picture and he just called out again for help. I had him give me my phone so I could take a picture and it was a partially intact sack of water.
My nurse had a student with her and the student finally came in and looked like she had seen a ghost...I told her go get the doctor please! She ran out of the room. My doctor and nurse came in and told me that it was half of my bag of waters. The bag must have ripped and half of it came out and the other half was still inside with the baby. The bag of water had meconium in it (Zoe had had her first bowel movement in utero). Mia did this as well, so I knew the drill. NICU would be present during the birth and they would check her out as soon as she was born to make sure she hadn't inhaled any into her lungs. Anybody who would come in commented on how strong my bag of waters was, HA!
I felt like pushing, so my doctor geared up and I pushed. I pushed for 15 minutes and she was out after 27 long hours! She was finally here!! Thank God! She was indeed poorly positioned and Mike said he was hurting for me since they had to rotate her forcefully while she was half way out of me to make sure she could pass. Mike teared up at the sight of our daughter and he was able to go be with her while the NICU team checked her out. She had not aspirated any meconium!
Zoe Marley Timsah arrived April 9th, 2019 at 6:06 am. She was 7 lb 15 oz and was 20.5 inches long!
When they took her over to give her Vitamin K injection, she didn't even cry, she just looked upset. Mike said "she's tough just like her mama." All of the false labor no longer mattered once I had my baby girl in my arms!
Once we got to our post-partum room, we all crashed HARD! Zoe was a very chill baby until you changed her diaper. She screamed at the top of her lungs every time. If she wasn't asleep, then she was on the boob*. We rested most of the day until we got visitors later in the afternoon.
My mom brought Mia once she got off work and it was the sweetest moment of them meeting for the first time. Mia said Zoe was "perfect!"
With Mia, I was anxious to go home from the hospital and I left a day earlier than usual. Once I got home, the reality quickly hit me and I longed to go back to the hospital where they at least brought me food, HA! I did not rush leaving the hospital this time with Zoe. Mike went home at night to be with Mia and to oversee the renovations at the house the next morning. They tried to get as much done as possible before we got home. So it was for the most part just Zoe and I at the hospital. I LOVED it. I knew as a second born child, Zoe would always have to compete for my attention, so having that time with just the two of us was so precious.
I cannot believe next month, we will be adding another baby girl to our crew and I will be writing another birth story! I plan for a third medication free birth, but hope to cut the labor time down some. Mia was 28 hours and Zoe was 27 hours, can I get like a 4 hour labor this next time?? If not, I'll just take a safe delivery and health baby girl! 💓
*Side note: Zoe was a pretty stellar breast feeder. She had a tongue tie (so did big sister) that made my nipple look like lipstick. However, she never needed a nipple shield because she had such a strong suck. We never clipped her tongue tie, since it would require legit surgery (Mia's tongue tie was anterior and was clipped in the pediatrician's office). She nursed well past 1 year, so the tongue tie didn't seem to deter her and the painful breastfeeding eventually subsided after a few weeks.
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