Zach's Birth Story: Part I

While I was pregnant, I did not think that I would share Zach's birth story. However, now that he is born and I have experienced the whole labor and delivery process, I want to remember it. So I will spare you all some of the more intimate details and give you the overall process of how our most precious gift came into the world.

I feel like Zach's birth story really needs to begin at my 36 week doctor appointment. At that appointment, my doctor told me that I was already 3 cm dilated, 70% effaced and he thought that I would not make it to April. That really began the 'countdown' and anticipation for me. Justin and I swung into full gear and got the baby's room ready, prepared to move, moved, got all my lesson plans done and everything ready for school. I felt like everyday and night and would either wake up or go to sleep wondering 'is this the night....' Thankfully, I made it to April and my Spring Break began April 1st. I was praying that I would make it to April because I wanted my maternity leave to start at a certain point. I was also praying that I would have a couple of days of relaxation during my Spring Break before he came. Well, my Spring Break came and went and still no baby boy. When April 8th rolled around (the first official day of the start of my maternity leave) I was feeling very frustrated that there was still no baby. I wanted my break to begin with a baby, that way when I have to go back to school, he would be as old as he possibly could. I had my last doctor's appointment on April 9th. At that appointment, I was 4 cm and 80% effaced. My doctor set up an induction date for April 16th, hoping that the babe would come naturally before then.

My due date, April 10th, came and went and still no baby. It was really hard because after all my doctor's appointments, I never thought that I would actually make it to my due date. The days after my due date I began to feel even more frustrated and didn't understand why I was not holding a little guy in my arms. How could I have gone 4 weeks, being so far dilated and still no labor signs? I would wake up most mornings in tears over the fact that I was still pregnant and that I did not go into labor in the middle of the night. On Saturday, Justin sent me a blurb from Pastor Greg Laurie titled, "Has it ever seemed as though God has let you down?" I realized that I had to surrender my plans and timing to the Lord. He was in control of the situation and would bring our baby at the right timing, His timing.  My mom also reminded me that the longer he was in my womb, and making it to my due date, the more healthy the baby would be.

On Sunday, Justin and I had the pastors of the church pray for us, that the baby would come naturally and that I would not have to be induced. After church, Justin and I enjoyed one last date being just the two of us. We went to the Biltmore and walked through the gardens, enjoying the tulips [and maybe also trying to induce labor]. We then had dinner at Curate, a tapas restaurant in downtown Asheville that Justin has been wanting to try for some time now. It was a perfect 'last date' and I'm thankful that we were able to spend that time together.

 my last bump picture!

 On Monday, April 15th, my last day for sure of being pregnant, was a pretty chill day. I woke up at my normal time at 8:00 and let Justin sleep in, knowing that this might be the last time he could sleep in for some time [he woke up at 10:30 I think!] We went to the mall that afternoon. My brother is getting married in early May and I wanted to take another look to see if there were any dresses that could possibly work for me to wear to the wedding. While shopping, I felt very tired and a little off and I just wanted to go home. Right before dinner, Debbie asked if the three of us wanted to pray for this baby to come naturally. We prayed and it was during dinner that I started feeling some contractions.

My contractions started around 6:00 pm, although we did not start tracking them until 6:30. I had only had contractions 2-3 times before this and every time they would stop after 2 hours or so. I did not want to get my hopes up or make a big deal about it. While we were watching Jeopardy and The Voice, I would tap Justin whenever a contraction started and stopped. They started off around 7 minutes apart and then moved to 5 minutes and then 4 minutes. Around 9:00 I did not really want to be around anyone anymore, so I went up to our room and we were debating whether or not to call the doctor. My contractions had been 4 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute for the past 2 hours. Justin wanted to call and I wanted to wait. The contractions were still pretty tolerable and not painful. I felt kind of ridiculous calling when they were not painful. Justin said that being a person who is on call for his job, he likes it when he has a heads up about having to go on a call, so he thought it would be good to call the doctor and give a heads up. We called the doctor at 9:30. The doctor said that it was up to me, whether or not I wanted to go to the hospital now or wait until my contractions grew stronger. She said that she would call the hospital and let them know that we would be coming in eventually.

Shortly after getting off the phone with my doctor, I started to really feel the sharp and intense contractions. They would come off and on with the more milder ones, but oh boy were they intense. At around 11:00, Justin could see that I was in more pain and that things were starting to pick up so he started packing up the car and getting ready for the hospital. We left for the hospital and notified our families that we were heading in.

We arrived at the hospital at around 11:45 pm...