Zoe is here!

Our beautiful baby girl arrived in dramatic fashion on Monday night. We are so so happy to have her with us. Here's how her birthday progressed until she arrived....

I woke up with a few hours of contractions beginning around 345am. These contractions were noticeable but not too painful and about 10-13 minutes apart. So we knew we had a little time.

As I took a bath I started to hear over and over again in my head "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!" Later I opened my bible to the EXACT page where that psalm was to be found: Psalm 118:24. I knew God had plans for our day and that my job was to be glad and to trust Him.

Around 930am the contractions had all but disappeared. So I told Bill he should go to work and we'd just see how the day progressed. Mid-day I felt a lot of cramping and pressure but no real contractions anymore. Krissy gave me a good word that continual progress toward birth didn't mean consistent and she felt that God knew exactly how my body needed to prepare. Ok great!

430pm - I call Bill and tell him to come home: contractions back and definitely real.

530pm - I start timing them and quickly jump from 10 minutes apart to 6-7 min apart.

6pm - Call doctor and she tells us to go ahead and get to the hospital.

7pm - Pull into Christ Hospital and contractions are now 4-5 minutes apart and gettin' rough.

730pm - We get assigned a room and are still in our own clothes. I'm getting anxious because I know how the processes work (get changed, answer questions, get an IV, get checked, call doctor, etc) but something inside tells me that it isn't going to go that way. Contractions are VERY big and hard now and maybe 2 minutes apart at most. I'm hurtin' right now. Lots.

745pm - Nurse finally checks me for the first time and reports that I'm a "good 8cm" and everyone goes into higher gear. They're firing questions at us, Bill is answering for me because I can't focus on anything at this point. Nurse calls doctor AT HOME to come in for the birth. We all know there's no way she'll make it.

I start saying/yelling "I feel the baby" "This baby's head is right there." "I have to push" - stuff like that. And I'm wondering if anyone believes me! The Resident on call shows up and tells me she's going to "catch my baby" since my doctor isn't here.

I think I scream a couple times at this point and Zoe is pushing her own way out now...I just need to get on board. Which I wasn't entirely...but really had no choice!

Irony here? We had decided we'd go ahead and have another epidural for this birth. A while ago the discussion about going natural had surfaced. I had seriously believed that perhaps God had that in mind for this birth. However, Bill and I had never reached that decision together and we agreed again in the car that we'd go ahead and get an epidural. I now know that God had other plans.

One of the beautiful things about this fast and hard birth was that I realized the ONLY person that comforted me in any way was Bill. I got scared when I realized what was going to happen. And through every contraction and every second I could have cared less about the doctor -- I just wanted Bill. He was my only comfort.

And so out came our baby girl at 756pm right in the midst of all this. She wanted out. She wanted life. NOW. And so she came.

I was stunned, amazed, grateful it was over so fast, speechless at the circumstances....I just kept staring at her in wonderment that she was already on my chest. I kept asking Bill what had just happened and we were both just speechless in amazement. We've talked it over again and again and still can't quite figure out what happened those last 15 minutes.

I guess God had a plan for this day. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Our baby girl Zoe Elaine (which means "life and light") was born at 8lbs 4oz, 21 inches long at 756pm with no OB doc in the room. Just perfect for all of us.

We didn't name her until about 20 minutes after she was born. Bill and I both felt strongly that this was her name and hoping the other agreed. We believe our unity around her name was endorsement from God that it's the right one for her! So welcome our little bundle of life and light with us - and rejoice!