September 2, 2011 at 4:34pm, miss Zoe Blair Hays made her debut into the world. I started having contractions on Thursday afternoon around 2 and by 6 or so that evening we were on our way to the hospital. I still wasn't sure if I was in real labor or not so it didn't really sink in that we were having a baby just yet. We got to triage and I was 4 cm dilated. An hour later I was at 5 cm so they decided to keep me. We got set up in the room and shortly after that the epidural was in place and we were ready! Zoe, on the other hand, wasn't quite ready yet! I stopped progressing after the epidural and was stuck at 6 cm for several hours. My doctor came in around 7:30 Friday morning to see me and I was still at 6 cm. Fast forward to around 1-ish...still at 6. My doctor decided to start an internal monitor to monitor my contractions better and see if we needed an alternate route. We prayed and prayed for progress and about 30 minutes later my doctor came in to check before putting the monitor in and I had progressed to 9 cm!! Praise the Lord! No internal monitor needed, it was almost time to start pushing! They started prepping the room and my nurse began teaching me how to push. I started pushing on Friday around 2:30pm and at 4:34pm Zoe was born! It was the hardest workout of my life, for which I am still recovering, but I would do it all over again to have that sweet baby in my arms! She is so precious to us! She weighed in at 9lb 4oz and was 21in long. We are two very proud and excited parents!
Thank you to all our family and friends who were praying and thinking about us during this time. I'm so glad to be home and although I'm not quite back to normal yet, I'm loving being Zoe's mom. And for those wondering, Andrew has been great! He never left my side through the whole thing and he even changed all the diapers while we were in the hospital. This little girl has him wrapped for sure!!! I love it!
