Zoe's birth story

I began feeling strange pressures and discomfort (more than usual) on the night of August 31st. Around midnight on September 1st there was cramping that would last around a minute so Marco and I began timing these contractions. First about every 10 minutes apart but slowly became more frequent. The second hour was then 4-6 minutes apart and around 2am we called the after hours line to page the doctor on call. Dr. Corbett called me back almost immediately and suggested we time for another hour. If they don't subside or become closer together then okay to make our way to the hospital. We timed for another hour while also packing up our last few items and taking showers. I even had time to blow dry and straighten my hair. At 3am, with contractions 4-5 minutes apart we called the doctor again. She okayed us to go to the hospital and had already informed the ER front desk that we would be coming in.

Leisurely we took care of the dogs, packed up the car and made our way to Sky Ridge Medical Center with the idea that hopefully we would be admitted but also knowing we could be told to go home if still too early. At the ER around 4:30am they took us over to triage and hooked me up to heart and contraction monitors, took my blood pressure, checked my temperature and checked my cervix which was dilated to 2cm. For the next hour they monitored my contractions but when they came back in they asked if I was experiencing any because the monitor wasn't picking up on them. Yes but they aren't horribly strong; they readjusted the monitor and began seeing some varied patterns. At 5:30am the nurse informed me they would most likely send me home but wanted to check my cervix again. Within an hour I went from 2cm to 4cm so the doctor okayed me to be admitted up to Labor and Delivery. We were so happy at that point and felt like we could finally relax, we were in good hands.

At about 6:15am we were brought up to Labor and Delivery, given an amazing room that was one of the biggest rooms in the whole ward. We called our family to let them know we were in labor. My mom said she'd get up and ready and head over shortly to sit with us. Our head nurse, Rachel began her shift at 7:00am and did such an amazing job taking care of me. I couldn't be any happier; I hope I can request her the next time around haha. The anesthesiologist, Jim, came in to chat with us about my requested epidural. He informed me I could get the epidural before 8:30am or after about 11:00am because he was going into a c-section with twins shortly. I informed him I would take it now to get it over with. During the process he was having a hard time finding a good spot to inject. I informed him I had slight scoliosis and that might be part of the issue. He made his first attempt but it missed the mark. The second time was a success and the pain and discomfort dissipated where I could just enjoy the time with Marco. Jim informed me that with the first miss it could cause a headache in 24 hours and to keep an eye on it. If needed they could do a blood patch to correct it. I thought nothing of it at the time as I was obviously distracted. Throughout the next several hours we had some visitors and lots of texts to keep us distracted. Time really did fly by.

There wasn't much progress being made so they did hook me up to Potosin and kept the epidural light. Finally a few hours into the process I went to about 6cm. Dr. Corbett came in to check my progress but Rachel was the one staying with me most of the time. She was having a busy day but assured me Zoe and I were doing great and there was no concern to push us any further along or rush anything. At about 3:00pm she checked me again and I was about 8-9cm along. I was beginning to feel pain again so Jim increased my epidural slightly to take the edge off. She kicked everyone out as I only wanted Marco there and they prepped me for delivery. At 3:30pm I began pushing during contractions, 3 10second pushes per contraction. With Rachel, Marco and I only it was so calm and I was able to focus 100% on the task at hand.  Dr. Corbett came in for the final pushes and after 6 groups of 3 10second pushes per contraction (18 pushes total) Zoe came into our world at 4:01pm.

Marco immediately broke down and I got teary-eyed after it was over and I heard her cry for the first time. They laid her on me and cleaned her off; she was so beautiful from second one and the relief of concern about her safety and any possible issues with birth immediately came over me. I was so distracted with her that I didn't even notice the delivery of the placenta or the fact that the doctor was stitching me up from the small cut she had to make (1 stitch only thank God).

The proud and happy new dad with his pride and joy <3

We had a good hour together to have dinner and gush over Zoe before they moved us to our Postpartum room around 7:00pm. My mom and neighbors came to visit for a bit which was so nice. After that we had around the clock checks on myself and Zoe. We both were doing great with no complications. A hearing test was performed on Zoe and she passed, her pediatrician and my OB made visits to check on us and a photographer came in to take newborn photos. Marco and I took turns sleeping/napping and taking care of her. On the 3rd we were discharged but I had a dull headache. I didn't think anything of it but soon discovered something wasn't right. My dad flew in from California as well to visit with his new grand-daughter.

Day of discharge. She loved wearing a new outfit :)

Top: my dad with me the day I was born. Bottom: my dad with Zoe

Long story short when they missed on the first attempt for epidural it caused a "wet tap" which basically empties out my spinal fluid causing headaches, lethargy, vertigo and backache. On the 4th after throwing up 4 times I went to the ER. There they performed a "blood patch" to correct it. This procedure involves them taking blood from a vein, performing another epidural and injecting that blood into the spinal column to clot the area to allow my spinal fluid to build back up. A wet tap complication occurs in less than 1% of epidurals so it was quite a surprise to everyone that this happened but thankfully I'm feeling so much better and back to caring for Zoe with no issues, besides the standard recovery.

Zoe Dean Segura

2 hours old