He is here!

Blake Owen Zimmermann made his appearance on August 21st at 1:53 pm. He is a big boy at 8pounds 5oz and 22 inches long!
Here is his birth story... it is long, and rather surprising.

We were scheduled for an induction on the 19th at 7am. I was told to call ahead, in case L&D was full. We got up and called L&D. They were busy, and instructed us to call back in a few hours. We continued this game from 6am-9pm. Finally they told us to come in at 11pm. We got our things together, had a snack, and headed to the hospital.

When we arrived at 11pm, I was checked in. I was given a room and found out I was not dilated at all. It was going to be a long induction (which we knew). At midnight, I was given medicine (Cervidil) to help get things ready. It was given for 12 hours. The next day at noon I was checked, and was only 1 cm. The doctor decided to go ahead and start the labor drugs (pictocin). This medicine makes your contractions really hard. The day doctor said I could get the epidural whenever I wanted it. I toughed it out until around 9pm that night. The doctor cam in and checked me, and I was still at 1-2cm! I was really hurting at this point, and my contractions were huge on the monitor. The night doctor refused to give me the epidural until I was at least 4 cm. She cranked up the pitocin, and offered IV drugs.

I had IV drugs with the twins, and they really didn't help me. They confused me, and made me panic. I swore I would never let them do that to me again. The doctor swore it was a different medicine, and I would not react like that. I was in so much pain, and so discouraged.... I let them give them to me. It was a big mistake. All night long I had the same reaction.

The next morning, the nurse checked me and said I was at 3 cm (I had been there for almost 24 hours). The morning doctor finally OKed the epidural, and it was set. My blood pressure dropped, and Blake's heart rate dropped shortly after. They broke my water then. The epidural really helped me to dilate. By 9:00 am, I was completely dilated. Blake was still super high though. I started pushing at 9:30. I pushed for about 3 hours. Blake was not dropping at all.

I was exhausted at this point (I had been at the hospital since 11pm Thursday and it was 12 pm sat). The doctors decided on a C-section. I was taken to the OR and given a spinal block. When I was given the spinal, it was too high. I could hardly breathe. Joseph was brought into the OR, and found me unable to talk. They finally started the C-section, and I was tilted to try to help my spinal block go toward my feet.

The doctor had a really hard time getting Blake out. Typically from the time they open the uterus until baby is out is 15-20 seconds. It took them 4 minutes to get Blake out. I was scared to death. The doctor was screaming at people and things were really tense for awhile. The second they got Blake out, I was given drugs to put me to sleep. I was bleeding heavily and I couldn't breathe.

Blake and Joseph were sent to the special care nursery while the doctors fixed me. Blake was born at 1:53, and I didn't get to recovery until 6pm. I had tearing from them scrambling to get him out. They also were worried about my bladder, and called a urologist in to make sure it was OK. I finally met Blake around 8pm on his birthday.

I lost a lot of blood, so I required two blood transfusions. All-in-all, I got pretty beat up. I wasn't allowed out of bed until Monday. Blake is perfect though. We are finally home, and I am trying to get back on my feet. Thank goodness Joseph is here to help.