Our sweet Zoey is officially one week old today, and to celebrate we wanted to share her birth story! This was such a special experience for us and we are excited to have recorded this for our baby girl to look back on and read throughout her life!
Zoey May Bowcut was born on Friday, March 29th, 2019 at 5:54am. She was 9 pounds 2 ounces and measured 22.5 inches long. At the time of her birth, she was technically about a week and a half early, but she was as healthy as could be and delivered like a charm! Her brother Isaac was also born a few weeks early, so apparently Bowut babies just develop more quickly than the regular 40 weeks! Zoey’s birth was quick (though her birth story lasted a few weeks!) and everything with the birth went incredibly well. Here are some details about Zoey’s entrance into this world from her mom’s perspective.
Baby Zoey’s birth story actually begins about six weeks before she was born. My pregnancy up until that point was pretty routine and we were really blessed with how things went. I did experience some nausea, especially during the first trimester, but fortunately never any really difficult “morning sickness” in the traditional sense that most women do. I was so excited to be having a baby girl, so even the side effects I did experience was nothing in comparison to how blessed I felt to be pregnant again and expecting our little miss! In fact, before we even knew officially that she was a girl, I already knew in my heart that she was. I would often thank Heavenly Father in prayers for our little girl, before we had the testing done to confirm that’s what she was. Somehow as her mother I just knew that a special little girl was coming to our family this time! This pregnancy was definitely more difficult than with her brother Isaac, but again, looking back I would say it was very easy and we were so blessed with how things went!
Our maternity photos went a little different this time – we decided not to officially get maternity pictures because I was asked to be part of a photo shoot a few weeks before baby girl was supposed to be delivered. This timing worked out perfectly and we consider these our maternity photos!
Zoey was born when she was 38 weeks and 5 days, but things really started with her birth story at 32 weeks and 3 days. On the evening of Wednesday, February 13th, I started having what I felt were contractions. I’d had lots of Braxton-Hicks contractions once I hit my third trimester, but on this night, the contractions were definitely more intense and coming pretty regularly. I tried laying down, drinking some water, and sleeping, but after a few hours, they were coming about 4 minutes apart. We figured it was better to be safe than sorry, so we drove to the hospital and got there a little after midnight. Unfortunately we couldn’t find anyone to take Isaac since it was the middle of the night, so he came along with us! The sweet little guy had actually woken up right as we were getting ready to leave, so he was in good spirits and wasn’t upset at all. Once we arrived, they got me hooked up to monitors to track the baby’s heart rate and potential contractions, and sure enough, I was having real contractions every few minutes. They did a few tests to try and figure out what was going on, and ultimately they realized that I had a minor infection that was causing my body to contract. (Plus, I was so large in my belly already that it was my body as well just contracting on itself because it was so big.) Thankfully my body wasn’t engaging in anything else that would indicate I was going into labor, so they gave me some medication to stop the contractions and then sent us home. We had to stay for a few hours so they could ensure that the contractions stopped, so while we were waiting Tom and Isaac were able to get a little sleep. It turned into a very long night, but thankfully everything worked out alright. I was quite emotional when we arrived because I was concerned about having such a premature baby, so I was very relieved when they told us everything was fine. Even though this little “false alarm” made for a long night, it sure was nice for us to have a trial run of getting from home to the hospital and seeing the labor and delivery unit so we’d know what to expect when the real labor started! (Isaac was born in a different hospital, so this was an all new one we had to get familiar with.)
One special thing that happened the night of this “false alarm” was that I asked Tom to give me a blessing of comfort since I was so worried about the baby coming so early. While I don’t remember everything that was said, I do remember that a great feeling of peace came over both Tom and I that everything would be alright, and Tom said during the blessing that there were forces that wanted to keep this little girl from coming to the earth, but they wouldn’t be successful and everything would turn out alright. It was then I realized just what a special little spirit was growing inside me, and it made me even more excited to get to be this little one’s mother! Things did continue to get a little crazy in the following weeks, but because of the reassurance I had through this blessing and the peace I felt, I was able to stay calm and trust that the Lord knew me, my little girl, and our family and that He would ALWAYS look out for us and do what was best according to His plan. This experience also made me so thankful to have a husband who honors his priesthood and was able to give me a blessing of comfort when I needed one. We are so lucky to have Tom as the patriarch of our family and I was reminded of that again this night. It’s amazing how even the toughest experiences can still be beautiful because of the Lord’s goodness!
The next few weeks turned out to be quite the balancing act. My doctors were having me meet with them more regularly, so we were going in every two weeks and then every week for a little while. Even though the labor contractions had stopped, I was still having lots of Braxton-Hicks contractions, and these were causing my body to dilate fairly quickly. At my 34-week appointment (which was two weeks after the false alarm) they told me I was dilated to a 3 but that wasn’t too surprising considering all the contractions I’d been having. However, at my 32-week appointment, they did feel like my belly was measuring so big that they ordered a growth ultrasound to occur at the 34-week appointment. So, before I met with the doctor at the 34-week appointment, I had that ultrasound, and then the doctor told me that it appeared I had too much amniotic fluid, or something called polyhydroamnios. This concerned the doctor, so she had me schedule an appointment to come back the next week for another check. She also had me get a series of steroid shots to jump-start the baby’s lung development (in case she decided to come early) and she scheduled me to meet with a perinatologist to check for any complications with the baby. This was all just a whirlwind and even though I was really concerned about things, I also had a peace in knowing that things would be alright.
We met with the perinatologist on Tuesday, March 5th and we were a little nervous going in, but thankfully we got the best news possible. They did a really comprehensive ultrasound and measured absolutely everything with the baby and everything with me. And, they reassured us that everything looked great! My fluid levels were normal and the baby was perfectly healthy, though definitely measuring big. They estimated she was already over eight pounds, so we knew that if she stayed in until term, she would likely be 9-10 pounds. But, that was great news to us because we were reassured she was healthy and that made us so thrilled! After that, we continued to meet with the doctors each week and do the non-stress tests, and everything reaffirmed that baby girl was healthy and doing really well. Each week we went in though, the doctors were surprised to see us because I was dilating so much and progressing! No one was more surprised than us though, and it was kind of a whirlwind of emotions… From worry that baby girl would come early, to happiness that she was fine, to wanting to keep her in until she was term, to feeling anxious once we reached term that she could come every day, it was a bit overwhelming at times but at the end of the day, all that mattered was that baby girl was happy and healthy! Our goal date to keep our little miss in my belly was March 17th, because then she would be 37 weeks and wouldn’t be considered pre-term. Thankfully we made it to March 17th, but then each day that went by we were hoping she would arrive! On Monday, March 18th, I got really sick while at work, which was something that happened the day before I delivered Isaac, so we thought that may be a sign… But, it wasn’t. Then, I lost my mucus plug (turns out that can happen multiple times, which it did) and we thought that was a sign she was coming… But, it wasn’t. I had dilated to a 5 at our 35-week appointment, so we thought that was a sign… But it wasn’t! Seriously, every day that passed was filled with anticipation and excitement that she may arrive, and then sadly disappointment when she didn’t. We were so excited to meet our baby girl and since we knew she was healthy, we were hoping it was any day! Some women get to the end of their pregnancy and want their baby to arrive because they are uncomfortable, but that wasn’t the reason we wanted our little miss to arrive. We had been anticipating her arrival really since week 32, so we were just so anxious to meet her and get to know her and even just know what her name was! We were glad she was safe and well though in my belly, so it was just an overwhelming flood of all different kind of emotions until she arrived. We had our final doctor’s appointment and non-stress test at week 38 on March 27th, and everything was still looking good. The week before, our doctor had us schedule an induction for 39 weeks because the baby was so big and it didn’t make sense to have her stay in longer than that. So, we had an induction scheduled for Monday, April 1st and we were thrilled to learn that the doctor on-call that day was one that I really loved, so it was all working out! We still knew she could come any day, but at that point, it was nice to at least have it scheduled and it seemed that would be the plan that happened. Our sweet little miss had a plan of her own though, and it turns out we didn’t actually make it to the induction date after all! She ended up deciding to come on her own a few days before, so while we would’ve loved to go with a nice and neat scheduled induction, we’re glad my body was able to do what it needed to on its own to get her here! J
Thursday, March 28th I went to a work conference in Salt Lake but ended up coming home early because I was just feeling off. I wasn’t sick necessarily or anything like that, but just feeling a little weird. That night I was still feeling kind of weird, so after dinner we put Isaac to bed and then went to bed ourselves about 10:00pm. I woke up about an hour later needing to use the bathroom, and when I came back to bed, I was having some cramping/contractions. This was pretty common with all the Braxton-Hicks I’d been having, so I just sat there for a minute waiting for the cramping to go away. It wasn’t really going away though after a few minutes, so I just laid back down and tried to go back to sleep. I was able to relax for a bit, but then I woke up about an hour later again needing to go to the bathroom and having the same cramping. This time they really wouldn’t go away though, so I couldn’t fall back asleep. I couldn’t tell if they were coming regularly though, as they essentially just never stopped, so I laid in bed for about another hour and a half just trying to figure out what was going on. About 2:00am, it seemed they were coming regularly and they were getting more intense. Tom hadn’t been feeling too well the last couple days (possibly coming down with a cold) so I wanted him to get as much sleep as possible and really didn’t want to wake him unless I was sure something was happening. By 2:30, I was pretty sure something was happening! The contractions were really painful and intense, and though I couldn’t quite track their regularity, I really felt labor was coming on. The doctor had told us that as soon as contractions started, we needed to get to the hospital because they didn’t want my water breaking on its own (if we could prevent it) since there was so much and it coming out could cause problems with the cord. So, at 2:30 I woke Tom up and we headed to the hospital. My mom had sent a message in our group text about a half hour before, so I figured she was awake. I texted and asked them to come over and they came over right away. However, we couldn’t wait because they contractions were so intense, so we left our little guy sleeping and headed to the hospital since my parents were on their way. They got to our home about 15 minutes after we left, so it wasn’t bad at all and Isaac was totally safe! We’re so grateful they were able to come over and be with Isaac and help us when we needed them!
The ride to the hospital was painful to say the least… Thankfully there wasn’t a lot of traffic, so we were able to fly through some red lights (thanks to Tom’s good driving!) and made it to the hospital within ten minutes. I had about three contractions on the way, and that was really painful because of the bumpiness of the road and having to be sitting in the car. But, we made it there really quickly and I was so grateful the hospital is so close! We arrived and Tom dropped me off at the ER doors while he went to park the car. I told the attendant inside that I was in labor, so she got me a wheelchair and then Tom came in and we headed to labor and delivery. When we arrived, they just buzzed us right in because I think they could see us on the camera and I was clearly in pain with contractions! We stopped briefly at the front desk so I could have a contraction, and then they took us right back to a room. Apparently it was a very busy night and three or four women had come in right before me. (Perhaps it was the full moon – apparently that’s a thing!) However, I was the most progressed (especially since I’d been dilated to a six already) so I thankfully was able to get the anesthesiologist first. They actually didn’t even check me in at first and instead just started the process of getting me an IV and the epidural. I changed into a gown while I was having contractions but then they got me hooked up to the monitors and started the IV. The nurse who did the IV must have been new or something, because that honestly was just as painful as the contractions! She was using the vein in my right wrist, and I’m not sure what she did, but there was blood everywhere. It hurt, but it was necessary for the epidural so we finally just got it done. Then, they asked this other girl to hook me up to the monitors – one to monitor the baby’s heartbeat and the other to monitor my contractions. After a few minutes, the nurses came in concerned because they couldn’t find the baby’s heartbeat. When the checked the monitors, they realized that the girl who put them on did so upside down. Seriously – I’m not sure if she was the janitor or what, but she clearly didn’t know what she was doing! It was weird – she hadn’t been in scrubs or anything, so I’m not sure who she was. It was all just kind of odd, but I was in so much pain that I didn’t care and just wanted them to hurry and finish so I could get the epidural! Thankfully everything got figured out, and the anesthesiologist came in. He was trying to be all friendly and funny, which I wasn’t thrilled with because I was in such pain, but I also didn’t care too much because I knew he was the keeper of the pain medication. J The contractions were coming so quickly though that he had to do the epidural in steps. So, he started by finding the spot he needed to put it in, and then we’d wait while I had a contraction. Then, he cleaned the spot and then we’d wait for a contraction to finish. This went on for a few contractions where we’d just have to wait, but finally the epidural was in and because I was so progressed, he gave me an additional pain medication that made it effective faster. Honestly, within just a few minutes I was feeling better and at that point everything was great!
The midwife then came in and I was absolutely thrilled (and felt it was a tender mercy) that it was one who I really liked and had seen many times (in fact the one I’d visited with the most in recent weeks). Her name is Claudia Killebrew and she is so personable and kind, so I was so excited that it was her who would be delivering me! There are many midwives and whoever is on call is the one who delivers you, and I believe I’ve met with all of them by now. However, there are certainly some that I get along better with, and Claudia is one! Actually, when we arrived, one of the doctors came in and was talking about making sure everything was okay and the delivery went well. I didn’t know him so I was a bit confused, but we then realized it was one of the doctors from the medical group (as they didn’t realize I was a midwife patient since I skipped check-in). It made me so grateful that I’d made the choice to see the midwives, because they are so personable and make the pregnancy and birth such a better experience!
After I had the epidural, Claudia came in to check me and saw that I was progressing, so she asked if I wanted her to break my water. I asked if we could wait for a little bit so I could calm down and relax after all the really intense contractions, and she said that was fine. She left the room and it was just the two of us, so it was actually quite peaceful.
We were resting for a minute when all of a sudden, it sounded like a water balloon popped! My water broke on its own and so we called the doctor back in. She said I was progressing more, so she waited in our room with us for the next little bit until it was time to push. I was feeling really good (thanks to the epidural) and baby girl was doing great, so it was just another wonderful birthing experience! Once I was progressed enough, we started pushing. It only took about five or six contractions to get baby girl here, and everything went so smoothly! I didn’t hardly tear at all, and she made her entrance into the world at 5:54am. Apparently she was very long, because the doctor said she just kept coming! They kept saying that she was a good-sized baby, which we knew based off everything that had happened the last few weeks! After she came out, they put our sweet little girl on my chest and she was still attached through the umbilical cord. I was worried because she was somewhat blue, but they told me that’s because she was still attached and her blood hadn’t come in contact with oxygen yet. So interesting! This was a very special moment as I met our sweet little daughter for the first time – I will remember it forever!
After a few minutes, Tom cut the cord and they took baby girl over to be measured and tested. The nurses were making bets on how big and long she was, because she really was – turns out she was nine pounds, two ounces and 22.5 inches long! Wow! We were so glad she was here and healthy! She cried just a little, but overall she already was displaying her calm, sweet demeanor.
Even though she hardly cried, she did make a pretty funny face when the nurse held her up that let us know she wasn’t thrilled at having to leave her comfy, warm home!
After a minute of them having her over on the monitors, we could hear that they were saying there may be some complications. Talk about a few moments of panic. Apparently because of all the amniotic fluid, baby girl swallowed some and had a good amount in her lungs. This really concerned me, but I also had a calm feeling that everything would be okay. They suctioned her out quite a bit and kept her over on the monitors to ensure everything was okay. Apparently everything looked good with all her other tests, so after they had gotten a good amount of the fluid out and cleaned her up, they brought our sweet girl back to me. She was just the most beautiful little thing and I couldn’t believe she was finally here! She didn’t look much like Isaac and she actually had a great deal of red hair – not sure where that comes from, but apparently Tom and I have the genes in there somewhere! She sure was beautiful though and it was so special to have a baby girl in our family! When they handed her to me, she looked up at me and it was such a wonderful moment. (The pictures we were able to take are certainly not the most flattering, but they shows the emotions I was feeling as I first gazed into the eyes of my precious, perfect new daughter. I couldn’t hold back the happy tears!)
After I held her for a little bit, our sweet little miss got to spend some time with her daddy. She probably doesn’t realize it yet, but she was lucky enough to be born to the most wonderful daddy in the world!
When things had settled down, we were expecting to move rooms. However, at this hospital, you just stay in one room for your whole stay. This was actually quite nice and the room we were in was really big with a pretty view of the mountains! The nurses took Baby Zoey for a little while to do some tests, and everything came back normal which was great! They again mentioned that she had some fluid in her lungs, but it wasn’t anything that was concerning and she would likely just cough and spit it out over the next few days. By this time, she was a couple hours old and was exhausted after such a big morning!
After the delivery, my recovery started. Perhaps because of how painful I remember the postpartum recovery being with Isaac, I was prepared for the worst! However, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected and for that I was so grateful. It still wasn’t easy, and I experienced some additional cramping, but overall it seemed the recovery was actually much easier than I’d had with my first pregnancy. Thankfully, just like with Isaac, I didn’t have to do much but lay there and recover and Zoey was already showing what a sweet baby she is and thus it made for a really lovely morning. The midwife on call that day (Stevie) came in and did a check to make sure things looked good with me, and then she gave me some discharge instructions and prescriptions. We also met with our pediatrician later that morning for an initial check on Zoey. We have absolutely loved working with Alpine Pediatrics, so they are the doctor we chose to go with for our little girl. As has been our experience with them, the doctor who met with us was awesome and said that Zoey looked great, so that was reassuring! We love our little angel baby so much and were glad to hear that she was doing well!
We decided not to have any visitors until later in the day, so we were able to relax a little and just enjoy our time with our sweet new daughter. The nurses actually didn’t come in very much, so we had quite a bit of quiet time with just the three of us. It was really sweet and allowed us time to just relax and focus on each other and Zoey. Danielle came to visit that afternoon, along with Chantelle and Emma. My parents brought Isaac by that evening and he was able to meet his baby sister for the first time. We caught those moments on video and we also took a few pictures. It was so sweet to see him recognize her and try to figure out what this new situation meant. It was clear he was fascinated by her and wanted to touch her, so that’s certainly something we’ll have to watch out for in the future as he isn’t old enough to be gentle with her yet! It’s clear though already that he’s going to be a great big brother, and we look forward to the friendship and love that will develop between these two as they grow up!
The day was definitely a good one and we learned that overall (minus swallowing some of the fluid) Zoey was very healthy – she passed her hearing and vision tests, she has no sign of heart problems, and her other tests were great too! (We know they took a lot of tests, most of them during the middle of the night, but we can’t remember what they all were!) The doctors had said that we could be discharged on Saturday if we wanted, but we decided to stay an extra day since insurance covers it and it was nice to have the extra help. Saturday was a good day and Chantelle and Danielle came to visit again. We also had our friends, Nate and Angela Lindsay, come to visit on Saturday afternoon. They are so supportive and kind and it was fun to see them and have them be some of the first people to meet Zoey! Another awesome thing that happened on Saturday was that I got a foot massage! Apparently the hospital contracts with a massage therapist to offer free, 15-minute foot massages to mothers who have just given birth. It was AWESOME! We had such a great experience at the hospital, and this was just one more wonderful thing! We were able to get some sleep Saturday night because the nurses were good enough to keep Zoey for a few hours, so that was nice.
Sunday we were ready to go home, and since everything was looking good and the baby was healthy, we were right on track. Because there were so many women that had delivered the same day as us and thus also being discharged Sunday, we told the doctors and nurses that we weren’t in any hurry and we were the last ones they sent home. We had Zoey dressed in the cute outfit we’d gotten her, which is actually the same outfit that Isaac came home in but in pink instead of blue!
The name we chose for our sweet little girl is Zoey May Bowcut. We wanted a family name, so we looked through the FamilySearch app and found that Tom’s great-grandmother was named Zoe May Bowcut, and we really liked that name. In fact, I’d seen her headstone when we visited the Burley cemetery on Memorial Day 2017, and I remember at the time thinking it would be a sweet name if we ever had a daughter. We’d been considering the name Isabelle, but in the end Zoey May just seemed to fit!
Finally the nurse came to check us out and she followed us to the car to ensure we had the car seat installed properly (which Zoey looked so tiny in!) and then we headed home. We ended up getting home around 1:00pm. And just like that, we went from a family of three to a family of four!
Zoey, we are so excited to have you in our family and everything about your coming into the world was so special. We look forward to the amazing life we will have as a family together and the blessing you will be to your mom, dad, big brother Isaac, and perhaps another sibling! We love you so much already and can’t wait to see what the future holds for you and us!
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