Zoey Michelle

Zoey's Story

On Memorial Day weekend of 2010 I found out I was pregnant. We were soo excited. We got pregnant on our first try which was a complete surprise because i have PCOS and thought i would always have a hard time getting pregnant.
My pregnancy was going really well. I didn't have any morning sickness and other than being tired all the time I didn't have any side effects. On September 13 we had our 20 week ultrasound and found out it was a girl. I already knew I wanted to name her Zoey. Mike nicknamed her our Little Ladybug and we had picked out  ladybug decor for her room and put it on or registry that week.

At 21 weeks I started having a thick vaginal discharge on and off throughout the week. I thought it was weird but asked around and was told not to worry it was probably that i was dehydrated. I made sure to drink more water than I was and convinced myself it was normal. At week 22 I was at a family dinner Sunday night and started having some little cramps. Again everything i read said that cramps were normal when the muscles are stretching so i didn't worry. Tuesday night September 28 i went out to dinner with some friends and my mom and mentioned i had been having pretty sharp short lived pains. My mom and other friend that had kids told me i should call the doctor just to make sure it was nothing.

Wednesday The 29th was my 25th birthday. I called the doctor in the morning and they asked me to come in and said i might have a bladder infection. Mike was on the ship at the time so i was going to go to the doctor alone. Then right before i left for the doctor i had some spotting. This freaked me out so i called my mom and asked her to come with me to the doctor.

We got to the doctor at 2pm and I saw the Midwife. She got out all the tools and started doing an exam. She got about 1 minute into the exam and stopped and went to get the doctor. Luckily my doctor was still in the office and she came in to do the exam. She found that my cervix was 2cm dilated. She told me to go straight to the hospital (which was down the street) and that i was going to be admitted and they would have to put me in a bed with my head lower than my feet and then put in a cerclage. I called Mike on my way to the hospital and told him what was going on.

Once i got to the hospital I went to Labor and Delivery right away. I got settled in, had an IV put in as well as a catheter because they didn't want me to get up at all. They also put monitors on me for the baby and contractions. I could hear zoey's heartbeat and hear her kick the monitor.  About an hour after i got there the doctor came in to check me and swab for some tests. When she examined me she found out that i was 6cm. While taking the swabs she was explaining to me some of my options. She left the room to look at one of the swabs. I called mike to explain to him what she had told me. Within a couple minutes she returns with the nurse. As soon as she walked in the room she started crying. She told me I no longer had any options and that the swab she took was to see if my water had broke and it had already.

I put Mike on speaker phone so he could hear what the doctor had to say.  We were devastated. The doctor and nurse were crying with my mom, Mike and I. Mike and I hung up with each other after a few minutes because he had to go talk to his captain to get a flight home. After I hung up i asked the doctor if i had to be awake during everything. She said yes that i had to deliver normally because it would be the best and safest thing to do. She then broke my water the rest of the way and found that there was merconium in the fluid. She was shocked because she had never seen merconium at this early of a delivery.

They started me on pitocin and increased it throughout the night. By 2am my contractions were unbearable. I asked for an epidural. I was really scared to get an epidural and it only got worse as it was happening. The doctor was taking forever and had to give me 3 different doses of drugs to relax me. Finally after 45mins i had my epidural and I could relax. I delivered Zoey at 8:29am on September 30th. She weighed only 1lb 1oz. As soon as she was born the doctor placed her in my arms and she stayed there until she stopped moving and went to heaven. I am so happy and lucky i got those 5-10minutes with her. She got to hear mikes voice as he told her he loved her through the phone.

Mike was able to get there by 11pm that night and was able to see and hold her. The nurses took some beautiful pictures for us of her and gave us a memory box with a hat, some little clothes, a heart shaped pillow and her footprints. Mike stayed with me in the hospital that night and i was able to go home the next morning. I was lucky to come out of this healthy and just heartbroken.