Zachary Taylor Rice was born on Sunday, December 2nd, 2007 at 8:53am in Bend, OR. He weighed 5 lb. 8 oz. and was 19 inches long.
Labor and delivery were nothing like what we expected! We took our birthing classes (although I don't know why now) and were prepared with what we thought it was going to be like.
On Friday, November 30th, I (Sheena) had a regular check up at the doctor's office. When we woke up that morning I joked that we'd go in, find out my blood pressure was high and that I had pre-eclampsia and they'd have to induce labor. SHOULDN'T HAVE SAID IT! That's exactly what happened!
After being sent to the hospital to have the baby monitored, we decided it was safest for me to be induced. (Much better than seizures and a coma, in my opinion.) Labor did not start pretty! The nurse (who was awesome, by the way) gave me three doses of medicine to bring my blood pressure down. My body didn't like that much and proceeded to throw everything that I'd eaten up...and keep me doing it until Zach was born.
Twelve hours after we started I was ready to give up. The contractions were every couple of minutes, I couldn't handle more pain, his head wasn't engaged yet and I was only dilated to a 1. I was begging the doctor for a c-section! It was then that I had the most glorious experience ever--the epidural! My body went numb and I was able to sleep! People had to tell me when I was having a contraction...I loved it! Although I hated being bed-ridden, that made me feel a lot better.
At some point (I can't remember when) they broke my water to encourage the labor along. And then they had to put water back in! There were several time they considered doing a c-section, but I escaped just under the wire!
After 36 hours of labor, 15 hours with my water broken and 3 hours of pushing, Zachary was born! (Special thanks to the pushing team: Adam, Alison, Fran and Mom.) Adam got to cut the cord and we got to hold him for a moment before he was rushed away to the NICU.
Zachary spent a total of 8 days in the NICU. We stayed at the Ronald McDonald House next to the hospital after I was discharged. It was such a blessing! We weren't able to afford a hotel and were not going to be over an hour away from him at home. Zach made several girl friends at the hospital, including twin girls with the last name Rice!
We are very glad to be home now and to celebrate Zachary's first Christmas! Thank you to everyone for all of your prayers and support! Your cards and gifts have been a blessing to us as well! We look forward to showing off Zachary soon!
