Zane Christian's Birth Story

"THE FATHER OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN, HAS GREAT JOY; HE WHO HAS A WISE SON DELIGHTS IN HIM. MAY YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER BE GLAD. MAY SHE WHO GAVE YOU BIRTH REJOICE." PROVERBS 23:25

ZANE CHRISTIAN

JUNE 19th 2003
With Daddy and Mommy

ZANE AND A FAMILY FRIEND,
DENISE PRUITTE

ZANE CHRISTIAN ~ ONE DAY OLD

I have been meaning to put my kid's birth stories on here for awhile, now....I have probably forgotten a lot of the details, but maybe in writing it out, I will remember, more!

James and I got married in Priest River, Idaho on August 2, 2002. About a week later we moved to Ft. Campbell, KY to start our new life together. We had dated/known each other for 5 1/2 years before marrying, so we were actually quite ready to start a family. We did want to wait to get pregnant a little longer than we actually did, but we were very happy and so excited. I found out I was pregnant in late September. James, I remember, was very proud! :)

We were living in this itty bitty house that was not the greatest, so we started looking around for a new place to rent. We moved to Clarksville, TN in December right before Christmas, to a nice single wide, where we could also keep our horses. It was a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, with lots of land, so it was perfect to start our little family.

We prayed everyday for a little boy, and sometimes we even asked for a little boy when we said Grace over our food. When we had our ultrasound, the doctor asked if I could tell what my baby was, and so I looked for a few seconds, and saw that he was a boy! We were so excited!

I wasn't sick while I was pregnant with Zane. I remember that the smell of ground beef cooking made me a little nauseous, and I couldn't even stand to look at mustard (he has hated mustard, all this time until just recently)! I gained 25 pounds exactly, with him. I walked a lot, with our Blue Heeler, Sissy, and I rode my horse the most during his pregnancy than with the other two.

I was due June 19th, 2003. On the 18th of June, I went in for a regular check-up with whoever was to be my doctor that day. There was a big baby boom, when I was pregnant with Zane, and I never had the same doctor more than two or three times, which was kind of frustrating, but also kind of fun! Every time I would get a new doctor, he/she would get deployed to Iraq. So, anyway, the lady checked me and casually asked if I was ready to have my baby. Of course, I said yes. Well, apparently, when she checked me she also ruptured my membrane, which very quickly put me in labor. Oh, you do not even know how absolutely angry I was. Mostly, because James had been sent out for some little mission and I did not know where he was or when he would be home. So, as soon as I left the hospital the contractions started and they were painful from the very beginning. I had to go to the commissary, so I bravely decided I better go while the getting was good. It was busy in there and by the time I got out with all my food and into my car I was in quite a bit of bearable pain, but my contractions were about 15 min apart and regular.
I get home and call my mom, and she says the doctor probably just irritated me when she checked me, and that I am probably not in labor. I call my mother-in-law and she says I probably am, so I really have no clue if I am or if I am not...........all I know is that my husband is gone and I do not know where he is. I am praying to God that he comes home soon, with each contraction. I am kind of getting scared when I make myself some dinner and it is getting dark. We didn't have a cell phone at this time, and I wouldn't have called him anyway. So, I put my bag by the door, and decide it is too late to call anyone to drive me to the hospital, so I think to myself that I will go to bed for awhile and then if the pain gets worse I will drive myself to the hospital and somewhere, someone can contact my husband.

I go to bed and probably around 10:00-10:30 pm, my husband comes home and apparently they didn't need him to go on this mission, but that he had to go somewhere.....Jimmy help me out on this ....I can't remember.......Anyway, he flew on a helicopter somewhere, to go to the mission, but didn't go on the mission, so he flew back to KY and then drove home. So, he sees my bag by the door when he comes home and is like "OMG".........I was asleep actually when he came home, with a little break from the contractions. After he got home, I tried to sleep, so he could get some sleep. I think he got an hours worth or so, before I couldn't stand it anymore. Thank God he was home to drive me! On the way there, the contractions were about 9-10 min apart and horrendous. I knew nothing about breathing or positioning, really, but did my best. We are driving our huge white 1991 Ford F-350, that my parents gave us. About halfway there, we get pulled over. James thought he was speeding, but the cop was just telling him that he had a taillight out. So, as soon as the cop comes to the window, James is making excuses for speeding and saying, "my wife is in labor, etc"....the cop is like, "no, I didn't pull you over for speeding...." And so, the cop is asking all kinds of questions while I am doubled over in the truck....finally, I say, "JUST GO!" ....and so we did.

We get there around midnight. They check me and I am only at 1 cm. I am disappointed, since I have been in pain since lunchtime the day before, and really thought I would be farther along then that. I tell the doctors I want to have an all natural delivery....I don't even think I knew what I was talking about.....anyway, but I do tell the assistant that if it gets too bad that I would like to have an epidural. My husband is not a very supportive labor person and just sits there and holds my hand (same for all our babies). Oh well, so for an hour or two I try to breathe through my contractions which are getting harder and harder and getting me nowhere really. I think I was only at 3 cm when I finally got my epidural. My epidural must have been a great one, because I didn't feel a thing until way after Zane was born. I got my epidural at about 1 or 2 in the morning and it lasted until after Zane was born (at 12:53 pm, on June 19th--my actual due date). You hear stories about epidurals not lasting long enough, but mine sure did. Anyway, so from the time I got it until I was wheeled into the delivery room, my labor progressed slowly. I knew I should probably change positions every now and then to help him out, so I did that quite a bit and rested.

I am a great pusher and have never had to push longer than 30 min and my babies are out. So, I pushed with Zane a few times and they laid him naked and slimy on my tummy and I cried and told him I loved him, and it was a very emotional time for both Daddy and I. Zane was tired and a little cold so they put him in the incubator thing, and i was pissed royally, because I just wanted to nurse him before he was way too tired, but wasn't brave enough to just tell them. So, by the time he is warm enough (to their standards) they finally give him to me, to nurse him and he is too tired and will not latch on. I try and try but he is just so asleep that nothing is working. Finally, they take him and sit him up and force a bottle into his mouth and he drinks some but is still too tired to drink much. Of course, I am furious. With my next two babies I made it very clear what I wanted and didn't let this type of thing happen again.

When he finally wakes up and is alert, he nurses like a champ and since I am a new mom, they make me stay in the hospital for like 3 days, which was fine. I didn't mind, really and I got good rest. I could have had a midwife at that time, or had him in a birthing center, I'm sure, but it is a lot of paperwork and I think you have to pay for it, and with my husband as an E-3, we just couldn't afford that, so obviously we went with our 100% covered medical, hospital birth, with free epidural! :) I had epidurals with my other two kids as well, and both of them nursed right away (I will write their birth stories sometime this next week probably) and weren't tired like Zane was, but he was my longest labor, at 23 hours long....so I don't think it was the epidural. He was just plain exhausted. He was born at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital, on Ft. Campbell, Ky. Sherri Phipps (my mother-in-law), and James were there when he was born. He weighed in at 7 pounds, 5 1/2 oz and was 20.5 inches long. He had some hair, but not much and was a pretty good baby. Eventually, when he was about 8 weeks old, after some major colicking/tummy upset, I figured out that he was sensitive to dairy products and eliminated those out of my diet for a few months and slowly added them back in. After one day, he was like a different child! I was so happy to have a happy baby! So, if you are a new mom and are having this type of problem (vomiting after nursing and crying a lot after nursing, it could be dairy products).

We brought Zane home in our cowboy truck and the first song he ever heard was something by George Strait (Jimmy, correct me if I am wrong), and he has been a little cowboy ever since! :)