Gabriela Zoe;s Birth Story

My Sweet dear girl, I want to share with you your birth story and the little miracles God allowed us to experience including you :o)
The labor part started on Saturday night when I lost the mucus plug, so Sunday morning we headed straight to the hospital with yiayia, papou and Vasilia Luz. There they checked me and saw that I was maybe 1 centimeter dilated, they heard your heartbeat and since everything looked good they sent me home...I had not felt any contractions yet.
After that we went to church...for the end of the service and to see your daddy who was working. After that we headed out to Fontana at your grandparent's home where your second baby shower took place. There were some relative that were betting we were not going to make it to the shower but there we were! It was a very fun shower that your auntie Jodi planned and daddy had other guys there...it was a combined baby shower...I really liked it! I also like the part that all four of your grandparents were there. People tried to guess your name through a game and actually your aunt Kristin is the only one who guessed your whole name right 'Gabriela Zoe'!!! How awesome..we awarded however the name GiZeLe because it was spelling out your initials and that was uncle Bill and MaryAnne wrote down.
Monday morning we decided to go shopping so our first stop was Ross, your greek family's favorite american store ;o) My contractions started there at 11 a.m.! It must have been really funny for people to see me pacing back and forth breathing. but I was in labor and happy. After that papou and giagia were thinking that we should go home...but I said if she is coming today I have to go to Babies r Us and get a few things I know I'll need....I don't remember at all what those things were! then it was lunch time and went to eat at an italian restaurant in Simi Valley. I had eggplant parmigiana...I had heard that eggplant can cause labor so since I was already in labor I thought I might help the situation.
After lunch we headed home, I continued to labor and laid in bed and moved around and took a bath. Which actually slowed down the contractions. However it had been more that an hour that my contractions were 5-7 minutes lasting for about a minute so your daddy was convinced it was time for the hospital. I tried to drag it out as much as possible but in the end everything was packed in the car and we were ready to go. Your papou, giagia and thia followed us to the hospital. Once at the hospital in the triage they checked to see that you were ok and that was clear and they checked me and if I remember well I was 3 cm. They told me to go home...but noone felt comfortable driving home knowing there was a chance we were going to be back within a few hours so we decided to look for a motel. Then I realized I just couldn't do it and thought that the hospital would be better than the motel. At that time I had started to lose my rhythm and my panic caused the pain to be amplified. So back to the hospital we went and I got admitted.
Standing was so much easier to deal with the pain but they had me laying down for a lot of the time so at those times it was hard. Once I was able to stand I would celebrate! After 16 hours had passed with no real progress they wanted to give me pitocin that would increase the contractions and their intensity. Because I had not slept all night and I wanted to be awake when I met you I decided to get an epidural since we did not know how much longer our journey was going to be. The doctor came and broke my water first and when that did not do anything they gave me the pitocin. It was 10 more hours after increasing the pitocin several times that I was finally dilated to 10 cm and was able to push. Your daddy was right there along side me telling me to push...telling you to push...and push you did :o) You kicked me so hard one time that I vomited :o) At the time I was blaming the nurse to Stephen that she was pushing me too hard! I was nice though I only said to your daddy that I did not want that nurse to touch me again! I do not know how the time went by, usually in hospital at this period of time they do not let women push more than 2 hours but our doctor would let me push for three hours...however because after 2 1/2 hours there was no progress they told us that it was best to go in for a c-section. So they prepared me and your daddy for the surgery. I must have fallen asleep because I do not remember getting to the surgery room but once I was there I waited and waited until I finally heard your cry! And the doctor said that you were a girl!!! That was so exciting for me!!! I wanted to have a girl so bad :o) After they cleaned you up daddy brought you close so i could see you and then he took you outside to announce your name to the family "Gabriela Zoe" which means God is my Strength and Life...so true!
God was your strength and your life as well as mine and under any other circumstances you and I may not have survived this ordeal. I had a 105 fever and the cord was wrapped around your neck 3 times. But here we are both of us healthy and strong with a chance to live the lives that God has so graciously given us. You are a little miracle and we cannot wait to see you discover all the gifts God has given you and how you are going to be used for His glory. You are also a precious gift...God was thinking of daddy and mommy when he made you. We love you very much and a verse that stuck with us during this season is that "Those who sow in tears will reap in joy" You have brought so much joy in our lives we did not even know it was possible! This is you and your story of how you came from mommy's tummy into this world.