My Deployment Baby

A couple of weeks before I found out I was pregnant with our first child we found out my husband was most likely going to Iraq. So when I saw those two beautiful pink lines I danced around, so excited. "I'm going to be a Mommy!" Then I immediately started crying, I wasn't sure I could do it all without Dust. A few months into the pregnancy it was confirmed that my husband was going to be in Iraq "For the duration of 12 months or until the mission is deemed complete". I didn't know many people in Kansas where we were currently stationed and I decided it would be best if I moved home to be with family for the pregnancy and birth.
Four days before he left we found out we were having a daughter! We decided to name her Zoey Mae. The day he left he kissed my barely showing belly and told Zoey how much he loved her.

 Shortly after he left I moved back home. I found a great doctor and we started planning when Dust should come home for R&R (a two week break from deployments that are 12 months or more to visit family) we found out his deployment was extended to 15 months, and he was going to meet Zoey when she was 3 months old.

During one of my appointments we found out Zoey was breach, my doctor could try to turn her or we could schedule a c section. The way she was sitting we decided to just go ahead and schedule the C section for June 21st ( a combination of my birthday and her Dads) we also got permission from the hospital to Skype the birth to Iraq, and Dust got it all set up on his end that he would be there for our call.

 

Well, Zoey had other Ideas, as she always does. On June 14 about 9pm I started contracting, my doctor had mentioned earlier that day at my appointment that I had a "bulging bag" and may go into labor soon. I'd been trying to call Dust all day, but of course he wasn't answering. I took a nice warm bath to try and calm them, but when I got out of the bath my water started leaking, I went and woke up my mom. We got in the car, picked up my sister, and headed to the hospital. When I got out of my moms car my water REALLY broke. It was running down the hospital driveway. Ha ha. I called my In laws and told them what was going on, and asked them to keep calling Dust for me. I also had a friend on Myspace waiting to see if he logged in.
We headed up to Labor and Delivery, where my mom and sister worked. They were so busy that night that My mom and sister clocked in and got to be my nurses! It was so much fun having only family in the room for the first little while. I was told the OR was booked, and the anesthesiologist was busy so I had to wait for my epidural, I was already dilated to a 7. When the OR was ready, they wheeled me down the hall and prepped me for delivery, and finally gave me some pain medication. It was all rather uneventful, they numbed me then got Zoey out. Not a very interesting story, but births are better when nothing too interesting happens in my opinion. :)

I was laying there waiting and when I heard her little cry, it was the most beautiful thing in the world. It felt like forever until I got to see her, but when I did, wow. I can't even explain the love. She was gorgeous, she was so special, and she was mine. I couldn't ask for anything more. She was born June 15 2007, 1:03 am, 6lb 5oz 19 1/2 inches of pure love.

Throughout the night I kept waking up my mom and asking her to hand me Zoey. I couldn't stop staring at her! We called the red cross to tell Dust that she was here, but I also had a friend message him saying she was born, and my sister emailed pictures. He said that he got on myspace, saw my friends message and thought it was some kind of cruel joke. Then he signed into his yahoo account, saw pictures labeled "Zoey" and ran for the phones.

 In his words: I ran in and yelled "I  need to use the phone, my wife just had a baby!" He found out approximately 9 hours after she had been born. We were both so excited, he said I sounded a little drugged, and I probably was. But he heard her little baby sounds over the phone thousands of miles away, isn't technology amazing!? And he fell in love with her too.
Three months later he finally got to come home and meet her, he held her almost constantly for those two weeks, he was amazed by her. He kept saying things like "look how little her hand is" and "I don't want to leave her" it was the best two weeks of my life up to that point.

 Zoey is now six years old, Daddy got home when she was 10 months old and we later went through a second, shorter deployment. Then added another little princess to the family. But those two are inseparable. She wants to marry him when she's older, I asked her what Mommy would do then and she replied "We can share". I'm so grateful to have a family that loves each other as much as we do.

 Zoey on her sixth birthday. :) She's such a sweet and funny little girl who brings so much joy to our family.