Meet Zachary James Fulginiti, Jr.

On Tuesday, February 22, 2011, our first son, Zachary James Fulginiti, Jr. was born at approximately 9:20am. He is a beautiful boy who weighed 7lbs and 6ozs. We are thrilled and as proud as we can be.

However, as many of you know this was a long difficult process. Amy began feeling contractions on Sunday night at 11:30pm before she had gone to bed. Over the next 11 hours she labored at home through the night. We had a previously scheduled doctor's appt at 11:20 that day, which we kept. At that appt, Amy was measuring 3-4cm and was looking great! The only thing we were concerned about was the potential that this could be false labor. We returned home and continued to labor there until about 6pm. Contractions were getting closer together and more intense. When we arrived at the hospital, Amy was measuring 5-6cm and still looked great! A couple of hours later revealed she had progressed to 7-8cm dilated and we thought we might be able to deliver this baby in a couple of hours. Unfortunately, Amy stopped progressing after that. For the next 3 hours she remained at 7-8cm but with contractions growing closer and much much stronger. All along we had planned and prepared to have a natural childbirth. But as midnight passed and the 25th hour of labor, with no signs of progress and no sleep for almost 36 hours, we decided it best to have an epidural to allow Amy to rest and gather strength for the delivery.

The epidural was not bulletproof as it only worked on half of her body for a time leaving the other half is a great deal of pain during the contractions that were taking place. Fortunately, this was resolved but not after at least another hour of painful contractions. As of 5am, Amy was still 7-8cm dilated. Dejected and exhausted the doctor's recommended taking pitocin as it looked like there was no end in sight. Finally, around 8am we began to push. Amy did an amazing job and finally he came out around 9:20am! Amy was unbelievable during the whole process. She made it through 25 hours of labor with no meds and by the time Zachary came she had not slept more than a few minutes at a time for 48 hours. She labored for almost 34 full hours!! What a trooper, my wife is absolutley amazing!! I really do look back at the last two days (in addition to the 9 months prior) and marvel at her faith, endurance, and perseverance. She is my hero.

We are so blessed and felt deeply cared for by our friends and family. Your prayers made a tremendous impact on us. Our boy is beautiful and healthy, more than we could ask for! Thank you!

Love,

Zach, Sr., Amy & Zachary, Jr.