Olivia's Birth Story

I thought I better write a post about Olivia Mae's birth story before I forgot it! So here goes!

At my last appointment, I was overdue by 4 days.  We decided that the best thing to do was induce (we were worried about any risks that can happen by going to far overdue).  We were scheduled to go to the hospital at 7:30pm on Thursday, August 2nd to start the "ripening" process.  Leading up to this day both Dan and I took a half day at work on Thursday so we could get everything ready, have a nice lunch, take a nap - basically relax before actually having this baby!

On to the hospital we went.  Got into our labor room (which was fantastic!), met our nurse and got all hooked up to the monitors/iv's/etc.  It turns out that I was having contractions every 6 minutes - though I could not feel them.  The good thing was that we were able to watch the Olympics all night - so that kept my mind occupied.  The nurses came in multiple times throughout the night so not much sleep was had.  I received two doses of the ripening agent and at 5am they started the Pitocin. At 7am my doctor came in and checked and I was at 4cm! I was thinking at this point - Great! The pain hadn't been too bad yet so I thought it was going to be fairly tolerable.  He then broke my water and said "I think that is a butt".  Baby girl had been head down at all previous appointments so apparently she had decided to flip - she just didn't want to come out!

Enter chaos.... The doctor decided that a c-section was going to happen and that we were going to do it now (not medically necessary - he just wanted to get me in before their scheduled one happening at 7:30am).  The anesthesiologist, nurses and doctor were all in the room getting me ready to go.  Dan had just woken up and was standing there dazed.  He grabbed about 3 granola bars because he was starving but could only eat one - he said that he would probably have thrown up if he ate anymore.  At one point I asked him if HE was ok!  

I was wheeled into the surgery room and immediately given the spine block/epidural - which wasn't too painful at all.  It was pretty weird to feel my entire bottom half go numb! After I was all numbed up Dan was allowed in before they started cutting.  Just looking at his face I could tell he was a little freaked out - but he was a great support while everything was happening.  The weirdest thing about having a c-section was that I could feel all the tugging and pulling - just no pain (thank goodness!).  At one point they had a nurse either lay on the top of my belly or push really hard to get the baby out.  She was really in there! Doc announced that she had a full head of hair and she was out! No crying immediately - until she got over to the warming station and they were drying her off.  Then she wailed! She was beautiful! Dan was very excited - he was standing there in awe! He was the first to hold her and the look on his face was amazing! She already had him wrapped around her finger!   She weighed 7 pound 14 ounces and was 21 inches long.  Just perfect!

After that nothing seemed to matter! It did take them a while to get me all stitched back up.  We were back in our room in no time.  Dan got to change all the diapers for the first couple days as I was confined to my bed (still numb for some time!).  Her first 24 hours of life he changed 6 poopy diapers (the black sticky poop!).  The first time I got to stand up was quite the experience and way more difficult than I thought it would be.  Over the next couple days it got easier - just a little pain.

We took Miss Olivia home and everything has been just fantastic! She has adapted well and is sleeping better than she did in the hospital.  Overall, my labor experience wasn't what I thought it would be but we never ruled it out that it could happen that way.  Our plan was as long as we get the baby out healthy and safe and that is what we did! I wouldn't have it any other way because now we have our beautiful baby girl!

I just can't believe how much I love her - what an amazing feeling becoming a mom!