Labor and Delivery--The Birth Story

Ok, so some of you may want to skip this post but I know some of you are interested and if not I would like to have a record of what happened before I start to forget. So, here is the story of how Olivia entered the world!

Susan arrived last Saturday morning (Oct. 18) from Wisconsin. We went to The Front Porch for lunch followed by a trip to the pumpkin patch to pick out another pumpkin and bounce in the jumpy castle. When we got home, Susan and I went to WalMart to get a pedicures as is our tradition when Susan visits. Afterward we needed to pick up a few things for dinner. As we were shopping, I felt something and thought to myself, I either just peed myself or my water is leaking. I kind of brushed it off and continued shopping but when we were checking out I decided I better make sure everything was okay and as I was headed to the bathroom I had a big gush and knew that it was my water. I grabbed my sweatshirt and tied it around my waist since it looked like I had an accident and told Susan I would meet her in the car. We got back home, I told Andrew what had happened and called the hospital and they told us to head on in.

We arrived at the hospital around 5 PM and they hooked me up to all the monitors, and checked to make sure it was my water that broke, which it was and then we were left to wait. The contractions didn't start right away, and slowly but surely things started to progress. I guess I wasn't progressing quickly enough though because at 10PM they made the decision to give me pitocin to speed things up. At midnight I was still only 6cm and I was in a lot of pain, it was at that point I decided I needed something for the pain. I wanted to hold off on the epidural so I asked for a pain shot. The nurse went out to put in the order for the pain medicine and then I had another contraction, it was so bad I sent Andrew out to the nurses station to tell them I wanted to skip the shot and I wanted the epidural instead. The anesthesiologist came in and they got me all ready for the epidural. At this point the contractions were coming fast and furious and I was unable to stay still for the epidural. She poked me once but had to try again because "she only got bone". As she was trying for the second time, something happened and I started to freak out...I didn't know exactly what was wrong but decided I needed to push right away! The nurse told the anesthesiologist to hold off so that they could check me again and sure enough it was time for Olivia to be born. So, I never ended up getting the epidural, only the catheter and I had to push without the numbing effect of the medicine. I pushed 4 or 5 times and little Olivia made her way into the world. So, I went from 6cm to delivering Olivia in about 54 minutes. The nurse said that the position I was sitting in to get the epidural sometimes speeds up the labor process, boy she wasn't kidding!!

Olivia was born at 12:54 AM on Sunday, October 19th. She weighed 8.8 pounds and was 19.5 inches long. She was perfect and healthy and Andrew and I were just ecstatic. We spent the rest of the night and most of the next day in the same room before we were moved into a postpartum room. Abby and Susan came to visit Sunday morning and Abby met her baby sister for the first time. She was so sweet and very excited to finally hold Olivia. They let us leave the hospital a day early and we went home on Monday afternoon to start living our life as a family of four!

Before things got bad, I still have a smile on my face!

Welcome Olivia Ruth

She was much bigger than any of us thought she would be, even the docs were guessing around 7lbs. I guess she showed us!

Daddy got to hold her first

Mommy's turn

Me and my girls! Abby meets her sister for the first time!

Mom, Dad and Olivia

So sweet