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Saturday, August 8, 2009

Olivia's Birth Story

I spent all day Thursday walking. I had Shelby Kohler for the day, and Patti and her kids came down to keep us company, too. We walked around the neighborhood, joined by Margaret and Brianna, too. We walked up and down the street, over and over. I just kept praying that the contractions would start before 5:30 a.m. on Friday, when I was scheduled to be induced.

At 5:00 Thursday evening, Holly came and picked up Abigail to keep her for the weekend. We kissed Abby goodbye, and tried to tell her that she would meet Olivia very soon. A little while after they left, the contractions started. They were ten minutes apart, and pretty regular. We ordered pizza and watched The West Wing to kill time. By 10:00 p.m., the contractions were still ten minutes apart, so we went to bed.

At 1:00 a.m., Mike woke me up to tell me that he thought I was having a contraction, and I was. It was intense, and lasted for over a minute. I got up to go to the bathroom, and had another contraction, that lasted just as long. I told Mike that I thought it was time to go, even though I had only had two contractions, because of how long they lasted. We called our moms and threw the last few items into the hospital bag. We loaded up the truck...and the contractions stopped. I ate a peanut-butter sandwich and then Mike and I went for a walk. We walked two laps around the subdivision to try to get the contractions going again, and then headed for the hospital. We stopped at Mobile to kill a little time - and Mike wanted a soda for some caffeine.

We didn't arrive at St. Anthony's until 3:00 a.m., and my contractions were four minutes apart. It was almost 6:00 by the time they checked me again, and I was only dilated to 4. It was then that they decided to start pitocin and give me my epidural. By eight o'clock, I was dilated to 8 cm. I thought for sure that Olivia would be born soon. Mike was joined in the delivery room by my mom, his mom, and our friend Danielle, who took pictures for me.

My labor stalled, and I stayed at 8 cm for the next 6 hours. Olivia was also at a -2 station, and my water hadn't broken. It seemed that my body would've stayed this way forever! My doctor came in, broke my water, and left.

By 2 o'clock, the nurse came in to check me, and Olivia had finally moved down the birth canal. They told me to push a few times, and my doctor came in right away. Her head was right there! I pushed a few times, and her head was out - I have never been more grateful in my entire life than I was at that moment! I knew I didn't have the power in my body to push for three hours like I did with Abigail - I was in so much pain!

When Olivia's head came out, the cord was wrapped around her neck, so the doctor tried to clamp and cut the cord. As she had an awkward hold on Olivia, I had a contraction that pushed Olivia the rest of the way out - it looked as though she was shot out of a cannon! The doctor lost her hold on Olivia and it seemed to happen in slow motion! I thought that Olivia was going to hit the floor - but the doctor recovered, and was able to keep her in her hands! She was born at 2:34 p.m. on August 7th, and shares her birthday with my mom's brother, Jerry!

Olivia was crying instantly, another thing I was grateful for - as it meant that she wouldn't have the same respiratory problems that Abby had! By then, I was holding her and trying to look at her - but the pain in my neck and shoulders was really awful and it was hard to look down. My first thoughts were that she was healthy, and that she looked A LOT like Abigail!

The next hour zoomed by - with the nurse poking and prodding Olivia - and getting her footprints. My doctor was stitching me up, and then the nurses brought me dinner. I was starving! My mom helped the nurse with the footprints, and Danielle got a lot of great pictures of Olivia's first moments. She was 21 1/2 inches long - which was the same as Abigail. Olivia weighed in at 8 lbs 5 oz, and her feet were 3 inches long! My kids have big feet!

They took Olivia to the nursery to give her a bath and finish poking her with needles - while they cleaned me up and took out my epidural and IV. It was 4:30 or so by the time I was moved to post-partum and Mike and I ate fast food from Jack In The Box, and then Mike went home and I went to bed.

There is so much more to tell, but here is at least, the story of Olivia's birth!