Olivia's Debut

We had been anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little girl for quite some time, but her due date (3/13) had come and gone just like that and she still wasn't here. It was decided if I hadn't had her by 3/20 then I would be induced. While I had hoped to go into labor on my own, I hated sitting at home just waiting for that intense pain to start. By Wednesday she still wasn't here and at my doctors appointment that morning he scheduled me for induction that night at midnight. It was truly time. Aaron and  I had the whole day together to get everything ready, including ourselves both mentally and spiritually (physically how are you ever going to prepare for this), and right after saying a prayer together we embarked on our journey to the hospital.

It was so quiet and peaceful at midnight. Not a soul around. They got me all set up in my room and by 12:45 I was induced. Aaron and I were both pretty lucky and slept for most of the night. Around 3:45 contractions started to pick up and they gave me fentanyl to help the pain. I felt so relaxed after that and continued to sleep until about 6:30 when they came in to give me the epidural. While we were waiting for the anesthesiologist I was sitting in bed and started to feel like I was peeing, but I couldn't stop it. I had asked the nurse if she thought my water was breaking, but she said no I think you're just leaking. I stood up to go to the bathroom and leaked the whole way there and I could have sworn my water was breaking, but it wasn't like the big gush you see in the movies. Turns out when the doctor came in to break my water, it indeed had already broke.

Aaron was so intrigued by the whole epidural process. He wanted me to tell him everything that was happening to me. I had gotten the cold chills and was shaking really bad while he was trying to put it in. It was so hard for me to keep still. I felt him prick a few times to numb it and then before I knew it he was done. I laid there waiting for it to kick in. Slowly my feet started to fall asleep and then it just inched its way up until I was numb from the waist down. Aaron was watching the contractions on the monitor and he kept saying "can you feel that?" and I honestly couldn't. The contractions weren't even bad for me. What was hard for me during this time was the nausea. I had to have a fan in my face to keep me from throwing up, yet I had the cold chills at the same time. They gave me some Pitocin and we continued to wait til my labor sped up. Around 10:00 they came in and checked to see what I was dilated to. I was at a 4+. I felt like it was going to take forever for me to be complete to start pushing. Around 11:15 they came in to check again and to everyone's surprise I was a 10/complete/ready to start pushing! I couldn't believe it! Since I was going to start pushing soon I didn't want to keep giving myself more of "the juice" because I didn't want to not feel anything and then be pushing forever. We had to wait to start pushing because Gatherum had a C section scheduled at noon with another patient. So we patiently waited and started pushing with the nurses around 12:30. It took me a while before I really got the hang of pushing. My nurses were awesome and were so good at coaching me and explaining what I needed to be doing. I was glad that I could at least feel some of what was going on because it helped me know that I was actually pushing. Since I couldn't hold my legs up they finally pulled the stir ups out so I could rest my legs in there between pushes. It really wasn't hard until the last 20 minutes. I remember being so exhausted and saying "I just can't do it anymore". I started to have a little panic attack and my nurse firmly calmed me down and said "You have come this far, you have to do this. You have to get her here." They kept saying they could see her head and she was so close to being here, but in my mind I was thinking "yeah what do you know". Well they did know because the next push or two her head was out, then he cut me, then the next set of pushes she just slid right out in one motion. They placed her on me and Aaron cut the cord. Because she had been down there for so long with so much pressure her oxygen levels were low so they had to take her right away to check and make sure everything was fine. I was pretty out of it due to the fact they had to give me a little more medication there at the end to help me get through it.

{Let's get this started}

 {It's go time! A little oxygen to help baby}

 {The diaper went on and her legs shot straight out}

 {Getting checked out under the warmer}

 {Oooo that's cold}

{Her favorite face}

 

{First time I got to hold Olivia}

 {Aaron and I were sharing a "can you believe this?" moment}

{He is the cutest daddy}

 {Our little family}

 {Those lips are to die for}

 

{Be still my beating heart}

 {One of my favorite moments}

{My precious little}

I will never forget the way I felt when I saw her for the first time. That moment the doctor held her up, all my pain was gone and replaced with the most extreme sense of happiness. As they were cleaning her up and checking to make sure she was healthy I couldn't help but watch Aaron watch her. He was mesmerized by our little girl. There are truly no words for the happiness we felt bringing our baby into this world. It was so spiritual and a true sense of heaven here on earth. Countless moments Aaron and I would make eye contact with one another and without saying anything we knew we were both thinking "Is this real? She is perfect. I am the happiest I've ever been. We are complete." Yes it is possible to convey all those thoughts with one look.

When we look at Olivia we can't help but have tears in our eyes from pure happiness. Olivia has made us parents and our world has forever been changed in the best way possible.