And the waiting is officially over J Olivia has arrived! December
23rd was quite a day for Adam & me. My day started at 4:50 am
when I was awakened by a stomach ache… wait a second – is this a stomach ache? Or
could I actually be having contractions? I didn’t believe it just yet, so lucky
for Adam, I decided to be nice and not wake him – just in case it was a false
alarm. I went downstairs, turned on my contraction timer app on my phone, paced
around the kitchen, got on my computer frantically looking up what contractions
felt like, and started timing my contractions. 5 minutes apart for 1-2 hours –
call the doctor. Those were the doctor’s orders. Ok – I think it’s time to wake
Adam. At this point it was 6am. “Adam – wake up – I think I’m having contractions.”
That sure woke him up. We called the doctor, I told them what I was feeling,
and to the hospital we went. They hooked me up to a contraction monitor and of
course, just then, the contractions started to slow down. As we watched the
contraction monitor, we thought for sure they would be sending us home… Maybe
it was just a false alarm – Braxton Hicks contractions. Adam and I were
mentally preparing to go back home to Sasha. They checked me for dilation and I
was 2 cm dilated. The week before I had been 1. Well – I guess once the doctor
heard that my dilation had progressed, they decided to keep me. December 23,
2013, would be Olivia’s birthday.
Adam and I couldn’t believe it. Off we went to the labor and
delivery room. The texts and phone calls to our family and friends began. We
were beaming with excitement and disbelief. As the hour went on (it was about
10 am at this point) my contractions started to get worse. It was time for it – the epidural. At this point I was almost crying in pain from the contractions.
I did not like that needle going into my back (the one that delivered the
epidural). Little did I know that little needle would be my new best friend. I
know many people don’t believe in epidurals. I think it’s amazing that women
are able to go through labor without it. Perhaps I just have a low pain
tolerance, but let me tell you, once that epidural kicked in, I felt great.
Well – I say “felt” great, but really, I didn’t “feel” anything (get it?) J After that, it was
waiting time. Being in labor is interesting. I always pictured – contractions,
go to hospital, water breaks, start pushing out baby. It is so very different
from that. After the epidural, we just hung out all day.
Then, around 4pm, it was finally time – time to PUSH. We were about an hour away from meeting Olivia.
Pushing when you can’t feel what you are pushing, is very
interesting. However, with the moral support of Adam and Norma, somehow I only
ended up having to push for about 45 minutes. Apparently that’s good. As the
matter of fact, it took so little time to push that Olivia had to wait in the
birth canal for the doctor to come in. He was held up in clinic. Once he
arrived, a few more minutes of pushing and there she was! The little nugget
that we had been waiting to meet for 10 months was in my arms. Just like that,
we are parents.
Once we did a little skin to skin, they took Olivia to the
other side of the room to clean her off and weigh her. Adam came over to me and
said “You’re not going to believe this. Guess what she weighs.” I stuck to my
guess of 7 lbs. 4 oz. Well – I was way off. Somehow this little human I’ve been
carrying around was 8 lbs. 9 oz. No wonder I had so much back pain during
pregnancy.
We spent the next 2 days in the hospital getting to know
little Olivia and learning from the nurses and lactation specialists all we
could learn before bringing her home.
Time to go home!
Now it’s been a little over a week and we
are adjusting to life as a family. Sasha has needed the most time to adjust and
she thanks her personal trainer, Joel Ross, for her new and improved behavior.
She is doing great with the baby (which is quite the contrary from when we
first brought her home) and Sasha is a very protective, loving big sister.
As for Adam & me, we are learning to function on very
little sleep and we are also learning that we have never loved anything so much
in our lives. Adam has been the absolute best (not that I’m surprised). The
second morning we were home, I came downstairs to a fridge full of food, two
dozen roses, and my favorite ice cream that I couldn’t eat during pregnancy, Chocolate
Chip Cookie Dough!!!! What a guy :)
Most importantly, he has been taking such good care of me
and is the cutest dad to Olivia. I couldn’t be luckier for my wonderful little
family.
On December 23, 2013, at 6:04 pm, our lives changed forever.
My camera roll is already filled with millions of pictures because I know this
time will go way too fast. Thank you so much to everyone for all of the calls,
texts, and messages. We appreciate everyone’s love and thoughts during this
very special time. Thanks Mom & Dad for helping us out the first week!!! xoxo
So I’ll leave you with some pictures from my camera roll
this week…
Olivia in the hospital
Sleeping beauty
Mommy & Daughter
The cutest Dad
Can't get enough of her!
Saints fan in the making?
She loved her 1 week old photoshoot (notice Sasha watching over her)
It went a little better later... :)
That face!
Sasha sleeping on Olivia's blanket
Olivia's first playdate with Charlotte!
Too precious!
xoxo,
Julie
