My what a difference a year makes! This is our little lady, this morning, and 1 year ago today, 3 months old. It's hard to believe our baby girl is 15 months old today! It's really true, you don't realize how fast it all goes until you have kids. It seems like just yesterday we were living our carefree lives, just going out whenever we wanted, spending money on whatever we wanted, sleeping in, just...being us. Now, our lives are all about this little lady...and I can't imagine going back.
A blogger I follow has a great post the other day. She started off saying as time goes on, you forget all of the little details of that day...the birth day. The little things get lost, and she wanted to get it down in writing. I thought this would be a good day to do that (even though I may have already forgotten so much!).
Olivia was due on January 10, 2009. Around 28 weeks, my midwife, Ann, realized that Olivia was still head up. Not a huge deal at that point, but something to watch for, and time to familiarize ourselves with the c-section route. My heart sank a little. I'd spent my whole life saying that IF I ever had kids, I totally wanted a c-section...the "easy way out"...that I couldn't imagine doing...THAT. Even when I first got pregnant, I still felt this way. As time went on, I read books, talked to people, took childbirth preparation classes, and really came around to the whole thing...realized that I can do this. In that moment...being told we should start preparing for the c-section possibility, it's like all was lost. But, we stayed optimistic...12 weeks was a lot of time for baby to turn! Well, around 36 weeks, baby was STILL facing the wrong way. I was sent for an ultrasound to confirm, and told, it was highly unlikely she would turn at this point. So, we were off to meet with an OB to discuss everything. Our first decision was to go in for a version, where they try to manually turn the baby. Got that scheduled, and we were out the door. Later that night, I got to doing some research, and realized the version was definitely not for me. It is highly risky, has a very low success rate, is painful and is done in the hospital in case is sends you into labor, or sends baby into distress. Nope, not for me. So, that appointment was canceled, and the c-section was scheduled...January 5, 2010 at 9:00AM. Whoa, how weird to actually KNOW when your baby was going to be here...that was a strange feeling.
Right after Christmas, I started getting very random contractions. I'd been having braxton hicks contractions since about 16/17 weeks, so I knew these were different. But, life went on as normal, and nothing really came of them. New Years Eve, a Wednesday, was my last day of work. Thursday was a Holiday, and Monday was D-Day, so there was no point in going to work on Friday, for one day. Well, Wednesday I spent the day,a t work, having some pretty hard core contractions, but they were still very random, inconsistent and quick. We went about our day, I left work at 3:30 (YAY, 2+ months off!!), and Christian and I went over to a friends house to celebrate New Years Eve. As the night went on, the contracts tapered off a little, but were still very painful when they did happen. We got home around 1:00AM, and went to bed, like normal.
Thursday, New Years Day, Christian pretty much slept all day. I hung out downstairs, watching some of my DVR'd shows...doing some serious catch-up. It didn't take long for me to start feeling those contractions again...but today, they were different. The pain was everywhere, and most centered in my back. Oh lord, back labor. WOW, that was painful! I couldn't bring myself to eat much throughout the day, and just rotated between walking, and various sitting positions...laying down really was not an option with the back labor going on. The day went on, the pain got worse, and they were lasting longer and coming closer together. Christian had to work Friday, so he went off to bed at his normal time. I stayed downstairs, trying to relax...nothing was helping. I finally decided to try to just go to bed and "sleep it off", there was no way that was going to happen. I got up and took a shower, hoping for some relief, at about 12:00AM, that didn't help. I tried cleaning and did the dishes around 1:30AM, that didn't help. So, I woke Christian up and we decided it was time to call the hospital. At this point, the contractions were about 3-5 minutes apart, but still weren't lasting all that long. And nothing they tell you will happen, happened (no water breaking, no other "gross" stuff), so I didn't really know what we were in for. The nurse told us to head on in and get checked out.
Of course we weren't ready...we weren't supposed to be going until Monday, so we were going to pack my bag and baby's bag over the weekend and get ready to go. So, frantically, at 2:00AM we were packing bags and heading out the door. Christian called my mom on the way there to fill her him, and we were checked into labor and delivery at 3:00AM.
The nurse took all of my information, and hooked me up to a monitor. Baby had a strong heartbeat, and they could tell right away the contractions were coming pretty strong. The OB came in and checked me...after ALL of this, I was only 1cm dilated, but I was full effaced. The OB then ordered an ultrasound to check baby's position...then they could decide what they wanted to do. Sure enough, baby was still head up, stubborn little thing she was! So, with that, and the severity of my contractions, they decided to move ahead with the c-section right then and there. Oh my, here we go! During this time, my mom had come in, so she was there with us.
They started hooking up my IV's, getting me all prepped for surgery. The surgeon came in to brief us on everything and have me sign some papers. At this point, I really didn't even know what they were saying...I was just ready to go and get this over with. Next thing you know, they whisked Christian away to get prepped for the surgery, they had me up and walking down the hall to the OR. They got the spinal done right away...and honestly, I didn't feel a thing (maybe the one good thing about back labor)! Christian came in a few minutes later, the blue sheet went up, and we were off!
At 6:00AM on the dot, Olivia Rose entered the world. Christian left my side to check her out, take some pictures and make sure every thing was going well. A few minutes later, he appears, with this amazing perfect little angel in hand. I couldn't believe that she was here, she was REALLY here. I touched her perfect little face, gave her a few little kisses, and we took our first family photos. It was so amazing, I totally forgot the rest of the surgery was happening! After a few minutes, she was off to the nursery to be checked out and cleaned up, and I sent Christian off to be with her. By 6:30AM, I was rolled into recovery. Recovery was only supposed to last an hour, but they had forgotten to add the long-term pain medicine to my spinal, so I had to stay in recovery while they got the additional IV set and ready to go to get me through the night.
At 8:30AM, I was wheeled into my room, placed in bed, and anxiously awaited my little girl. About a minute later a little bassinet came rolling in, and in that moment, I felt like my life had officially changed forever. They handed me this wonderful little being, she looked at me, and was just quiet and content. Some nurses, Christian and my mom were there in the room, but I felt like Olivia and I were the only people on Earth. I finally agreed to hand her over, and my mom got her first snuggle. Throughout the day, we had so many visitors, we're so lucky to have so many amazing friends and family.
The rest of the weekend was such a blur. Just learning all the new stuff that comes with being a parent...baths, diaper changes, breastfeeding, living on no sleep! We had lots of visitors all weekend, which was great. Surgery recovery was rough, nothing I'd wish on anyone! They had me up and out of bed that same night. Saturday night, I was walking around the room, slow, but walking. Sunday night, I was walking around the floor, still slow, but getting better. Monday, check out day, I was doing well, but everything was pretty painful. Monday morning is just a complete blur..we had to get everything packed up, I had my final OB evaluation to make sure everything was healing up well (which it was) and Olivia had her final evaluation. She had lost just under the max (10%) they will allow, and was pretty jaundice still, but they let us take her home and set up some follow-up appointments for her.
We got home on Monday (the original D-Day) around 12:30PM, and we barely left our room for the rest of the week. Just spent that first week being a new little family and spending some quite (recovery) time together. It was amazing living this whole new life and staring at this beautiful new creature. That first week as a whole is just full of moments I'll never forget, and I'll cherish for the rest of my life.
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