Hello, dear friends.
"He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young". ~ Isaiah 40:11
Olivia Grace has arrived!
This little beauty was born at 5:10 pm. on Tuesday June 18th. She was 6 lbs., 7 oz, and 20 inches long.
~ The story of Olivia's arrival ~
I was not feeling well all day on Monday the 17th. We finally went to the hospital around 8:30 p.m.. We stayed for a few hours and then went back home to take a bath, eat, and get some rest with the idea of coming back to the hospital to be admitted around 3 in the morning.
I thought that I would be a hero like my Mom who had eight natural births but by the time we went back to the hospital to be admitted, I decided that I was not going to do a natural birth. I made my husband promise me that I wouldn't cave in and change my mind in the times when the contractions weren't so bad. I tried going without the epidural until I couldn't take it any longer with the back labor that I was experiencing. I like to think of myself as a more natural person. I stay away from a lot of medications, cleaners, try to eat organic when I can afford it. I had read all sorts of articles that I had researched pinned or saved somewhere. I just personally couldn't do it after all. I was able to sleep until I would experience the horrible contractions. My contractions widened to more like 9 to 13 minutes apart, I was dilated to 3 at this point. Our wonderful nurse who had been with us at 8:30, then three o'clock and throughout the morning woke me up to walk the hospital. I much preferred walking when the contractions were happening. Stopping in the hallways and holding railings was somehow easier than laying in bed writhing in pain, holding onto the side rails. As I got up my nurse warned me that the woman screaming in labor was doing a natural birth and not to get upset or worried by hearing her. You could hear her screams from everywhere on the floor. It was horrible! We finally went to another floor just to get away from the sound. We walked for about an hour. We finally heard a baby from the screaming woman's room. I was very happy and relieved for her.
I went back and laid down as the contractions were getting regular again and that's when the horrible contractions with the back pain started. I waited awhile longer to ask for the epidural. Once I was dilated to about 4 was when I asked for it. I was able to rest for a few hours, as was Nate, so we could prepare for the labor to come. The epidural was not as bad or painful as I expected, so that was good.
Around 4 in the afternoon I started feeling a lot of pressure and I knew that my time was close. They told me that I was fully dilated and they called for my Dr. I felt ready to push right then. Our wonderful nurse Tonja began to get everything ready. I was a little out of it from all the pressure, but I could still talk.
Once they were ready for me to start pushing Nate and the nurse coached me on pushing. The nurse offered for me to use a mirror, I never thought that I would want to do that but it really helped to see what I was actually doing.
They asked me to stop pushing so that the doctor could come in. That was very hard to do! Once, the doctor was there I pushed a few more times and she was out! In all, I pushed for 22 minutes and our beautiful girl was here and in my arms! There is nothing like that feeling when you first see your child and they put her in your arms for the first time. I just couldn't stop kissing her! My husband said that I did really well and I didn't yell once or scream. I can't really remember at this point! Nate cut the umbilical cord and I get to hold her for quite awhile while the doctors and nurses do what they do at the end. Yikes! I'm giving a lot of personal information but I won't go into detail about all that. Once we were all cleaned up, I finally got to eat. That was pretty amazing too! We were moved to our suite shorty after that and Nate's family was there to meet her.
It was so special that she has so many loved ones that wanted to welcome her into this world.
"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate."
~ Psalms 127: 3-5
Our little family is so loved!
More beautiful photos that my sister-in-law, Whitney, took. They're all so precious to me!
Olivia's second day ~ A few photos that we took
All ready to go home! She's so tiny and gets so swallowed up by her car seat!
We are home now and loving every minute of it. Nursing has been a bit of a challenge, and of course, she's sleeping days and pretty restless at nights, but it's all to be expected.
I hope you enjoyed the beginning of Olivia's story!
Love,
