After 9 months of a really hard pregnancy miss Olivia Claire was born. Everyone keeps asking me how the delivery went and I thought it was probably a bit long for facebook. Here it goes…..
The last 6 weeks of my pregnancy I started having contractions and she had already dropped. I was so uncomfortable, mainly in my hips. I waddled around. It was a sad sight to behold. With my boys they delivered shortly after they dropped. She had a mind of her own and was perfectly content to sit where she was. About 2 weeks before she was born, the doctor checked me and I was dialated to a 2 and already thinning. That whole week I spent cleaning, running errands, and getting everything ready thinking it was the week. Well, I was wrong again. On that Sunday, I started to have a small leak of fluids and when I went in on Monday he tested it to see if it was amniotic fluid. The test was inconclusive but when he did an ultrasound he found that the amniotic fluid was low. I went to the hospital to have a non stress done to make sure the baby was ok. She was still doing good and we decided I would go back in on Wednesday to see how everything was going. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday had many contractions and more fluid but nothing that constant or steady. It was really annoying actually. When I went in on Wednesday, he found that I was dialated further and he did another none stress test. The baby was still going good and he decided that he would induce me on Saturday so that she didn't run out of fluid. Thursday morning the doctor called our house to see how things were going and Bob told him nothing has changed. I was still contracting and leaking. He told us to go up to the hospital to get checked and if something was happening he would come up. All the cranky nurses were on that day and it was almost as if we were a burden to them. I have never had that happen in this hospital. Everyone has always been very happy. The nurse hooked me up to the monitor and checked to see if she could tell if it was amniotic fluid or not. Again things were inconclusive. She wanted to check me to see if I was dialated and when she did that she informed me she could not find my cervix. Apparently, in between Wednesday and Thursday it left my body. Didn't know that was possible but then again it could have fallen out in the parking lot I guess. After all that I got sent home again and the doctor decided to move my induction up to the next morning. He was not willing to go any longer with me leaking fluids.
I was excited to have one more day because I still had a bunch of grocery shopping that needed to be done. When we left the hospital we picked the kids up from school and headed out for our groceries. We also called grandma and told her to come on up because we were going in the next morning. For the next 3 hours or so we ran around town getting everything we needed before this baby came. They were tired by the time we got home. Bob and I got the boys ready for bed and then Bob went into town to practice bagpipes with all the guys because they had a big performance coming up. I went to bed at about 11 and the contractions were getting a little more regular but I still was not holding my breath. I dozed off for about a half hour before Bob got home and startled me awake. By that time the contractions were picking up but still nothing I couldn't handle or that I felt like I needed to run to the hospital. For the next 3 hours I laid in bed with these before I decided that they probably weren't going away. I woke Bob up and we headed out to the hospital at about 3:30. The contractions still were not super strong but they were about 4 minutes apart and they were not going away. I kind of wanted to get there in time to have some pain medicine this time. The last 2 times were done completely naturally and after having such a bad pregnancy, I didn't really feel like being tough. I wanted the drugs this time.
We got the hospital and got checked in and they decided that whether I was in active labor or not they would check me in because I was supposed to get induced in a couple of hours anyway. I got in my room and got an IV and the contractions were starting to pick up. I decided I would try some medicine in my IV and wait off on the epidural. That helped for about 30 minutes when the contractions started to get really hard. It was then that I decided I wanted the epidural. The nurse put the order in, I signed the paper, and the guy was on his way. In the meantime, the contractions were really hard and lasting a long time. There were times when the babies heartbeat would drop so low the monitor could not pick it up. It was then that they put the oxygen mask on. That just irritated me but I knew the baby needed it. It was during these contractions that my water broke. When it broke there was hardly any fluid that came out. The poor baby was nearly completely out of fluid. After my water broke, the baby fell the rest of the way into the birth canal. I thought for sure she was on her way out. When the checked me I was still only at a 7. I thought she was never coming and where in the heck was my epidural? The epidural never came because 10 minutes later baby girl was on her way. She was out with 2 pushes. She had the cord wrapped around her throat and chest and she was purple. The poor thing could not catch her breath even after they freed her from the cord. They whisked her away to get her breathing and warmed. It was hard to lay there for a couple hours while she was getting better. All I wanted to do was hold her.
Now you may be asking where the doctor was during all this. Well, the nurses thought that since I was only at a 7 he had time to come. They called him and he walked in the door just in time to…..well…….not deliver the baby. She was already in the warmer when he walked in. He finished things up with me and then went and checked on baby to make sure she was ok. I don't think I will ever forget the look on his face as he came rushing in the door. He stopped in his foot tracks and said, "Dang it, I am too late." It was pretty funny.
Poor Olivia had a really hard entrance into this world but she is doing really good now. She has the same milk issues her brothers had but now that she is on the right formula she is much happier and can finally rest. She is a really good baby and we are completely in love with her. I will get some pictures up later but I wanted to get this written out before I forgot all about it.
