It is hard to describe exactly how amazing the whole birthing experience was. Even with the few things we had against us - I wouldn't have changed a thing.
It was apparent at dinner on Friday night that I was having consistent contractions. I still wasn't positive that it was the real deal, but it certainly seemed like it! After arriving home we decided to just chill out and see what happened. Around midnight the contractions grew stronger and I could no longer sleep. I even had to start using my breathing techniques! The only comfortable place was in Olives room so I rocked in the glider while daddy slept on the floor. After about 3-4 hours, with the contractions coming every 2 - 3 minutes, we thought it was best to head to the hospital. I took a shower and couldn't even be bothered with picking out an outfit so I settled on something comfy. (For the record, I never wear sweats)
After checking into the hospital, we called my mom and Andrews mom so they could head over. We weren't sure how long or short the whole thing would last, but wanted them to be there. The contractions at that point started coming long and hard so I used the one breathing technique that worked for me - eyes shut and slow easy breaths. Of course our nurse thought I was crazy for not doing an epidural right away, but I wanted to see how far I could get. It didn't take very long since around 9am I was utterly exhausted and only at 4cm. Between the lack of sleep and the consistent pain of the contractions I finally couldn't resist. Thankfully our anesthesiologist, Eduardo, was amazing. He was the sweetest man and continued checking on me throughout the entire day. Let me just say this: I do not know why anyone would NOT go for an epidural. I could still feel my legs and feel the tightening of the contractions - but without any of the pain. It was truly amazing and I would recommend it to everyone.
(note: the nurse that thought I was crazy for not doing the epidural was the same nurse that we had when we were first admitted into the hospital for the induction 2 weeks ago. She was the one that told our doctor that Olive's heart rate was decelerating which in turn lead to the pitocin, etc etc. Carolyn and my mom referred to her as "Nurse Ratched")
(note 2: when push came to shove "Nurse Ratched was actually very good and had our best interest at heart)
Thankfully after the epidural I was able to relax and rest up for the big event. Unfortunately I wasn't able to relax completely because the nurse kept commenting on how Olive's heart rate wasn't ideal. In the back of my mind I was worried I would end up with a C-Section and my birth plan would go out the window. Granted we ended up doing quite a few things that weren't in our birth plan. Our main thing was to go with the flow and that included being flexible.
After the epidural my contractions weren't getting much stronger so the nurse wanted to move things along and recommended starting a bit of pitocin. I was opposed to it at first and convinced her to let us see if the contractions got any stronger after an hour. After an hour or so of trying things on my own and not getting any further, we decided to go with a little pitocin. As soon as we started it my contractions kicked in and things started moving along very quickly.
Another unexpected thing was that we hadn't met the doctor on call. She was one of the only doctors we hadn't had an appointment with since she works primarily at Cedars. There is something a little nerve racking about not knowing the doctor who will most likely deliver your baby! When she came to check on me around 2pm, I knew we were in good hands. She was very sweet and gave me some good news - I was 6 centimeters dilated and thought I would deliver before 7pm. I decided to save up all of my energy for the delivery so I tried to rest some more. Even though I had the epidural I could still feel the contractions starting and stopping, just not the pain. And even better - I could still feel Olive moving inside of me!
At around 5:45pm the nurse checked me and asked us where we thought we were? I, being the more positive of parents, thought maybe 8 cm. Andrew thought 7 cm. It turned out we were almost at 10 and would be pushing in no time! I have to admit I was a little nervous but 45 minutes later we were ready! Since we didn't have any drama throughout the entire laboring process, Andrew thought it would be funny to do a picture where I was choking him. We took the above picture between pushes. Thirty minutes later Olive was out and in my arms. The doctor couldn't believe that it didn't take longer. She had told me only hours earlier that first time moms could take up to 3 hours to push. Um...not an athletically inclined Oliveira.
After holding her for a little while she had to go to the nursery to get cleaned up. Normally they do that in the delivery room, but there was an emergency with another baby and the nurse needed us to go to the nursery. Thankfully Daddy stayed with Olive and they assured me that they would be back soon. Unfortunately it took a lot longer than expected and after more than hour I wanted both Olive and Andrew back with me. The night nurse went to see what was taking so long and came back with both! I had already moved into my postpartum room and had anxious grandparents that wanted to see the baby.
Here is Grandma Carolyn and Grandma Rufer with Olive. They were both so excited to finally meet her! They had been patiently waiting all day.
And here I am with my new daughter. It seems so crazy that I am officially a mom. Olive is absolutely perfect.
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