OLIVIA WAS BORN!
Olivia Renee Allred was born on July 10th 2013 at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. She was 6 lbs 14 oz and 19.5 inches long. This blog post will be all about how our precious little girl came into this world and joined our little family.
Well, first I'll have to travel back to the Saturday before Olivia was born. My mom and I had been talking about ways to get labor moving along because she wanted to spend some time with Olivia before she had to fly back home. She told me stories about how her five kids came along. One thing I thought was too funny was that when she was pregnant with both my older brother and me, she went into labor shortly after watching an Audrey Hepburn movie. Later that night I was having some dull pain in my stomach. Of course, this being my first pregnancy, I really had no idea what a contraction felt like. Looking back, I know they were very small beginning contractions. I shrugged them off at first. Well, the night was young and Bryce, my mom, and I were looking for a source of entertainment. We have netflix and decided, "Hey let's check out this Katy Perry movie everyone spoke so highly of." As the movie progressed I realized (kind of) that I was having more pain in my stomach. I was really unsure of myself so I told my mom what I was feeling. She suggested to time them to see how close they were coming. Could Katy Perry be my Audrey Hepburn?
I was still really unsure of myself, especially in if I was timing them correctly. In my perfect labor fantasy, I always imagined my water would just break so I wouldn't have to worry about all this timing junk! Well after about half an hour of hesitant timing, we realized the contractions were coming about three minutes apart. So, we gathered all of our prepacked bags and jumped into the car (well, I waddled). Bryce admitted, "This is nothing like I imagined driving to the hospital would be." He imagined driving in the middle of the night with me screaming in pain, but the contractions weren't very painful and the drive was pretty peaceful.
Well, we arrived at the hospital and after a brief moment of paperwork (thank goodness for preregistration!) we were admitted into a room.
I changed into one of their oh-so-flattering hospital gowns and they checked me to see if I was really in labor. At the start I was dilated to 3 cm. In the duration of my 4-hour stay, my contractions came to be closer together (about a minute and a half apart) and much, MUCH more painful. I remember crying as I pleaded with my mom, "They're not gonna send me home, are they?" She didn't believe they would since I was freaking contracting EVERY MINUTE. Yet, at the end of 4 hours I was still dilated at 3 cm. Practice labor. Practice labor they called it! I don't think that's something someone needs to "practice" for. The nurse came in with the news that they would be sending me home with a shot of morphine. As soon as the nurse left I started bawling! I could not believe I could be in so much pain and not be progressing - not getting any closer to having my baby girl in my arms. Although, my dramatic spells of tears certainly slowed once I got the morphine shot. They wheeled me out of the hospital and as the pain faded I was able to fall asleep.
So, Katy Perry isn't my magic labor kick start button -- but walking is! Friday evening the day before I actually went into "real" labor, my mom, Bryce, and I went on a long, brisk walk at Bridal Veil Falls. You know, my real labor was actually a lot more like my perfect labor fantasy than my practice labor was. Saturday morning/early afternoon, July 10th, I was getting dressed for my OBGYN appointment (really upset that I actually still had those to go to) and my water broke! So not only did I not have to worry about counting contractions, but labor started during the day time! (In the back of my mind I was worried about laying down to go to sleep and then labor starting when I was tired and spent from a day of pregnancy). Once again we all loaded all of our bags into the car and Bryce exclaimed, "Well, this is even less like I pictured driving to the hospital would be." It was bright and sun-shiney outside and we were happily (yet admittedly nervously) listening to the radio.
Soon enough we were admitted to a room again. My water was breaking slowly so they were able to check my amniotic fluid there. They found out that there was meconium in the amniotic fluid and that could pose a health risk to the baby (Oh great! Like that's what I needed to hear!) So they called for the NICU personnel to be ready when Olivia was delivered. I was dilated a little over 3 cm. about 45 minutes later I was dilated to a 6. The nurse said I had a very favorable cervix, which is probably one of the most meaningful compliments I've ever gotten (at least it meant a lot to me then, because I was in major pain and anything favorable was a godsend). In fact, during my labor there was a shift change in the nurses and the second nurse thought they had me on pitocin and thought they should take me off. The first nurse assured her it was just my own labor progress. While I was a 6 cm I had the incredible urge to push - I'm sure it was the bearing down I had read about in all the numerous pregnancy/labor books. I told the nurse about the pain and the urge. She said that I was not ready for the pushing stage yet, so they gave me the epidural and I took it HAPPILY. A couple hours passed and the next time they checked up on me I was at 10 cm and ready to push! What I didn't understand is why after finding out I was at 10 cm it took so long for anyone to come assist me in the pushing stage. It was probably an hour after they checked me that they actually told me to start pushing. It was annoying at the time, but I was on the epidural, so it's not like I was in much pain and I guess I shouldn't have minded.
So, five hours of labor, 30 minutes of pushing, and a lot of glasses of orange-flavored ice chips later, Olivia was born! It was 8:32 pm and at the first sight of my precious baby girl I started bawling uncontrollably. I cried as the did the APGAR test in the corner (of which Olivia scored an 8 at birth and a 9 five minutes later, so thank goodness(!) the meconium didn't cause a problem) and I cried as they brought her to me. She was the most beautiful sight in the world!
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| Getting her tests done. |
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| Olivia's grumpy face (probably one of my favorite pictures from the whole day!) |
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| One happy mama! |
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| Daddy's first time holding the baby! |
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