Olivia Jane Amador was welcomed into the world Tuesday December, 22nd, 2015 at 3:18 am.
I have been meaning and meaning to write about her birth, but alas, life with a newborn has really limited my time/willingness to spend my time writing away on the computer! Well, Miguel is currently holding the baby and I have a minute or two to knock some of her birth story out! I really wish I had written this sooner... some details are already blurry and forgotten, but it is what it is!
Towards the end of my pregnancy I was really O.V.E.R being pregnant. I was also really anxious for Olivia to be born closer to the beginning of December so as to spread out her birthday from Christmas. Both my sister and I were born a week early, and both my sister's kids were born a week early, so I had allowed myself to think that I would give birth a week early too. I gave myself a "due date" of December 8th, a whole week before our actual due date of the 14th. Well, both dates came and went and I was losing my mind. I was trying everything to go into labor... long walks, eggplant parm, spicy foods, bouncing on a ball, drinking red raspberry tea, getting prenatal massages, acupuncture, etc etc etc. But I guess Olivia was just too cozy in my belly. My OB suggested I set an induction date for a week after my due date, December 20th. I had originally pushed the induction date back to the 22nd, but after more time passed without a going into labor naturally, I called the Dr. back and moved the induction back to the 20th.
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| Trying to "walk the baby out" at Forsyth Park |
My mom had come down to stay a week earlier (on my due date), so we (the three of us) spent the day of the induction going downtown to do some shopping and ate out one last time without a baby. After we got home, I took a shower, did some last minute packing, and headed out the door to the hospital to be induced!
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| Headed to the Mother/Baby floor! |
The first night my mom and Miguel helped me get all settled in and I got hooked up to the monitors etc. My dad arrived a little bit later and brought us a pizza... I was going to take advantage of my last meal before the hospital cut me off from eating anything! Thanks, Dad!
All that was scheduled for the night was the cervidil, so my parents left to go back to our house and Miguel and I attempted to get as comfortable as we could be for a night in the hospital.
I actually woke up around 3 or 4 am with some pretty intense contractions. I was surprised because the cervidil is really only supposed to "ripen" the cervix not necessarily start contractions. I was also really excited, because if the cervidil sent me into labor then I wouldn't have to have pitocin - something I was desperately trying to avoid. However, the contractions died down and we were able to get a little bit more restless sleep before 6 am.
Our amazing doula, Amy, and my parents showed back up around 6 or 7 am. The nurse removed the cervidil and checked me and I was still only 1 centimeter dilated. Boo! The staff changed at 7 and I met the new doctor on call, Dr. Lindfoot. The Dr. wanted to start pitocin, again, something I was loathe to do. I had really hoped I'd be dilated enough to have my water broken, but 1 centimeter wasn't enough progress to allow for that. My doula suggested we try a foley bulb. I had never heard of this before, but it's basically a little balloon that they insert into the cervix and inflate it using water. It's supposed to help the cervix dilate on it's own as an alternative to using medicine to kickstart labor. It naturally falls out on its own once the cervix is dilated 3-4 centimeters. We decided to try the foley bulb and start pitocin at a very low level.
The foley bulb was a miserable experience. I don't want to go into too much detail on here... (if you're curious, ask me and I'll give you the details... ) but it made me super uncomfortable and I bled a whole lot which freaked me out! Over the next several hours the nurses would periodically come in and up the pitocin dosage. The pitocin would start some contractions, pretty close together, and then after a while they would die back down, resulting in an up of the pitocin dosage. The pain was pretty manageable for most of the ordeal. I played some calming and encouraging music from a playlist I had created for labor, Amy helped apply counter-pressure, helped me get into different positions, snuck some small bites of a power bar to me, and Miguel was constantly by my side.
I honestly, honestly, cannot imagine going through labor without Miguel. He was my rock. Before labor I had been worried about how he would handle it. He get's pretty queasy around medical things (he even got a little nauseous during one of our ultrasounds because he could see the heart beating etc!). But y'all, Miguel was amazing. He was SO supportive and encouraging and knew exactly what I needed to get through each contraction. It truly felt like we were going through labor together.
As the day dragged on and on, the contractions got worse. Near the end of the evening I was having pretty intense contractions without much of a break in between. I really thought I must be making a lot of progress, but the foley bulb hadn't fallen out yet which was a bad sign in terms of progress. Around seven thirty I beggggggged the nurse/doctor to remove the foley bulb. I had reached the end of my mental limit and was plain physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted. The Dr. really didn't want to remove the foley bulb because it would have defeated the whole purpose to remove it early. This is when our doula suggested we try the epidural so that I could relax, give my body a break, and so that I could get some sleep.
I was really terrified of getting an epidural. The idea of the huge needle plus the whole "you can't move else you'll be paralyzed" while it's being administered plus not being able to feel a whole part of my body really freaked me out. I talked it over and over with Miguel, my parents, my sister, our doula, and the hospital staff. But at this point, after a hug and a prayer from my dad, I reluctantly agreed. The amazing anesthesiologist kindly and patiently walked me through every step and Miguel held my hand and reassured me I was okay.
The epidural worked quickly and I was relieved to be able to still move my lower body. My parents went home to get some rest and I was able to get some little pieces of sleep, but I had a pretty bad body shakes side effect from the epidural. But at least they were able to remove the foley bulb at this point! I was hoping it had at least help dilate me... whomp whomp, I had only dilated 2 centimeters total.... after 26 hours of being in the hospital.
Olivia's heart rate started to get a little wonky so the Dr broke my water about an hour and a half after I got the epidural. Miguel, Amy, and I tried to get some sleep. The doctor and nurses said it would still be hours before active labor started so my parents went home to get some sleep. I was still pretty restless and quickly started to feel an intense amount of pressure on my pelvis. The sweet nurse had the anesthesiologist assistant come in and administer some other kind of medicine via my epidural. This stuff was the w.o.r.s.t! It made my left side go completely numb and I had a very hard time mentally with this. I could barely wiggle my toes on my right size, which I didn't care for either, but the fact that I couldn't move my left size completely freaked me out. I kept waking Miguel up to help me move my legs! Haha!
The pressure kept getting more and more extreme in my pelvis. Sometime after 2 AM I told Amy that the pressure started to feel like it was burning, which I knew from reading that it meant it was about time to push! I asked the nurse to check how far along I was. She checked me and I was all the way dilated! Woo hoo!! I hadn't felt any contractions after the epidural and I couldn't believe I had dilated 8 centimeters in just a few short hours after having a stalled labor for so many hours! Miguel texted my parents and they headed back to the hospital.
The Dr came in and stood close by while one of the nurses coached me through a first push. I honestly don't think they thought I was close to pushing because they seemed surprised after my first push and the atmosphere in the room quickly changed! The Dr got suited up, nurses started changing the bed around, and all of a sudden there were more people in the room that I didn't know. But I was honestly too distracted to care. I was just so thrilled that I was about to be doing something productive and that we were close to meeting our daughter!
Miguel surprised me again by holding one of my legs back while I pushed. Originally we had decided he would stand by my head during the gruesome parts of labor. I'm so grateful that he handled it beyond well though! While I was pushing he was the only person I could focus on and I really relied on his coaching to get me through. Olivia's heart rate started going wonky again, so I had to have some oxygen between pushing. I pushed for 18 minutes (only five rounds of pushing) and before I knew it our little girl was here!
Miguel cut the cord and the nurse placed Olivia on my chest. I love that the hospital I delivered at doesn't take your baby from your for over an hour so that you can do skin to skin and bond with your baby! My parents were able to come in and see her while I was getting cleaned up but, they and our doula left soon after to let us have some family time just the three of us. It was perfect. Miguel ended up climbing into bed with me and we stared in amazement at our baby and we prayed together over her.
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| Dr. Lindfoot delivered Olivia... I'm not in focus, but that's okay because it's not my most flattering angle. |
After some bonding time with Olivia, the baby nurse came in and weighed and measured her. Olivia was born at 6 pounds 13 ounces and 19.25 inches long.
I guess it was around 5 am when we were transferred from Labor and Delivery to Mother/Baby.
Once we were settled in our new room Miguel was able to get some sleep. I think I was on too much of a high to sleep, even though I was SO exhausted after a 36 hour labor. I just kept staring at Olivia while she slept.
Once it was daylight again my parents came back and had some sweet moments with their newest grand baby. They also brought some beautiful flowers for us :)
The time in the hospital seems like a bit of a blur to me, luckily I have photos to help me remember...
Olivia had her head washed (I didn't want her to have a full bath just yet)
We tried to catch up on some sleep and Miguel and Olivia had some skin-to-skin bonding time...
We changed our first diapers as parents...
We had lots of visitors... Including Olivia's Aunt Jessie and Uncle Juan who drove all the way down from Atlanta and stayed the night in Savannah just so they could meet their first niece!
Our friends Lauren and Jason also stopped by the hospital to offer their congratulations and meet Olivia.
The hospital sent up a birthday cake to celebrate Olivia's birth... so sweet! And it actually tasted pretty good! It was baked by a local baker here in Savannah.
We got news we were able to leave Wednesday afternoon as long as Olivia's bilirubin levels were low. Her daddy held her finger as the nurse pricked her little, newborn heal and drew the blood. Olivia did really great though and surprisingly didn't even cry.
Olivia's blood work came back good so we got ready to leave. I had purchased a sweet little, newborn outfit a couple of months prior with my sister and mom and planned to take her home from the hospital in it... it was SO baggy on her! haha! Poor little thing! We also had to put socks on her hands because her nails were so long and she kept scratching her precious face (the hospital didn't have clippers).
Our sweet nurse helped us get Olivia in her carseat... much to Olivia's displeasure.
But much to her pleasure we were able to carry her out of the hospital.
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| My dad held her for a bit until we got fussed at by a nurse who said the MOM had to carry baby out ... |
Once we got down to the hospital lobby, Miguel was already there with the car waiting for us. We got Olivia back in her carseat and headed home!
Nothing went according to my birth plan... but it went exactly according to God's plan and I'm so grateful to have a healthy baby! Pregnancy, birth, babies... wow! What a miracle!
