Welcome to the World, Juliet Rose Amador!!

Juliet Rose Amador
October 15th, 2017 at 2:52 PM
Weight 8 lbs 6 oz | Length 21 Inches long

Well, I guess my babies are pretty comfortable in my tummy and are in no hurry to leave. Both Olivia and Juliet were born a week late and I had to be induced with each. This go round was so different than Olivia's birth though! I think it helped to know what to expect and go in with an idea of what we wanted to do differently than last time. Plus, I was so uncomfortable at the end of this pregnancy that I was so excited to have Juliet that that kind of trumped any fears or anxiety about actual labor.

My mom came into town on the 11th to be here just incase I went into labor naturally. I was so grateful and I think it helped me relax going into the weekend. The week before Juliet was born I was having some mild contractions and I really thought that I may go into labor on my own this time. In fact, Saturday, the day I went in to get induced, I was having some intense contractions that I had to stop doing what I was doing to get through the pain.

Playing with new toys thanks to Lolly!!

Unfortunately, I did not go into labor naturally and had to get induced again. As much as I wanted to experience going into labor on my own, there are some benefits to being induced. I was able to pack everything we may need and double check everything in a calm manner as I didn't have to rush out of the house. Both my parents were able to be in town and I was able to leave Olivia knowing she was in good hands. I also appreciated being able to say goodbye to Olivia before we left for the hospital...Though I may have cried my eyes out while Olivia tried to wriggle away from me to go play with her grandparents. Oh man, pregnancy hormones haha. I had so many mixed emotions about bringing a new baby home and how it would effect Olivia and change our special relationship. As expected, it's been so much better than I could have imagined though!

Miguel and I left for the hospital at 4 PM on Saturday the 14th (sooooo grateful we narrowly missed having a baby born on Friday the 13th!!) . The plan was similar to what we experienced with Olivia's birth: cervidil overnight with the plan to start pitocin in the morning.

We got checked in and got me all hooked up and settled in for the night. We turned on college football, ate some dinner, and took advantage of an early night of sleep. 

Contractions didn't start with the cervidil overnight. Early in the morning the doctor checked me and I was only 1.5 centimeters dilated, so they wanted to start pitocin. I asked the nurse to ask the doctor if she could break my water instead. My body didn't react well to the pitocin during Olivia's induction and things only picked up after my water was broken, so I was hoping to cut to the chase this time around. The doctor came in after making her rounds at about 9 am. She said I was close to 2 centimeters and said she might be able to break my water. I was so surprised and hopeful! Dr. Price was able to break my water and I was so shocked and happy!! They started me on pitocin too, but I didn't really care at that point!

The pitocin and my broken water really started to move things along. I started having pretty consistent contractions. They were uncomfortable but manageable. Even though I had eventually had an epidural during Olivia's labor (at 27 hours in), I was still scared to get one! Losing the ability to move my legs was a challenge for me mentally and I wasn't exactly excited about repeating that experience. I knew I was eventually going to get one, but was putting off the inevitable. The super awesome and sweet nurse, Jessica, encouraged me to go ahead and get it so I could stop fearing it and let my body relax. This was easier to consider as the contractions got more intense. When I was around 4 centimeters dilated I went ahead and got the epidural.

I think I was the top middle screen

Working through mild contractions...

I wasn't a huge fan of the anesthesiologist who administered my epidural. I could definitely feel it and had to tell the Dr. to "go right" or "go left" depending on where I could feel in my back. Ick! Once the epidural was in, the nurse told me we could keep the amount pretty low and could up it depending on how I was feeling. I was grateful because I was able to keep it mild enough that I could still move my legs. However, it was definitely stronger on one side than the other. I could feel a good deal on my right side, including contractions and pressure. 

The afternoon was kind of a blur. We watched the Falcons game (they lost, boo) and my dad stopped by, brought Miguel some food and sat with me for a while. When my dad was there I started noticing a good deal of pressure, especially in my right side. I remember thinking that I wanted to talk to my dad but I was finding it difficult because of the pressure. After my dad left I tried to get some sleep but wasn't too successful, again because of the pressure. 

The nurse came in I guess maybe around 2 pm and asked me if I was feeling anything interesting? I said, "um yes, a great deal of pressure!". She checked me and I was close to 10 centimeters (woo hoo!). Juliet was turned upside down (sunny side up) which wasn't ideal, so they turned me on my right side with my left leg help up to try and turn her around until I was actually at 10 centimeters. 

Things seemed to move fast at that point. Fast and then super slow at the same time. The doctor came in and they told me I was ready to push. I'm not sure if I was anticipating a longer labor or what, but I all of a sudden felt a huge sense of fear. Not fear of pushing, more like a fear of "omg, this is actually happening! We've waited for this moment for so long and now it's here. There's no going back and my life is going to be forever changed in ways I can't even imagine!".  I started to cry and Miguel encouraged me and held my hand. 

Funny thing about Miguel is that he was my absolute ROCK during Olivia's labor and birth. That labor was so drawn out and different than Juliet's (apples and oranges type of thing) and Miguel wasn't not supportive this time... it's just that as we got ready to push, the nurse holding my left leg, the doctor ready to catch the baby, and Miguel holding my right leg... down went Miguel! Hahaha! One second he was there holding my leg and the next he was gone! On the first push he dropped to the floor. Now anyone who knows Miguel knows that he is incredibly squeamish and has fainted when he gets shots in the past. So this reaction wasn't terribly shocking except that he really rose to the occasion last time, which - to me - seemed a much more gruesome labor. 

As the nurse called for reinforcements and nurses rushed in to take care of my husband (reclining him on the sofa, giving him wet washcloths, having him drink orange juice and soda) I started pushing. Juliet was still sunny side up and I could definitely tell the difference with the amount of pressure on my tailbone. I was given oxygen to help Juliet and kept pushing as Miguel called in my mom for backup. My mom got there while I was still pushing and she held my hand. The energy in the room was amazing. Because Miguel fainted the room had filled up with all these nurses and everyone shouted encouragement at me that really truly helped me! I definitely remember singling out my mom's voice and Miguel's voice from the corner of the room saying, "you've got this!". 

I pushed for about half an hour and it was hard work. I almost got to the point of thinking, "there is no way I can do this!". I felt as if I would push and push and as soon as I stopped all the hard work I had just done vanished. But eventually out she came and the sense of relief was immediate! Juliet Rose was born at 2:52 PM. I couldn't believe it and honestly looking back on it now I feel like I maybe was numb in a sense of shock. I remember crying and being handed the baby and it all felt very surreal. 

Unfortunately, soon after Juliet was born, the doctor had to scrape my uterus as some of the placenta stayed attached (ick! gross I know) and that HURT! I was so distracted by the pain when all I wanted to do was hold my new baby! 

So weird things tend to happen to me medically speaking, and Juliet's labor was no different... After the birth, while we were still in the Labor and Delivery room, the nurses were cleaning things up and I guess they have to count everything to account for all the objects they used during labor. Well, anyways, when they got around to counting some surgical sponges (used for what I don't know and don't want to know) they could only find 9 of the 10. Awesome. So they "checked" ME to see if they could find the missing one. Nope. Next they used this machine to scan me, Juliet, the linens, and even the trash. Still they couldn't find this mystery sponge so they called in an x-ray machine. I then had to maneuver myself onto this really flat, cold, and uncomfortable plate thing only half an hour after pushing a baby out of my body. Not fun ladies and gents, not fun. X-rays came back and still no sponge. 

After the sponge ordeal we were allowed to get packed up and were moved to Mother and Baby. They wheeled me out holding Juliet and Miguel followed. The nurse had Miguel press the "daddy button" which made a lullaby play throughout the whole hospital. Cue crazy hormonal new mom tears. 

We settled into our new room, I ate for the first time since the night before, and my dad came to meet Juliet. I don't remember much of the rest of the day, I think I drifted in and out of sleep? Juliet took a three hour nap on her daddy's chest for some skin to skin which of course melted my heart. 

The night was pretty uneventful except for the lack of sleep which was not due to Juliet, rather due to the fact that a nurse or tech was coming in every so often to get vitals or blood work or what not. Sometime in the middle of the night they were able to unhook me from the IVs and that helped me get some better sleep. 

The next morning I woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed but in some good amount of pain. I was only taking some strong Motrin as I asked for no Percocet because I learned from Olivia's birth that it makes my blood pressure really low. I missed the good meds this time!

There is something really special about waking up the next morning to a brand new baby. You just want to stare for hours and pinch yourself. I think her arrival sunk in more after some sleep. 

Miguel and I both showered, ate breakfast and anxiously awaited Olivia's arrival to meet her baby sister! While we were waiting on Olivia, the pediatrician came in and gave Juliet the a-okay to be discharged later in the day as long as her bilirubin test came back in the normal levels. 

My parents brought Olivia to the hospital to meet Juliet around 10 am. I was so excited to see Olivia! I felt like I hadn't seen her in ages and I truly missed that little stinker! And of course I was really excited to introduce the girls to one another!! As expected I was also curious to see how that interaction would go. My whole pregnancy people (family, strangers, the pediatrician, etc) had been warning us about how the interaction could go sour quickly, so I had pretty low expectations. However, Olivia impressed us all!!

Olivia was pretty excited and just kept saying, "baby!". She was all smiles and just so cute and excited! Of course, I don't think she understood that baby was coming home to live with us permanently and wasn't just a real live babydoll. ;) Either way though, I was tickled with her reaction and so thankful that there were only smiles and giggles and zero tears! 

On her way out the door, Juliet gave Olivia a "big sister present". A little bribing never hurts when you're almost 2 ;) 

I'm so glad my parents were able to be here and watch Olivia while we were in the hospital and of course meet Juliet the day she was born! So special!

My dad took Miguel to get some lunch and for a break from the hospital and my mom and the girls and I hung out for a bit. When the guys got back Olivia needed to go take a nap so the grands and Olivia headed back to our house. 

At some point while my parents were at the hospital (my timeline on that is a little fuzzy) Juliet had her hearing test and didn't pass her right ear which was a little alarming. We were told, however, by multiple nurses that this was really normal and probably just due to fluid in her ears from birth. We had her retested a week later and she passed with flying colors. Woo hoo! 

The rest of the afternoon was mostly Miguel and me just waiting for Juliet's bilirubin test results to come back so that we could be discharged. I felt like we had been at the hospital for days and days at that point and could not wait to get home and sleep in my own bed. It took forever though. We didn't end up getting discharged until well past 8 PM. 

Bilirubin test

I had cute outfits picked out for all of us to leave the hospital in and take "leaving the hospital" photos in, but by the time we were discharged we just wanted to escape the hospital and were so over everything that we all stayed in our jammies. I did, however, remember to ask the nurse who wheeled me out to the awaiting car to snap a photo of Juliet and me.

Oh goodness. Is there anything better than the MIRACLE of birth?! It's just amazing. It's amazing that a whole new LIFE and PERSON is on the planet now. I cannot imagine our family without Juliet and am so so so so so so so grateful that the Lord chose us to be her parents. God is so good to us. It is our prayer that we raise our girls to seek after him and be a light for the Lord.  We thank God daily for Juliet and thank him for the smooth delivery and for both of our health. 

Welcome to the world, sweet baby girl! Mommy and Daddy LOVE YOU SO MUCH! 

Welcome to the World Olivia Jane!

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. 

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! 

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. 

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. 

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!