Olivia 2 Months!

My precious Olivia... how are you already two months old?! This past month went by way faster than your first month of life! We are only two months in and I already want time to slow down! You're growing up too fast! We had to pack up a bunch of your newborn size clothes and you've transitioned from newborn diapers to size 1. 

You've made some big, positive changes in one month too. You started smiling and are full of  those smiles! I seriously cannot describe the joy I feel when you smile at Mommy. My heart just absolutely bursts from my chest. You are most smiley in the morning and when you wake up from your naps. We put you on your diaper changing pad and you just wiggle, kick, and smile at us. It's the cutest thing! You also smile a bunch when we sing to you. Neither Mommy or Daddy are the best singers, but luckily you are too little to know that yet ;) 

We started taking you to the chiropractor twice a week to help with your latch when you nurse. It's helped a lot! You are a much happier baby after you get adjusted... you sleep like a champ, your bowel movements are more consistent (the first 5 weeks of your life you only pooped once a week!), and you nurse better. Your neck control is impressive and you've also rolled over from tummy to your back! I googled when babies usually start to do that and it says the average is at four months and you rolled over at six weeks! I think being a "chiro-baby" has a lot to do with your strength. 

After some advice from some Facebook friends we started you on a schedule. We aren't sticklers with it and are pretty flexible, but the routine has been a lifesaver! It has given me a sense of sanity and a timeframe to get things done when you are sleeping. You also seem to be much more content with a schedule. 

Part of your nighttime routine is spending time with your daddy. When Daddy comes home from work he comes in and almost immediately picks you up to cuddle. You're quite fussy in the evening and being in your Daddy's arms is pretty much the only thing that makes you comfortable. You still like it when he holds you on your belly on his forearm.

After dinner we start your bath. You like your bath and it's sweet time together as a family. Daddy bathes you and we sing "Wheels On The Bus" until we run out of verses. Animals go on your bus... like the pig on the bus that goes "oink, oink, oink" or the bee on the bus that goes "buzz, buzz, buzz". 

You're not sleeping through the night just yet. However, you are sleeping in your own room and in your crib!!! This is helping mommy and daddy to sleep so much better! You still sleep swaddled up, but you protest this, and you can Houdini your little arms out every night! We keep it loud in your nursery while you sleep to help block out noise. You sleep with loud white noise, an air purifier, and a cool mist humidifier. I hope we aren't setting you up to not be able to sleep like a normal person later in life, haha. 

You're still hit or miss with the swing, especially when it is actually in motion. But you love to look at the mirror on it and you smile and talk to the baby looking back at you. It's pretty darn cute. 

Let see, what are some other things going on with you in your second month of life... you have gotten to be quite the pro in spitting up. We burp and burp you but you still surprise us with some pretty impressive spits. I've learned to live in sweats and grungy clothes while at home during the day with you because I know we're both going to be covered in baby spits by the end of the day. Your nails are also surprisingly sharp for a baby. Mommy attempted to cut them this past month and I nipped your precious little finger and you bled so much that I'm way too scared to try again. I'm also happy to report that your hair is growing back and you don't look so much like a balding old man anymore. Though, it is important to tell you that you are beautiful even without any hair. Mommy and Daddy would love you and think you are the most beautiful little girl even if your hair never ever grew back! 

You had a lot of visitors this last month too. G-Daddy and Lolly came for a few days and you really bonded with them. Lolly can get a lot of smiles out of you and it's adorable! Your Aunt Jessie and Uncle Juan came down for your first Valentines Day and actually babysat you while Mommy and Daddy went out to dinner. This was a big deal because it was the first time that both of us left you at the same time! We knew you were in good hands though and you did great! 

Olivia Jane, it still surprises me each morning when I'm nursing you while the sun is coming up and I'm looking down at your precious little face how much my love has grown for you in the past day. It multiples each day even though I swear each day I cannot possibly love you any more than I already do! You are so so so loved. I thank God daily that you are our little girl! These past two months have been the best of my life! 

Olivia 1 Month!

Oh emm gee! Miss Olivia Jane, you are ONE month old already!! How has time flown by so quickly?! You have changed our lives and we are so grateful that God chose us to be your parents! 

Daddy and I think you are the most beautiful little girl. We never get tired of people gushing over how beautiful you are.  You've started to loose your hair near your forehead, but the rest of the hair you still have is growing quickly! 

At your one month doctor appointment you weighed in at 8 lbs 7 oz... a whole 1 lb 10 oz greater than your birth weight (6 lbs 13 oz). You've also grown over 2 inches! You're now 21.5 inches long. You're lanky and are quickly outgrowing your NB onesies length-wise. 

I love that you want mommy, recognize my voice and that you can calm down just by being passed back into my arms. But my goodness child, boy do you like to be held. (Right now you are actually very fussy because mommy is torturing you by not holding you.)  If things could get done with you in my arms at all times then I would never put you down. I love our cuddles. You like the Ergo most of the time and this is a welcome solution to you needing to be held constantly. 

We still haven't found a good sleeping solution for you. We've tried a bassinet, the crib, the swing, and the rock n' play. We've had some success with the rock n' play, but it's a lot of effort to get you to sleep in it even for just a few hours. I spend about an hour nursing you to sleep, we heat it up with a heating pad, play a heartbeat sound from the Sleep Sheep and then daddy rocks you once you're all snuggly in the rock n' play. This has a success rate of about 40%. You have spent most of your night time sleeping in my arms. I have become an expert at sleeping sitting up (mommy is so scared of smothering you in our sleep!). Daddy teases me at how concerned I am for you when you sleep. I may check that you're breathing multiple times a night... even though you sleep with the Snuza. You wake up 2 to 3 times a night. You seem to have a sleep schedule of waking up around 11pm, 1am and then again around 5am.

You like to be vertical or on your tummy... especially when your daddy holds you like the photo below. You don't fit well on my arm like that, so it's a special thing just between you and your daddy.

We've had some trouble getting you to nurse well. You like to nurse, that's not the problem... you just like to nurse at a very lackadaisical pace. I will spend hours nursing you at a time. I often have to remind you to keep going. We've met with Helen, our lactation consultant, multiple times and she's given us some helpful hints and advice. You're gaining weight like a pro, so we know you're getting enough to eat, we'd just like to achieve it in shorter feeding sessions. 

The dogs have taken to you and like to give you kisses on your head and toes. Jackson seems especially concerned when you cry and has to check on you and then let me know you are upset. It's pretty precious. Emma still barks a lot, but it doesn't seem to phase you as of yet. 

You like your carseat as long as the car is moving. In fact, you did so super well on your first long car trip going to Atlanta and Birmingham... sleeping the whole way! 

You are hit or miss with the paci, but seem to prefer the Nuk brand (though you are warming up to the Wubanubs! I think you just had to grow into them)

You've had a pretty big first month of life! You celebrated your first two holidays (Christmas and New Years), met both sides of your family (all aunts and uncles, cousins, and even your GG on mommy's side), traveled out of state for the first time, saw your first snow fall, and are working hard on smiling. You seem like a happy (as long as you're being held) and healthy little girl. 

People always talk about how "fast" it all goes, and if this one month is any indication of how quickly it feels then they are definitely right. I cannot remember life without you in it and wouldn't want to live in the world without you in it now either! You are our sunshine and we love you more than we can express or even understand! Happy One Month baby girl! XOXO

(PS. Thank you to your grandpa Amador for taking the one month photos!)

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!