SHE'S HERE!!!

Albert already got the head start on the important information but I thought I would fill in a little from my perspective.

On Thursday, the 4th, we had a doctors appointment and ultrasound. The results came back that Olivia's amnio fluid was really low. The doctor wanted to induce that evening. Since induction and interventions were not part of our birth plan Albert and I wanted to wait and try a few more natural methods. There was no evidence that Olivia was in distress. The doctor was just worried because low fluid could be dangerous.

We went directly from the doctors office to acupuncturist. I tried acupuncture on Thursday and Friday, tried "exercises" with Albert, nipple stimulation, spicy food but, Olivia was too comfortable so induction was scheduled on Monday at 6am.

At the hospital labor started out about as I expected. Painful, but I was able to relax in between contractions. The beginning was easy. They upped the pitocin and did checks on my cervix. Labor progressed a little slower than I expected, so we let them break the water at noon. After that it was a whole other show!!

The contractions became very strong and stayed one to two minutes apart. I could not relax, I could not focus. I did start to really want the narcotics to take the edge off the pain. The only thing that saved me was Albert. He was so perfect through the whole thing. Albert talked me through everything and just kept encouraging me to go on. I have never loved him more than I do now. He and my daughter are perfect.

Well anyway. All of a sudden I HAD do push! There was no way around it. In fact Albert tried to coach me through it to wait for the doctor and that was the only time I was really really really mad at him. I told him to shut up because no one was gonna stop me I had to PUSH! After about an hour of pushing Olivia was here. The nurse Joyce was an awesome help, Albert was perfect in helping me crunch up for each push, and my mom got to listen through the curtain. When they put the baby on my tummy I could not believe she had been in there this whole time!

I kept saying, "It's a baby, It's a baby". So far this was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, but also my favorite.