The Baker Beat: Olivia's Birth Story

Our baby girl entered the world eleven days ago on May 15, 2014.

6 lbs, 12 oz and 18 3/4 inches of perfection.

I haven't blogged much the past 9 months - this pregnancy, coupled with chasing a toddler, took it out of me.

I last blogged 3 months ago, with this story of our baby girl.

We thought the bumps in this pregnancy were over after that.

But they continued - and that is where her birth story begins...

At 34.5 weeks, I went to my bi-weekly ob appointment (The night before I had been at labor and delivery for some bleeding I was having. Thankfully it turned out to be nothing).

I had been measuring normal up until then, but at this appointment I was measuring a week behind.

So, they told me to come back in a week to see if I had grown appropriatley.

When I came back a week later, I had not grown at all and was measuring 33 weeks. They sent me to do a growth ultrasound to get an estimate of our baby girl's size.

The ultra sound had were weighing in at 5lbs even, which I thought was a decent size at 35.5 weeks, but apparently it was only the 14th percentile. The perinatal doctor said the 'concerning' part was that our son was not small, and you usually make babies of similar size, so there could be something genetic going on that was causing her to be small and not grow appropriately.

He ordered non-stress tests twice a week and ultra sounds weekly to monitor our baby and make sure her activity was normal and that my placenta was doing it's job.

So, this was all stressful. After all we went through at her 20 week ultra sound, it was hard to find ourselves in another place of uncertainty about her development. I was told that she had IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction). My doctor did not seem concerned, which was a huge comfort throughout the last few weeks of our pregnancy. However, both my doctor and the perinatologist said that if her weight percentile dropped to the 10th percentile, they would induce me - figuring the baby would be better outside than inside at that point.

At 37.5 weeks, they did another growth ultra sound. Baby girl now weighed 5lb, 12 oz. Again, I thought that sounded good -she had grown 12 oz in two weeks (which was only a few ounces less than she should have). However, this dropped her down to the 12th percentile. The perinatologist said I was barely 'skating along' and would need to be induced at 39 weeks.

So, 39 weeks came.

Here is how the day went...(which is very similar to Jack's labor)

7:45am - We checked into the hospital and they began hooking me up to the monitors and checking my vitals. My heartrate was literally between 130-150. I was so nervous, not about the labor, but about her health. My mid-wife (who my doctor brought on this last year and does Tuesday/Thursday deliveries for him) came around 8 and calmed me down significantly.

8:45am - Started pitocin. I came in dilated at 3cm, 60% effaced, -2 station.

11am - Got the lovely epidural, although it was not as lovely as the one I got with Jack. The anesthesiologist had a difficult time finding the right spot to put it in, so it took awhile. Then, the epidural hit my right side much more than my left, so I could not move my right leg for the rest of labor, with my left leg eventually losing complete feeling too.

12:30pm - My midwife came and broke my water. At this point, I'm only 4cm, 80%, and still -2.

2:30pm - I was 5cm now. But, they stopped pitocin because my body had naturally started labor and my contractions were too close together for baby to keep up her heart rate. The same thing happened with Jack, so I wasn't too nervous. They gave me oxygen and were re-positioning me a lot to help find a spot that baby liked.

3:45/4pm - I was still at 5cm, and they didn't think my contractions were strong enough to keep things moving, so they started pitocin again. I got a new nurse at 3:30, who happened to work at my ob's office. She noticed that my catheter was blocking my cervix, so she repositioned it. She said as soon as she moved it, my cervix immediately began dilating more.

4:30pm - Well, that seemed to do the trick, because I was very quickly at 10cm. They began getting things set up and ready for baby to come.

4:40pm - My mid-wife had me do a trial push. I pushed once, and she said stop! Baby girl was about to come out, but the other nurses who were helping with the delivery weren't in the room yet. So, we waited a few more minutes for everyone to get there, including the hospital pediatrician (in case there was something going on with baby girl that needed immediate attention). Once everyone was ready, I pushed for one contraction, and that was all that baby girl needed (so much different than Jack's delivery)

4:49pm - Our Olivia Louise was here. The first thing I heard when they pulled her out was, "That is not an IUGR baby." She was a great size and perfectly healthy.

The moment I first laid eyes on her.

We are overwhelmed and overjoyed to have our beautiful, healthy girl here. Her name means Symbol of Peace & Renowned Fighter, and I think it is so appropriate for the journey we had in welcoming her here.