Pepper's Here! I mean Olivia Clare!

Olivia Clare made her debut into this world on September 15, 2010 at 5:32 PM. She weighed 7lbs 8.5 oz 19 1/4th inches long. She has the cutest dimple and lots of hair! I can’t begin to tell you how lucky and blessed we are to have such a beautiful little girl. She is gorgeous. My birth story is very interesting and eye opening. I’m so lucky to have such a great doctor and little Miss Liv is also.

Last Maternity Photo 38 Weeks 3 Days

It all started on Tuesday, September 14, 2010. I had my 38 week doctor appointment with my awesome doctor. I had been on bedrest for the last couple of weeks and was dying to get off of bedrest. Let me tell you, what I would do to have that back =) Anyways, when we go in I get checked and he said I was 25-50% effaced and 1-1.5 cm dilated. I was actually excited about that progress. For the longest time I was no where and I was REALLY worried I wouldn’t dilate at all on my own because of previous cryotherapy. I wanted nothing more than to have a vaginal birth. My doctor let me know we were on the schedule for that night to have an induction and if I wanted it to go in at 10pm. I didn’t really know what to do to be honest. I went back and forth on it in the room with Mr. OB. Thinking how a failed induction = csection but I really wanted to meet our little girl and she was measuring on the bigger size and who knows if I could push out a 9lb baby. While we were talking it over my doctor let me know he was going to strip my membranes. Ouch. I swear I was going to pee on the guy. It wasn’t so bad painful just I swear he was stripping my bladder! He then told me how he didn’t do mine that much and sometimes he does it and breaks women’s waters and that he could have done more for me. We then decide to see what happens with this membrane stripping. I figured I would be having contractions frequently and by the end of the day ready to have her out and I would have made my decision. We told the receptionist I would call back with our decision.

We go home and we talk it over and I’m about 75% leaning towards the induction 25% leaning towards waiting on more week. Well little did I know my decision would be made for me. Mr. OB decides to go to the office and I realized I’m soaking up panty liners with blood. I knew I was suppose to bleed but there was alot of bleeding. I call into the doctors office and my doctor said why don’t you just go into labor and delivery and we can see what is going on. We then decide might as well start this induction early.

I call Mr. OB he comes home and I tell him we need to go get new phones. Yes before I went to the hospital I made sure I checked one more thing off my list. We went to Verizon to get new phones. See I have had a crappy go phone for the last 5 years. I have never upgraded. My phone can’t take pictures, get on the internet, etc and I felt like this was important. My bleeding had subsided so I felt like it was okay for the time being. And how long could that REALLY take?

We get 2 new phones.. YAY! And we are off to the hospital. Let me tell you though, that phone saved me during labor. I was talking to people constantly keeping my mind off of the contractions etc. It was VERY worth it. We get Wendy’s before we get to the hospital because I know if I dont eat I won’t get food for a while. I get a chicken sandwich and try to eat as much as I can. I’m a little nervous and eating was difficult.

Well we get to the hospital and I go into labor and delivery and the nurses there ask me why I am there. They have a full house and I’m not on the list to be induced tonight. But I do have my paper work told them about my bleeding and they got me into a triage room. I was admitted at 6 and finished eating my dinner and we started Cyotec to help ripen my cervix. I was having some pretty constant contractions but nothing too painful and I was getting a repeat dosage every 3 hours.I was also pretty upset I didnt eat more at dinner time. I was already starving and it was only 10! I lost my mucus plug at about 10 pm. I’m not going to lie I told myself pretty soon I would be in pain and my hunger pains would be nothing compared to the contractions! My doctor came in and chatted a bit with us and I told him how he started all of this by stripping my membranes. On a side note I can’t believe how much those guys work. He was there at all hours of the day.

I went from a 1-2 at about midnight. It was going slowly but that was okay for me. At 3 am I woke up and told Mr. OB I think my water broke. He said, are you sure you didn’t pee on yourself. Well when your water breaks like it did for me you know your water broke. There was no holding it in. I got up to walk to the bathroom and I was just leaking everywhere. Because my water broke spontaneously I couldn’t get anymore medication vaginally so off to Pictoin it was. We had to have this baby within the next 24 hours. EXCITING!So at 4 AM we started the Pictocin. I knew that these contractions are contractions from hell but I was also determined to get the epidural when I was at least 4 cm dilated. I didn’t want to get it too early because I knew it would slow down the process which was already slow in my opinion. The nurse also told me to be aware when you ask for the epidural you don’t get it then and there. You have to get tons of fluids in you before you get it and it takes about an hour to an hour and a half for that. I definitely kept that in mind. At about 7 I decided the pains were pretty bad. They asked me what my pain level was 1-10 and I said 6-7. Mr. OB says, umm you take the epi when you are at a 10. Well buddy in about an hour or two I will be at a 10 and it will be too late. I couldn’t have asked for it at a perfect time! I labored for about 3-4 hours without the epidural and it was rough there at the end. I was dilated to at about a 3 or 4 at this time. When I was checked at 11AM I was at a 5. I was finally getting SOMEWHERE! At 1:30 I was at a 6 and at 2:30 I was at an 8! I think alot of my progress was due to my awesome nurse Jenifer I had. Every time she checked me she stretched and massaged my cervix because she knew I had cryotherapy. She was such an awesome nurse. At 3 I was at a 9.5 and it was about time to push. Go figure the epidural would wear off by now and I could feel alot of pressure in my groin and back. Major Back Labor! I couldn’t get more medicine because then I couldn’t feel my contractions and know when to push. I figured I could handle it.

We started pushing at 3:30ish right after I threw up. I guess thats the sign its time to push? This is the photo Mr. OB took RIGHT before I started pushing. Notice my phone. See it was VERY important I get that phone.

Once we started pushing I thought she was NEVER going to come out. I pushed for 2 hours straight. It was rough. I could feel everything with every push I had pain in my right groin and nerve pain because she was hanging out on my nerve and there was nothing anyone could do for it. We decided to have me push on my side. It was a VERY awkward laboring position but it was the only way I felt some sort of relief. After about 2 hours of pushing my doctor came in and it was go time.

There is a funny part in this story… I had a labor music. I had a song I wanted to be played while I was pushing and I told Mr. OB about it. It was more a joke but we played it from our phones and all the nurses came in wondering what the hell I was doing. Yes I was pushing to the song by Salt N Pepper … Push It. With every push I laughed. Nurses were coming in wondering why rap music was blaring. All the nurses were saying when they have their babies they are totally going to push to that song.I told Mr. OB and the nurses how my doctor was going to come in and think WTH is this chick doing. The nurses said nah he will like it. He comes in and and I’m pretty sure he was singing or dancing away. I’m sure now he thinks Im a nut. Pure awesome. It definitely lighten the mood.

After a couple of pushes everyone says they can see her head and she is almost out. Then I hear the nurse say, “She didn’t show any signs of this. If she had we wouldn’t have had her labor”. Yep the cord was wrapped around my daughters neck and tight. Little Olivia didn’t ONCE show any signs of distress. At all. Her heartrate was perfect throughout the entire laboring process. Amazing.

As I’m waiting for her to cry, I hear my doctor say, “There is something you want to do right” to Mr. OB and Mr. OB cuts the cord. Then I heard the most awesome sound ever. Her crying. It was amazing. Then this is where things went downhill FAST!

Mr. OB walked over to look at Miss Olivia because I couldn’t see her or hold her because the doctor was working on me. I knew I needed to deliver the placenta but had no idea there were complications. Pretty much the cord ruptured and I was hemorrhaging. My doctor is elbow deep into my uterus trying to get out residual placenta and I hear him say, we need to get her to the OR ASAP and she needs a blood transfusion. She has lost ALOT of blood. I’m like huh? I just want to see my daughter. Mr. OB comes over with her before they rush me out and I see her and she is perfect. I’m in alot of pain because 1. the epidural as worn off and 2. my doctor is trying to find the rest of the placenta since the cord ruptured and ouch it was WORSE than labor pains.

The nurse gave me a shot of demerol and I was out. I was fainting and told everyone and off to the OR I went. I meant to tell Mr. OB I loved him before they wheeled me out but I was gone. I remember getting to the OR and saying oh I feel alot better. It was super cold in there and helped me come to it.

My doctor began working on me and I had a d and c to get the remaining placenta. I lost alot of blood so I was very out of it. I do remember telling the doctor I was sorry Push It wasn’t on in the OR room. I also remember shaking SO bad from the epidural and tell my doctor I was sorry it might be hard to work down there with all my shaking. The nurses were also telling my Mr. OB was worried about me and if I wanted to tell him anything. Oh yeah I did. This is what I wanted to tell him. My nipples hurt. Yes I said, tell him my nipples hurt its so cold in here. He will know I’m fine. After I guess what about was an hour I’m all finished and my doctor finished me up and I was sent to recovery. I see Mr. OB waiting for me outside and he said so I guess you’re okay but your nipples aren’t? HAHA

I was sent to a room and was able to see my daughter and bond for the first time. The nurses in the nursery were so wonderful. They didn’t bath her give her a bottle or anything. I said I wanted to breastfeed as soon as possible and I didn’t get that hour to bond with her but they realized what I went through and made it happen. I was so happy. Here is our first family photo!

After an hour it was time for mommy to rest. And rest I did. I was so dizzy and just out of it from losing so much blood. I needed a blood transfusion. I got two units of blood the next morning and felt AMAZING. I can’t believe how much blood I had lost. Pretty much half of my blood. I’m so lucky and fortunate to have such a wonderful and talented doctor. It could have been worse better yet I could have died on that table. I can’t begin to tell you how blessed we are. I kept on telling my doctor thanks for saving my life and he was like Nah, it wasn’t a big deal.

Here are some photos my awesome friend took of us the day after! They are amazing!

Little Miss Olivia had to stay an extra night in the hospital without her mommy because of some jaundice issues. Theses are all taken care of but let me tell you leaving the hospital with an empty carseat was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I can’t believe the love I have for my daughter already. Its so amazing.

More on how our first night home was etc later. For now Mommy needs some much needed rest!