My labor story:

Well apparently it is common among bloggers who have just had a baby to post their labor story. Well I wasn't planning on doing this, but since this is pretty much my journal I figured I probably should. So I will start off with a little background info:

As you all know we thought baby Olivia would be arriving early...a little too early. Well as each week passed I began feeling more and more relieved because I wanted her to be born completely healthy and be able to come home with me. Because of these complications I had been seeing my doctor every week. I was measuring a little bit small so he scheduled me an ultrasound over at the hospital. When I went they measured every part of her body and determined that she was a bit small and that it didn't seem like she was growing anymore (at that point I was 35 weeks and she was weighing about 5 lbs), so they told me to come in every week for a non-stress test and then come back in two weeks for another ultrasound and if she hadn't grown at all they would induce me. Well when I went in for the non-stress tests she was totally fine just moving and hiccuping constantly! So on Sept. 28th the day before the "determining" ultrasound I had a doctor's appointment. At that point I was just about 37 weeks and SO ready to have her. Well I was excited to find out that I was already dilated to a 4. I told my doctor that I was so ready for her to be here and so he said he would induce me at 39 weeks and scheduled an induction date for October 11. Although, he was practically laughing when I told him I would see him then because he said he would be dead shocked if I made it that long. I can't even explain how excited I was that the end was in sight and I only had to make it 2 more weeks (at the most)! So the next day I went in for my ultrasound and they went through all the measurements and the ultrasound tech said she would be right back. Well, a couple minutes later the ultrasound doctor came in and and smiled at me and said, "looks like you are going to have a baby today! She hasn't gained any weight." Well let's just say I started freaking out telling him that Michael was at school and I hadn't even packed my bags yet. Well luckily Dr. Watts (my OB) was over at the hospital and came up and saw that I was just a little bit nervous about all this and said that he would induce me that following day if I wanted so that I could have some time to prepare physically, mentally, and emotionally haha. I seriously could not have been more grateful to this man.

September 30, 2010 (Olivia's birthday!)

Well obviously I hardly got any sleep that night and woke up at 6:30 in the morning to get ready. Right before we left Michael gave me a beautiful blessing. From that point on I can honestly say that I was hardly nervous. We left for the hospital at 7:00 and got there at 7:30 by the time we filled out all the paper work and I got my gown on and everything was explained it was about 9:30 am. They started my petocin which they would be starting at a very low dose and increasing very slowly so as not to upset the baby. My doctor wanted to avoid a c-section and didn't want to stress little Olivia out. He said that smaller, preemie babies tend to show more signs of stress during labor. Well Michael and I hung out in the very nice big room just talking, playing uno, and chewing on ice. I was afraid each time they increased my petocin that I would be in a lot of pain but the contractions really weren't that bad. Well around 11:00 am the anesthesiologist (who also was amazing. He had come in earlier that morning to introduce himself and explain the epidural. He was so so sweet and said to call him if I needed anything.) anyway he came in and asked if I wanted my epidural. I of course said yes because I knew Dr. Watts would be coming soon to break my water. I told him how nervous I was and how important it was that it didn't wear off. He was very comforting and assured me that it would last the whole time. Let's just say that I seriously did not feel one thing while he was giving me the epidural. I had heard some horror stories about how painful they were but seriously I didn't not feel a thing!! He gave me a little shot before that was supposed to help relax me. It didn't really relax me but mostly made me feel a bit dizzy. I was glad that I was leaning over a table holding Michael's hand. I immediately started going numb which was a weird feeling but an exciting feeling because that meant no pain! Well when Dr Watts came in and broke my water he told me that I had only dilated 1/2 cm in the past 3 hours. He said not to worry that things should start speeding up. At around 3:00 my nurse checked again and I had was only dilated to a 5. Okay I seriously thought I might die haha. I couldn't believe how slow I was going. I was a bit frustrated and started telling myself that it would be a longer night but at least I knew she was coming. The nurses said that generally once you get to a 5 you dilate about a 1 cm an hour. So I was looking at her being born around 8:00 pm. At this time Olivia began to show stress with each contraction. Her heart rate would drop. The nurses were constantly changing my positions to see if that helped. It didn't and so a little wire was placed on her head to monitor the contractions internally which would help them see how she was responding to the contractions better. Well nothing seemed to work and she continued to show signs of stress. I was getting really nervous because I really didn't want to have a c-section and I was really worried about the baby of course. I was given oxygen which was interesting because I couldn't talk anymore haha but it did seem to help her a little bit. Well around 4:50 pm the nurse came in to check me (I had been feeling a little bit of pressure at this point but no pain. I had been pushing the little epidural button quite often to make sure that it wouldn't wear off haha) and guess what....I was a 10!! I could hardly believe this. So I started pushing and I actually had to stop so that my doctor could get there in time haha. He asked if he could do an episiotomy because he said it would help her come faster since she was under a little bit of stress. Seriously 1 1/2 minutes after that little Olivia was born! I couldn't believe that I only had to push for 20 minutes. Dr. Watts was seriously SO amazing. He was constantly asking if I could feel anything and just made me feel so comfortable about everything. I am sad we probably won't be living here when our other kids our born because he was wonderful. Anyway, it was the most amazing feeling to look into my little girl's eyes and realize that she was ours. It's one of those feelings that is so unbelieveably amazing that there is no possible way to describe it, but I will never forget it. Anyway, Olivia was perfectly healthy and was able to stay with me the whole time! I was so happy and couldn't have felt more blessed. It was seriously an amazing delivery and I was so relieved that my epidural lasted the whole time. Although I will say I was a little bit shocked to find out how much pain I was in after it wore off. My doctor had given my pain meds but I was still in quite a bit of pain for the following 3 weeks. Especially if I didn't stay on top of the meds. Anyway, I am so grateful to my doctor, my amazing labor and delivery nurses, my family, and Michael for their support through my whole pregnancy and delivery. But mostly I am grateful to Heavenly Father for a perfectly healthy beautiful baby girl.

Here are some pictures from that special day!

Michael reading to me in Spanish haha:)

My OB. He was so good at explaining everything and making sure I was ok with everything.

Getting ready to get the epidural! Seriously I don't know what I would have done with out it.

The 2 nurses in the background were my nurses the whole time. The one with the brown short hair was my nurse for the first 7 hours of my labor. She was amazing explained every little thing that was going on which obviously helped calm me down.

Michael was so sweet the whole time and would always hold my hand and sit by me whenever they did anything that was at all "scary." I don't know what I would have done without him.

Our baby girl is here!!

Olivia Alexandra Mickelson