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

Exactly 2 years ago....

I first set eyes on a boy.

I thought he was pretty hot.
I didn't know then that that hot boy would be my boy...
my silly, smart, sweet, cuddly, perfect boy
my boy forever and ever.
I love him.

Happy Halloween!!

I was extremely excited to celebrate Halloween this year because I knew our little girl would forsure be here. I was so excited to dress her up! My mom and brother actually bought her a teddy bear costume from Build A Bear Workshop because she is so little. Well it wasn't actually meant to be a costume. It was the skin of the bear before it was stuffed, but we thought it would fit her! So I cut out the face and then down the back so that we could put her in it. Sadly, her little bum was just a bit to big. I of course called my mom in a panic because she had no costume. My mom found another teddy bear costume at Wal-mart except it wasn't quite as cute and small. So little Olivia was a teddy bear! We went over to my parents house at around 5:00 pm. My mom had made boo dogs (hot dogs wrapped in a roll) and then had hot chocolate and Wassel. Olivia was a bit fussy because she doesn't like crowds but eventually she calmed down. We hung out inside the house for a while because it was raining and really cold outside. My best friend was here with her little girl Hallie, so Michael and I decided to go over to her house to shoot some hoops to win prizes. Michael won a big symphony bar and the movie Pirates of the Caribbean and I won a gallon of the best apple juice! We then decided to take little Olivia and Hallie trick or treating to a few houses. It was so much fun and it made it even better to know that since Olivia couldn't eat candy we would get it all to ourselves:)

Here are some pictures of Olivia's first Halloween!

You can tell the costume was a bit big. She filled only about half of it!

Olivia loves her Aunt Sophia!!

The Farr family minus Winston, Emerson and my dad who are climbing to base camp on Mt. Everest...and they made it!!

My best friend and me and our precious little girls:) Michael and I loved Hallie's costume..especially her little feet haha.

An Olivia update!

I can't believe our baby girl is 3 weeks old! I have absolutely loved taking care of this precious girl. It has been so fun to get to know her personality and learn what she likes and dislikes. Anyway here is a little list of some things we have learned about her so far.
-She is a stubborn little girl and knows exactly what she wants and exactly how to get it:)
-She HATES being undressed. Unless she is in the bath tub.
- She loves to be held. In fact so much so that I can' t even set her down to go to the bathroom. Even when you think that she is fast asleep she will peep open one of her eyes to make sure she is being held. If she peeps her eye open and no one is holding her she immediately starts crying.I find this really cute and I of course LOVE holding her, but I do need to do a few things so we bought a front pack this week. Hopefully that helps!
- She can hold her head up! In fact she has been able to do this since she was 2 days old. If I have her on my shoulder she will lift it up and look around very gracefully. She hardly ever bobs. Also, if she is lying on her stomach she will turn her head the other way all by herself.
- She loves music, mostly Westlife! But if we are in the car and she starts fussing we just turn on the music and she stops! Oh ya, and she loves her carseat. Yay!
- She is a very good baby and hardly ever fusses she just doesn't liked to be messed with:)
-She loves her little hands and always sleeps with them on her face.
- She loves her neck rubbed and will bend it backwards so I can rub it.
-She is getting quite chubby. Especially in her cheeks and stomach. She also has a little double chin!
- She is a very loud eater and does not like to eat in front of other people.
- Sometimes she just randomly screams to let you know she is there!
- When she cries she sounds like a little kitty which is why her aunt Sophia nicknamed her kitty.
-Her most recent cute little habit is her sighing and little noises she makes when she is asleep.


I am sure I am forgetting a lot of cute little things, but we sure love our little doll and are excited to continue to watch her grow and learn!

She isn't a huge fan of her binky, but will take one every once in a while. I am hoping she decides to like it a little more!

I thought her hands were so cute in this picture!

I usually keep her more bundled up but I just love her tiny little body.

I was burping her when all the sudden she turned her head and latched on to my cheek and started sucking. I let her do it for a minute and then she let go and put her head back down. Later that night when I was brushing my teeth I noticed a little red mark which I thought was a scratch, but as I looked closer I realized that it was a hicky haha.

This is one of my favorite ways to hold her.

She is extremely alert during the few hours she is awake every day. She loves looking around at everything.

Since it is necessary that our laundry gets done, I tried propping her up on some pillows so that she could watch me put away the laundry. She was so good and I actually was able to fold all the laundry!

You can see her chunky little tummy in this picture. It's so cute!

Sample Newborn Pictures!!

Our little doll is not a fan of being dressed and undressed so she was a little stinker to say the least:) However I think we were able to get some pretty cute shots! These are just a few of them prior to colorization.

Daddy's girl!

Olivia LOVES her dad. Even though he is a bit crazy and loud sometimes,he can be so gentle and sweet with her. I think she likes this best because when he gets in his hyper moods she just sits and glares at him haha.


Dancing with Dad! Olivia loves music. Whenever she is fussy we will turn on music and she will immediately stop and just sit there and listen. Michael is the one who is really in to music so he has shared a lot of his favorite songs with her. Of course they are mostly Westlife. Anyway, Michael danced with her to a song called Heaven by Your Side. You can tell by her little face in this one that she loved it!

Here is a little video I took of them dancing. I am so mad I didn't get more of it. It was so adorable!

Just a few extra pictures! I seriously can not get over how cute she is. I love her so much!

Last night Michael and I heard her making these little sighing noises so we walked over and this is what we saw!

Our little buckette/her first bath!

As you know we are huge fans of the Ohio State Buckeyes, well mostly Michael is. I pretty much cheer for them so that he will be in a good mood. Anyway, we like to dress up for the games even though we just watch them at home. Before Olivia was born we bought her a little Ohio State outfit to wear to watch all the games with her dad. It's a little big, but she looked adorable in it! It was her first official game outside the womb and Michael was excited to share it with her even though she pretty much slept the whole time:)

Olivia's umbilical cord finally came off which means we got to give her her first bath! I was actually quite nervous about this because Olivia HATES being undressed. She cries every time I change her diaper or her clothes even though I try and tell her that I am just trying to help her. Anyway, Michael and I were sure she would scream the entire time we bathed her. So we got her undressed and of course she was fussing, but, the second we stuck her in the sink she stopped! We seriously were so shocked. Anyway, she loved her bath!

This picture is for the Mickelson family. I have to tell you that Olivia was not happy about taking this picture. We told her grandma was the one who made us take it.