Well friends and family ... Olivia pulls another 4am trick.. Let me fill you all in. It started about 2am Monday Oct 22. I began having what felt like period cramps. Maybe TMI but like I needed to use the bathroom and this has happened before. So I decided to try and wait until 5am when the wonderful intern comes in to check on me everyday. By about 4am I decided this was getting worse and not better and it was time to call the nurse. I explained my symptoms to the nurse and she called a high risk doctor from down stairs. She came in and did an exam my cervix was still completely closed but she wanted to monitor me and baby. She hooked up the monitors and said now try to get some rest and Ill be back up (some rest?? Seriously lol). After 45 min. of monitoring us she noticed a trend, that babies base line heart rate was extremely high and would drop dramatically indicating that I was having contractions. They moved us down stairs and even still people thought this was a fluke and we would be back up stairs in our cozy room that we anticipated staying in for at least 8 more weeks.
It was most certainly not a fluke. My contractions began to increase and the raw emotion set in that ready or not this baby was coming today. I think the most over whelming feeling for me was a sense of failure that I was unable to keep her in until at least 30 weeks. That had been my mental goal and I felt like I had let myself and Olivia down. After all it is a Mothers responsibility to provide a safe home for their children especially in the womb. I can honestly say I did everything I knew how to keep her safe for as long as possible. That 2 weeks of bed rest gave her a much better chance at life and a baby born at 27 weeks verses 25 which is when my water broke is much better off.
The contractions were coming on much stronger by later in the morning and as much as I would have loved to do a completely natural birth this was a very different situation for many reasons. Unfortunately with babies that are this small and especially because she is my first born they often have to do an emergency c-section. If you choose not to have an epidural and an emergency c-section is necessary they have to put mother and baby under general anesthesia. This being said the baby is born asleep and they would not be able to work on her for about 30-45 min after birth. It doesn't sound like too long but every single second that passes after a baby of her size and maturity is born is crucial. This being said an epidural was the safest and best decision for my daughter and myself. Quite honestly by this point the contractions were becoming unbearable and extremely uncomfortable I was deff ready for some pain relief. The anesthesiologist quickly became my best friend and as unnerving and scary as the epidural was I was happy to have some relief. By the time I received it my contractions were only one minute apart and very strong.
The doctor came in shortly after and I had dilated to a 3. I felt better for a little while after receiving the epidural but it wasn't long just over an hour to be exact that I began to feel very uncomfortable and a lot of pressure all over again. I began telling my nurse this and she just assumed that the medicine wasn't getting to my lower half after insisting that this pressure was getting worse she did call the doctor in to check me. Sure enough I was 9cm almost fully dilated. I had went from a 3 to a 9 so quickly I couldn't believe it. I was ready to get this baby out and was determined to be able to push her out without having to have a c-section. They moved us quickly into the OR. When a baby is born this early the have you deliver in the operating room verses a regular delivery room in case a c-section is necessary. Also there is a window to the NICU from the OR that they just hand the baby immediately over to them.
I was all set in the OR and again I was determined to get her out as quickly as possible to avoid a C-section I knew that because she was so low in the birth canal it would be more traumatic for her have to be pulled out threw my stomach. As soon as they said ok push I was there 100% focused and proud to say I pushed her out with 3 pushes and 2 contractions. I opened my eyes and there she was I got to see her for just a second and heard a little squeak and saw all that gorgeous black hair. They handed her off and that was the last time I was able to see her for 4 or 5 hours. They want to make sure she is stable and they have done everything to ensure that she is taken care before they would let us see her.
That 4-5 hours felt like a century I wanted nothing more then to see my baby girl. They did come up to get us but unfortunately I was still to numb so just Daddy got to go down and see his daughter for the first time. He took pictures and was so proud to show them off to me. It was later that night they let me go down and see her for the first time. I immediately cried and told her how much I loved her. They had put her on mild sedation but as soon as she heard my voice she began to kick and move. It was the most amazing feeling to know that without a doubt she knew my voice and knew I was there. The NICU nurse opened her incubator and encouraged me to touch her hand again her response to my touch was such a magical moment.
Oliva was born weighing exactly 2lbs, and is doing as well as can be expected. She will be hooked up to a ventilator and many other machines for quite a while. They will not feed her for 4 or 5 more days all she will be receiving right now is sugar water and some minerals. Her digestive system is the bottom of her list. Most of her bodies energy right now is being put into her brain and cardiovascular system. Once she is ready to digest any kind of food they will feed her threw her umbilical cord. For these next few weeks they try to keep her environment as much like the womb as possible. They keep blankets over her incubator and only touch her once a day at 7 am. We are hoping to be able to hold her in 4 weeks or so depending on how she does.
Words cant describe how much I love this little girl. She is such an angel and holds such a special place with me. I am continuing to stay positive and have faith that she is so strong and is going to pull threw this. I will continue to keep you guys posted on her progress. It is the little things and the baby steps that will keep us moving in the right direction. Today for example her oxygen requirement came down significantly. You and I breath 21% pure oxygen. When I was down with her yesterday she was at 75% requirement since then she has dropped to 32% which is amazing progress ,so quickly, all of the nurses were very impressed.
Thank you again for all of the support and encouragement we couldn't get threw this without each and every one of you. Forgive me for any spelling or punctual errors my brain is far from functioning right now.
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