This little baby was a stubborn one and was not going to come into this world on her own. At my last appointment my doctor decided to induce me the following week, 2 days before my due date. They wanted to make sure to avoid blood pressure problems (which I dealt with at the end of both other pregnancies) and avoid having another large baby like Noah or bigger. As I thought would happen, we made it to the induction day with no progress towards baby coming on it's own. So at 7:30 am on Wednesday April 14 we checked into the Women's Center.
Nice steady contractions every 3 minutes and a good healthy heartbeat.
One of the last pictures with a baby still in my belly. Very bittersweet.
Still smiling even when they gave me oxygen because the babies heartbeat was taking some big dips.I got all settled in a room, in a gown, in a bed and the nurse came and got me all set up with an IV. Her and the doctor both checked me and I was dilated to maybe 1 cm and my cervix was still very high and not thinned at all. I got hooked to the monitors to track contractions and the heartbeat and the nurse said I was already contracting every 3 minutes on my own. They obviously weren't doing anything and I wasn't feeling them at all. I was started on the Pitocin at 8:40 am. It didn't even take 30 minutes before I started feeling the contractions and I felt them more and more as they upped the Pitocin every 30 minutes. I finally dilated to a 3-4 and I stayed that way pretty much all day. I held out on pain meds for as long as possible but decided on some IV meds around noon sometime. They certainly worked at easing the pain but they knocked me out. I couldn't keep my eyes open but that was a good thing because if I opened my eyes and tried to move at all it made me all dizzy and nauseous. An hour after I got that the nurse came in and asked if I wanted more or if I wanted the epidural. She voted on the epidural for me and I went with it since the doctor was going to come check me again and break my water. I don't remember feeling the epidural so much while getting it with my other 2 babies. I sure felt it this time though. I felt the poke of the needle, felt the catheter go into my back, and felt the initial dose of the medicine go into my back. It was very uncomfortable but totally worth it in the long run. I just am not one who could ever do the whole natural child birth thing if I have the choice. Epidurals are HEAVEN!
If you look close you can see the tears on my face. What a silly emotional crazy I have become.
Please let me go back!
With the epidural in place and working beautifully all I had to do was wait. At some point I finally progressed to 4-5 cm. That was exciting since I had been doing nothing for a while. I was dilating but the baby was still sitting really high. You would think she would have dropped by then but she didn't. I tell you, she was really going to stay in there as long as she possibly could. 6 pm rolled around and they did some changes with the nurses. We lost the nurse I had all day and the new one came in. The one nurse told her that I was at a 4-5 and that it would probably be a while longer since I was going so slow. The new nurse told her that there would be a baby before her shift ended at 7. She said "women see me and it makes them have babies". Well, she ended up being right. She checked me again when she came in at 6 and I was at a solid 5. Within a few minutes I started feeling pressure but nothing too intense. She checked me again and I was at a 9 and the baby had finally dropped. She really did wait until the last moment to come down. Then the pressure and feeling the need to push got really intense and I was fully dilated and ready to push. I got all set to go and did 2 practice pushes before they got the doctor. On my second push they told me to stop. The baby nurse rushed out of the room to get the doctor. We are now at 6:20 pm. I had dilated from a 4-5 to 10 in 20 minutes. The baby nurse came back and said the doctor was delivering another baby but would be there next. The pressure to push was INSANE. I was holding that baby in with everything I had. The urge to push was coming like every minute it felt like. Resisting that urge to push was one of the most difficult and painful things I have ever done. The nurse ran out again to get the doctor and came back not looking so optimistic that the doctor was going to make it. The nurses very obviously readied themselves to catch the baby and the doctor finally made it to the room. She had enough time to get some gloves on and I pushed 1 1/2 times and out came baby. The relief was FABULOUS! At 6:43 pm our little girl came into this world. That's right, I held her in there for like 20 minutes. 20 very long, intense minutes.
A happy daddy to have another baby girl. He just knew this baby was an Olivia.
So, as Jay posted before, Olivia Jane McKinlay reluctantly entered this world on April 14, 2010 at 6:43 pm. She came out and no one told me if it was a boy or girl. I had to ask and Jay told me it was a girl and the tears started flowing. We had wanted a little girl so bad and I was beyond excited and happy. We wanted this baby so bad and she was finally there and I couldn't be more thrilled. I really can't put into words well enough how blessed I feel. I had a wonderful, healthy pregnancy and the delivery went great too. I feel like every baby is a miracle. Pregnancy and birth are such amazing things and I feel so lucky and blessed to be able to experience them. I am so happy to be a mom. I am grateful to have 3 beautiful children. I am thankful that I get to be home with them every day, even when things are tough. Life as a stay at home mom can be so hard sometimes but I really wouldn't trade it for anything. I love my kids so much. I don't know what craziness is in my future now that we have Olivia in our lives. I am sure there will be more difficult and challenging moments but I know for sure too that there will be that much more happiness too. Life is crazy and chaotic right now. Olivia has already been a bright spot amid such crazy times. She truly is a blessing to our family. We all love her so much. Our lives all became a little bit brighter the day she we born. We love you Olivia!
Zoey is all about her little sister. So cute!
Poor baby got stuck so many times. She wouldn't eat often enough and I think they did like 5 or 6 blood sugar tests on her while we were in the hospital. Ouch!
Big brother and big sister. Totally thrilled about it too!
The first thing Noah noticed when he came in was that my BIG tummy was gone. They both kept poking my belly and talking about how it was squishy now, not hard. It was funny.
Noah is so in love with little Olivia. He can't give her enough hugs and kisses and he is always saying how cute and pretty she is. So sweet!
My beautiful family. I am so in love with my hubby and kids.
Garry held Olivia and said he wanted another one. Ha ha. Get right on that one Kristy!
Olivia's first little outfit she wore. Cute jammies. Her daddy is the one who kept telling me to put something on her. 
I think the nurse would have snapped this picture herself if we didn't. She just thought it was so cute the way Olivia had her arms folded. Jay finally snapped a picture because the nurse kept saying to. Too funny.
Time to go home. We had a nice, peaceful stay at the hospital. It was mostly me and Olivia by ourselves. We were definitely ready to get home though. You forget how tiny they are when they are first born. That car seat swallows her up.
Welcome to our family Olivia. We love you so much!!!
