Birth Story: Olivia Mae

Hello my lovely readers! I think I have finally found a little bit of time to write my birth story. I have been going back and forth about sharing my birth story on this little space of mine or to just keep it private, but have had so many people wanting to know, so I have decided to fill you in.

Hmmmm....where should I start? 

Let me take you back a few months prior to her birth. I was diagnosed with preeclampsia and was put on bed rest, while being monitored twice a week by a high risk doctor. Don't get me wrong, being on bed rest was pretty great for the first week or so, but then after that I got a little stir crazy. 

My due date was July 18th, but because of my condition I was scheduled to be induced about a month earlier. So we marked it on our calendars and starting planning for that date. Well...lets just say that God had different plans. On Sunday, June 7th around 10:00pm, my heart started to race a little bit. I laid down and tried to relax and ended up falling asleep. Around 1:30am, I woke up to my heart racing so fast that I thought my heart was literally going to come out of my chest. I sat up and took my blood pressure. 170/100

I got a strong feeling like I needed to go to the hospital. I woke up Josh and our little girl and we were headed out the door within less than 10 minutes. 

When we arrived at the hospital, they put an IV in me, put straps around my belly to monitor baby and placed a cuff around my arm to keep an eye on my blood pressure. The nurse told me that she was so glad that I made the decision to come to the hospital. For the next several hours, I just laid there wide awake talking to my Mom and Josh just wondering what to expect and what was going to happen next. Around 1:30pm, a doctor came in with news I was not expecting at all. He gave me two options. To try for a vaginal birth which might risk my health and baby's health because of my condition or have a c-section (say what?!?!) Funny thing is, just that Friday before when I had an ultrasound, she was head down ready to go. Well..over the weekend, she decided it would be fun to flip so she was breach. The doctor told me they could try to do an aversion to see if they could get her to flip, but it would be a 50/50 chance and I would just continue to run the risk of my health and hers. He told me he would give me some time to think about what I wanted to do and discuss it with Josh. I didn't know what to do or think. I was so scared and confused. 

After talking to Josh, my Mom, my nurse who had two c-sections and praying about it, I finally came to the decision that I was going to choose to have the c-section. After choosing that decision, I remember just having a great feeling of peace about it and just knew it was the right decision for me and my baby.

The time is now 2:00pm. I told my nurse that I was going to have the c-section. She scheduled it for 6:45pm. This is when the real anxiety and fear started kicking in. I was so nervous and scared. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Oh yeah!! I forgot to tell you that on this SAME day was Kaelyn's adoption at 3:00pm! Josh had to call the courthouse to see if there was anyway that he could attend and have me conference in. They told him that normally they don't do that and have never done that before, but would make an exception. God is so good! Josh left around 2:30 to make it there just in time. I called in on a conference call and the Judge starting laughing because he and the entire courtroom of friends and family could hear the baby's heartbeat over the speaker phone. He said in all his time in doing adoptions, he has never had to do an adoption over the phone while the Mother was a the hospital ready to have a baby. The call took a little over ten minutes and she was finally ours forever. Tears started streaming down my face. I couldn't believe (and still can't believe) that all of this happened on the same exact day!

Now can you imagine at this point how I must be feeling?? I had so many mixed emotions. Excited, nervous, scared, grateful...you name it I was feeling it. 

The time is now 6:45pm. My nurse comes into my room and tells me its time. As they wheeled me down the hall, I prayed and prayed and prayed to God to calm my nerves. As I entered the surgery room I saw all the "tools" on the table that they were going to use and doctors and nurses running all over talking and yelling out stuff to one another. I took a deep breath and said to myself "okay..lets do this"

They made me straddle the surgical bed, face the one of the nurses and hold her hands tight as they put a shot in my spine. They then laid me down and my entire bottom half of my bottom was completely numb. Then then brought Josh in so he could sit right by my side. The sheet went up. One of the doctors confirmed to make sure that I couldn't feel anything at all. They told me I would feel a lot of pressure and tugging. It was just that. It seemed as if time flashed right before my eyes. All of the sudden I hear the cries of our sweet baby girl and Josh and I burst into tears. Olivia Mae born at 7:34 weighing 4 pounds 7 ounces and 17 inches long. As they brought her around so we could see her, I experienced a feeling like nothing I have before. Its completely indescribable and amazing. With her being 6 weeks early they immediately had to rush her to the NICU and Josh went with them as they switched me to a different bed and took me to the recovery room. 

As I laid there in pain, all I could think about was just how good God really is. Two huge blessings all on the same day. What a sweet special bond my babies with have with one another. Just thinking about it now, how everything happened and felt so perfectly into place brings tears to my eyes. I sure am one lucky Mama!