For my own memory (or lack therof) I wanted to jot a few things down about Olivia’s birth. Feel free to read it or skip it.
My due date for this baby was September 1. Savannah’s birthday is on the 3rd, and she wanted to have a “birthday twin” so bad! We also have a funny pattern with our other kids of them going over their due date by the number of child they are. Savannah was 1 day late, Michaela 2 days, Lily 3 and Jared 4. We thought it would be funny if this little girl came 5 days late. Well, she definitely had her own plans and came one week late. Although I was very sore and tired being 41 weeks pregnant, I always knew she was going to be later than our other kids, and so mentally, I was fine with going over by so much. I also knew she was going to be a big baby, but I had no idea how big!
Sunday morning (Sept 8), I woke up with some contractions. With my last two babies, I had contractions for several days before they were born, so I wasn’t expecting much. I sent Jason and the kids to church with a phone so I could call if anything started happening. He texted me several times, but I always assured him there was still not much happening. About a half hour before they got home, the contractions got a little closer together, and by the time they got here, I was in a bit more pain. We all had lunch, and then I casually mentioned that perhaps we should go to the hospital. My family went into crazy mode insisting we were having the baby—I thought, yeah, she’s probably coming, but it’s gonna be a while. We dropped our kids off at my mom’s and headed to the hospital.
We got to the hospital right around 3pm and once we got settled in, we found out I was only at a 3, but baby’s heart rate was dropping low with every contraction, so they were going to keep me. I was prepared to have a nice long labor into the night, but within 30-45 minutes, things started changing FAST. I was suddenly in tons of pain and wanted my epidural NOW. Unfortunately, the nurse hadn’t even put in my IV, so I had to wait for a whole bag of fluid before they could do it. It was excruciating having to hold perfectly still for both my IV and epidural with the kind of contractions I was having. My epidural gave me a bit of relief, but they ended up giving my another dose to ease things up some more.
Things seemed to be moving really fast at this point. I was at an 8 which surprised me. My doctor wasn’t on call, but because he is awesome, he said he would come from Park City when I was close. Once I had my epidural, they called him. Since my epidural was working, I was ok to wait for him to get there. My parents brought my kids over and I got to see them for just a minute before my doctor got there. When he was ready, he was checking things out, and found out that our baby wasn’t in the birth canal, and had moved her head back up. He decided to use the vacuum, and try pushing, but if they didn’t get her out quickly, they would need to do a c-section. I was pretty out of it, so I didn’t realize everything they were saying, but Jason told me about it later.
I had gotten a blessing from Jason earlier, and I know that this blessing helped me and our baby to be ok through everything. I pushed three times, and baby was out! She was big and healthy and screaming and I loved it! My doctor spent more time driving to and from the hospital than it took to deliver her.
Jason and I have a hard time coming up with names, but we had narrowed it down to two different names. The moment she was born, we both knew what she looked like, and after confirming it with each other, we knew she was Olivia Anne.
We spent our day and a half in the hospital, and then got to go home. I would love to say that was the end of our story, but that first night home, I woke up really cold, and feeling weird. Within minutes, I was shaking with extreme chills and I had a fever that kept climbing. We knew something was going on, and after trying a few things and still feeling strange, we called my mom to come over and Jason, Olivia and I headed to the ER. Once there, they got fluids in me, and started a battery of tests to determine what was going on. After many exhausting hours and the ER doctor talking things over with my OB, they decided to treat me for an infection of the uterus. The medication for this was HORRIBLE! It made me feel like I had delivered another baby days after Olivia. It was also kind of scary, and I had little bouts of chills and fever for a couple of days. I was so grateful for family and friends and neighbors who helped more than some of them even knew while I recovered from all of this. I finally feel slightly more “normal” two weeks later. I am glad that everything turned out for the best and that Olivia and I are both doing well now.
We love this little girl and are so happy she has joined our family! We are grateful for the priesthood, blessings, and the little miracles we experienced with her birth, and the complications afterward. We know we were inspired by little things that helped us, and are very thankful for those inspirations. All of our kids adore Olivia and we are having such a great time as a family of seven!!
