She's here! Olivia Ann was born at 5:30 pm on August 2nd. She weighed 7lbs 3 oz and was 20 inches long. She's doing well and is not still strapped into the car seat, despite what the picture may lead you to believe. (We have a picture of each kid in the car seat as soon as they get home...it's our family tradition.)
I've been thinking about how much to blog about labor and delivery and I've decided to just highlight the points that are pertinent to my green philosophy. I would NEVER agree to an induction again. It was the least pleasant of my four deliveries and I truly felt that there was NOTHING natural about it. It was VERY medically guided which for the last two pregnancies has been a big part of what I'm looking for in childbirth.
I know the burning question is did I have an epidural and the truth is, I thought about blogging as I was considering whether to get one or not. I was induced around 9:30am and at about 5:00pm, I was TIRED. I started having those strong contractions that I remembered so well from my labor with Vince and I didn't feel there was an end in sight. The nurse checked, I was at 5, and I didn't feel like I could endure the pain for an indefinite amount of time more. I asked for one. While I was getting the epidural I was having second thoughts, but I just kind of resigned my self at that point that this was no longer a natural birth within my control. It was medically induced, my water was broken (at which point they lost Olivia's heartbeat and she had to have a scalpel fetal monitor put on. Evan and I both thought that was it and I was going to be wheeled in for a c-section.) when they turned the pitocin off after Olivia's crash the contractions stopped entirely, I just felt like this was entirely run by the doctors and I gave up. While he was putting the epidural in, I had about 3 more contractions, which are horrible because you have to be really still through the pain because of the huge needle in your back! As soon as the epidural was in, the anesthesiologist told me it would take about 15-20 minutes to take effect and the doctor came in to check me. 10. I guess the look I gave the nurse who checked me not 15 minutes ago and said I was at a 5 was a sight to see. So that epidural was fantastic for those 3 contractions and probably about 10 minutes before she was born. If I had only trusted myself...or waited for one more contraction to ask the nurse to check me...or just waited to go naturally because it turned out the antibiotic they had to use on me, since I'm allergic to penicillin, only needed one hour instead of four...but I can't change the past. The choices I made are those that I will live with. The one thing I know for sure, this way, I ended up with a healthy baby girl, small enough to allow me to have the fastest, easiest post-partum recovery of any of them. Welcome to the family little Olivia!
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