Almost 3 weeks

Olivia is coming up on her 3 week birthday. It's so weird to me that it has seemed to go so fast and so slowly at the same time. Maybe it's the nights that make it seem long, but then I look back and I can't believe how quickly it has passed and how big she is getting. Today her umbilical cord stump fell off and she is definitely gaining weight. She is a very good eater. We are feeding her with a bottle and I am pumping. We have had a lot of trouble in the breastfeeding department but I am mainly concerned with the fact that she get the breastmilk. Whether it is directly from the breast or from a bottle it doesn't matter. It is important to me that she just get it.


She makes all sorts of noises both when she sleeps and when she's awake. She is a grunter when she sleeps and a snorter if she gets really upset and is crying. She also has this interesting sigh that she makes that almost makes her sound like an elephant. I really need to find a way to tape her doing this. John and I laugh everyday at the things she does.


Her eyes are open more now, although the last couple of days she has been sleeping a lot so she may be going through a growth spurt. She has been grinning at us occasionally. It's not quite a smile - we see those when she is sleeping - but it is getting close to a smile. I can't wait for the day when she busts one out for us.



She has had several baths already but this is the first one with the bunny towel. She was screaming in this picture but we thought the towel was cute on her so we had to get a shot of it.

My mom had Elvis groomed when she was in town. He is so hairy that there would be clumps of hair floating around on the floor. It didn't matter how much you brushed him he still shed all over the place. In an effort to cut down on all this hair he was cut so that he now resembles a lion. Yes, I cried when I saw him for the first time because I was torn as to whether to do it or not and extremely hormonal at the same time. But I'm used to it now and I think he looks kind of cute.

Happy Father's Day!

This is a very special father's day since it is John's first. Olivia got him a card and a framed picture of herself that he can take to work and put on his desk.

Olivia continues to grow and become a little bit more alert and awake every day. She holds her head up on her own and already looks like she wants to roll herself over but can't do it yet. She is still eating a whole lot and is very impatient when she isn't able to get it right away. We are still trying to get her back on the breast and slowly but surely I think it is working. I am attempting to exclusively breastfeed during the day. We are still giving her a bottle at night but will eventually do the breast then as well. She had me up several times last night and she doesn't seem to want to sleep after eating so I have to stay up and rock her until she's back to sleep. I never realized how light it was outside at 4 in the morning. =)

Here are some more pictures of her. The one with her sleeping shows her in her favorite position to rest. Pay no attention to me please!:

Olivia Grace is here!

Wow! It has been quite a week. I have been meaning to update this thing for days now but am just now getting to it. Granny (John's mom) is taking care of Olivia at the moment so it has freed up some time for me to get down to business and let everyone know what happened.

We went in Wednesday night (6/4) at 10:00 p.m. as scheduled and unfortunately were unable to get into our Labor & Delivery room until almost 2:30 a.m. But in that time it was determined that I was actually already in early labor. I had actually made a comment to John and my mom that evening that something felt "different". I didn't know what it was but I wasn't feeling the same. Turns out I was already having contractions and progressing on my own. My doctor was at the hospital at the time delivering some babies and said to put me straight on the Pitocin. So we didn't even worry about the Cervadil. This is a picture of me in the OB Triage area waiting for my L&D room (which turned out to be room #5 so John was very happy):

Once the Pitocin was started the contractions kicked way up and eventually I was really having to concentrate and breath through them until they gave me a dose of Stadol which knocked me out in less than 2 minutes. It was awesome to be able to sleep through those contractions. I eventually got a second dose of Stadol as I waited for the anesthesiologist to come with my epidural. I got that at 3 cm. I lost all concept of time early on so I couldn't tell you what time it was. After 6 a.m. I know because my nurse change was at 6. I had the best nurse in Andrea. She was great. Here is a picture of me getting the epidural:

The epi was a snap. It didn't hurt at all. In fact, I thought the IV was worse than the epi. Of course I was on Stadol at the time too so who knows. After the epidural I slept some more until I started having some pain in my butt cheeks and tailbone. They had me in different positions with a birthing ball between my legs which helped. But I was still able to tell when contractions were coming. It didn't hurt nearly as bad though. The epidural is awesome!

Eventually I hit 9 cm and then I was complete a short time after that. I was feeling a lot of pressure and when I told the nurse she checked me and I was ready to push. I really don't know how long I pushed before they had me stop because Olivia's head was right there but the doctor wasn't. It was at least 20 minutes. I waited through a few contractions and then the doctor came in. The room transformed in about 2 minutes. The light was brought down from the ceiling, my legs were put in stir-ups (thank goodness because I was tired of holding them and I couldn't move them on my own), and the nursery crew came in to get ready for her delivery. I have pictures of all of this but I am not going to post them. =)

I pushed a few more times and Olivia's head came out. Her nose and mouth were suctioned and with another small push the rest of her was out and on my chest. It did burn quite a bit when she crowned but once her head was out I felt great. She screamed and it was awesome. John cut the cord and couldn't take his eyes off her. So at 2:22 p.m. on June 5th (her due date) Olivia entered the world at 20.5 inches long and 8 lb. 1.4 oz. She was a big girl! I think she is all Dickey and daddy is so proud!

It took some time to get some feeling back in my legs enough to get me into a wheelchair and up to my postpartum room. The breastfeeding is a struggle. I didn't realize it would be so hard! But I am trying to get her back on to the nipple while supplementing with a bottle of breastmilk that I have pumped. Supply is not a problem! Getting little girl to latch on and be patient enough to work for it is.

We think she is just adorable. She only cries when she is hungry. She is definitely a healthy eater! At her first doctor's appointment on Monday she weighed 7 lb. 12.5 oz. It is normal for a newborn to lose up to 10% or their birth weight so she is above the curve in that respect. The pediatrician said she looks great and that everything was normal. She had no problems with jaundice whatsoever. Aunt Erin can't get enough of her.

She had her first sponge bath last night and didn't enjoy all of it. But she did seem to like when we were rinsing the soap from her hair. The rest of it she screamed through, but that's okay.

My mom has been a life saver over the past week. She has cooked, cleaned the house, fed, and taken care of me and John. It's been great. I couldn't have done it without her, especially the recovery that I've had to do. It hasn't been terrible but it hasn't been easy either. Every day I feel more and more like myself.

The cat is still not quite sure what to think but he's definitely curious. For the most part he just stays clear.

And a couple more I think are cute: