5 Weeks Old!

Olivia is 5 weeks old! I know she is still so little, but almost 6 weeks seems so big in 1st time Mommy eyes :). 

I'm a little lost on what exactly to blog about now that I don't have the weekly milestones or weekly survey to fill out. So I'm sure this will now be a hodge-podge of all things Olivia, I'm sure you won't mind ;). 

These last 5 weeks have been a whirl-wind. I feel like it's been a lot longer than 5 weeks. The 1st few weeks are a complete blur, and I have blocked out her 1st week almost completely! Probably a little bit of sleep deprivation + the brain working its magic so people have more than one child, haha. 
She really is a pretty good baby though. She's not too fussy, we can usually calm her relatively quickly when she cries. She does get a little gassy, but nothing a little "ants go marching 1 by 1" leg pumping can't cure usually...and then there's Gripe Water if that doesn't work. 
I've had to cut dairy from my diet. That really helps with the gas and the #1 symptom, which was stuffiness. She would wake up stuffy every AM. So the ped recommending cutting diary - and it went away when I did so. It is a SUPER hard adjustment. Sometimes I'll eat something with diary and then think "oh crap! that had dairy in it", just because I used to eat so much of it. But I'm getting better and so is she! :)

Her eyes have turned from a dark deep blue/grey to a dark blue. They seem to be getting lighter and more blue. My little blue-eyed babe! I always wanted blue eyes when I was little, so I'm kind of excited for the blue eyes. She's also starting to be able to look us in the eye. She is focusing a lot more. Bron and I are pretty sure she smiled at us on purpose for the 1st time yesterday and at Bron today. We'll have to see if it keeps happening to know for sure though. 

Breast feeding is going well. I think it will continue to change and we will constantly keep learning new things, but for the most part we have a groove going. She was fed her 1st bottle at 3 weeks. 
She is giving me 3-4 hour stretches of sleep during the night. We have a good bedtime routine which helps her know it's bedtime. I'm hoping over the next week she will start to sleep a little longer at night...from what I've heard about the 6 week mark, I think it's a pretty reasonably wish ;). 

I hear her stirring in her crib, so that will be all for now. I will just leave you with a few slew of pics taken with my phone from her 1st two weeks!!

Sleepy parents able to cuddle on the couch again with that big ol' belly outta the way ;)

First Sunday morning family cuddle session 

She's Here!

I was waiting my whole last trimester to write this post! :)

Olivia Jane Butrimas was born Sunday, November 25th at 7:35 PM! She was 7 lbs, 10 oz and 20 inches long.  

My water ended up breaking at 7:25 AM on the 25th (yep, exactly 12 hours of labor!). So we had to go in to L&D pretty quickly-even though I tired getting more time from the DR on the phone. I was so excited when it broke. I couldn't stop laughing & smiling-haha! Bron was excited and nervous, getting all the loose ends tied together and putting the finishing touches on our hospital bags. After 3-4 phone calls and more water gushes I finally threw on my robe and got in the car. 

On our tour of the hospital the nurse told us to make sure we check in by the clock...so all the way to the hospital I was thinking "go to the clock". Well, there was no one at the clock desk, so I had to go to the emergency room. When I told them I was supposed to check in at the clock and that my water broke, they both gave each other funny looks. Maybe I got the clock part wrong? I'm not sure, but I thought I was doing so good remembering and the nurse who wheeled me up to triage said she'd never heard of this "clock check-in" lol. 

So once we were settled in our room the nurse came in with the IV and fluids. This immediately put my red flag up because if you have an IV you can't walk around and walking around was key, in my mind, for this natural labor. She assured me that they would just give me one bag-unless I need the pitocin, which she also said the DR told her to start soon. So I asked that they wait as long as possible for the pitocin. 

Before we knew it Bron got a text "I'm here!"

I didn't even know she was coming yet! Bestest BFF ever...just sayin'. Mom was on her way too...I was just hoping I would not have the baby before she got there. But I wasn't having contractions yet so, I was pretty confident Olivia would wait for Grandma! So, as I just said, I was not contracting on my own which. I had always heard that if your water breaks they will only give you 24 hours to go into labor naturally. Well, I guess my doctor didn't even want to give me 4 hours...because the nurse brought on the pitocin (& so it begins..). I did ask her one more time to delay the pitocin, which is when she told me my doctor could see everything she does & that she would get into trouble if she didn't start it - I thought that was pretty funny, actually. So now, I'm hooked up to fluids & pitocin...my vision for a natural labor was slowly slipping away and visions of c-sections were dancing in my head. (If you've ever seen anything on natural birth vs. c-section you'd know that induction=pitocin, pitocin=epidural and epidural=c-section...it's just...law.) As my contractions started more guests arrived, Teresa, Kelly, Nash & Brock. 
The nurse came in a few times to re-position the fetal heart monitor and the contraction monitor (both on my belly) because every time I would move (due to the contractions become stronger & closer together) the monitors stopped picking up what they were supposed to. At about 1 or 2 PM the contractions started getting super painful. I was trying my best to breath through them, but to no avail. I tried getting in the rocker to labor a little bit, but I only lasted about 2 contractions and my whole body started shaking with each contraction. I soon started to feel like I was losing control and they were taking over. I was tensing up and dreading them each time they started. Bron was by my side for each and I would lean into him for support. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and asked for the epidural. I received the epidural (while screaming scared) around 2:30/3:00. I felt immediate relief..."like heaven", I believe were my exact words. Right before I got the epi, mom got there! So after it was put in I had her come in-and of course we had a tearful moment-haha. 

I was very fearful that the epidural would lower Olivia's heart rate and slow down my progress. However, my little girl did just fine and I progressed just fine. I was at 5 cm when they put it in and progressed to 10 cm just two hours later. At about 5:00 PM it was time to push!! I'm not sure exactly when they figured out she was faced wrong but, she was face up and to the right instead of face down. So it was a very difficult road through the canal for baby (and me)! Plus, with the epidural I had a hard time feeling where or how I was pushing and what kind of progress it was making. At the very end the epi started wearing off and I was able to feel what I was doing, and made more progress with each push. It was that and the doctor's threat to throw me in the OR in 20 minutes that really got her out ;). I did need oxygen at some points during pushing because her heart rate dropped slightly...plus it really helped a lot after the 3 pushes to catch my breath. I also had to use the barf bag at some point during my 2 1/2 hour pushing session :). 
My DR asked if I wanted to feel her head coming out and I declined. I just wanted her OUT! Finally, when I saw her head come out I gave 110% more to get the rest of that little body OUT OF ME! Haha! It was the hardest thing I have ever done. 

And yes, the Jaguars did win on her birthday ;)

It's amazing the little details you forget over time. It's also amazing how you really do forget all the bad and all the pain after a little while. It will be 3 weeks tomorrow and I already have forgotten every single negative feeling I felt after the hard delivery. (Well, besides the part where I know I really strongly felt I never want to do it again.)
We had lots of visitors during her delivery and after she was born. The hospital staff kept saying how many people were waiting on her and the "party" that was happening for Olivia outside :). 

Right before we were discharged and peaced out!!

Happy birthday, Olivia!!