Olivia’s Birth Story

Wow, so much has happened since my last blog post – I am officially a mom! Leading up to this moment, I was extremely terrified and nervous of birth. I’ve heard of many horror stories and even tried mentally preparing myself for an emergency c-section. To my surprise, everything went smoothly and according to my birth plan. Although there was pain involved, I had a positive experience and it was all worth it to meet the newest and cutest addition to our family. Here is Olivia’s birth story!

Early Labor Symptoms

I guess it all started on Monday, August 24 when I went in for my 38 week prenatal check-up. My OB said baby has dropped, meaning her head has descended down to my pelvic area. This usually happens 2-4 weeks before labor so I didn’t think much of it. At this point, we didn’t do a cervix check yet and my OB said we could do one at my next 39 week visit.

I just started my maternity leave and was excited to get in some social time with my friends before baby came. I had a few small lunches planned. Mine and Jeff’s one-year wedding anniversary was also coming up the following Monday so we were going to treat ourselves to a spa day with massages followed by a fancy dinner to celebrate. Well all of those plans quickly went out the door lol!

On Wednesday, August 26, I woke up to some spotting. I called my OB but, since I wasn’t having any contractions yet, she said to just keep an eye on things for the next several days. Later that evening, I met up with my two girlfriends. One of them said, “Whoa, you look super pregnant today!” lol We walked around University Village, an outdoor mall, and grabbed Chipotle and vegan ice cream. Yummm.

Once I got home around 7pm that evening, I started to feel light period-like cramps, still thinking it was nothing. I even posted an IG Story poll asking everyone if they thought I would go into labor at week 38 or week 39. The results were 26% for week 38 and 74% for week 39. One of my pups, Boba also started acting strange. She kept looking at me with her tail tucked and she had such a worried look on her face. She would go hide under the dresser while staring at me.

Timing My Contractions

3:30am

Jeff and I went to bed as usual that night. My cramps started to intensify but I still thought it was nothing. It was too soon, right? I was only 38 weeks and 5 days. Well around 3:30am, these cramps were getting out of hand and I started to think that maybe these were contractions. I practiced breathing exercises as they came and went. I timed them and the contractions were lasting about 45 seconds 10 minutes apart. I was in a lot of pain but not enough to wake Jeff up yet. I just clenched myself in a fetus position, enduring and breathing through each contraction. I would fall asleep in between each one, waiting for them to get to 5-1-1 (contractions every 5 minutes for 1 minute long for one hour long).

5:00am

My contractions never got quite to every 5 minutes while I was at home. Around 5am, I had to go to the bathroom and I saw a lot of blood, which freaked me out. I finally woke Jeff up and we called the on-call OB who said we should go to the hospital, and if it was nothing, we would just get sent home. I originally wanted to give birth at Swedish Ballard (all of my prenatal care was there), but due to COVID-19, Swedish consolidated their birth centers and Ballard was no longer available for labor and delivery as of that morning. We knew of this change ahead of time but couldn’t decide between Swedish First Hill or Swedish Edmonds. Jeff made a last minute, executive decision to head to Swedish Edmonds because we wanted to be at a smaller, community-like hospital. We were nervous though, since we never received any care here. Shortly past 5am, I quickly rinsed my body in the shower, we called my brother to come over to watch our three pups, and we grabbed our already-packed bags as we rushed to the hospital.

Arriving At The Hospital

5:30am

Once we arrived at Swedish Edmonds, we were put in a small room. There was another couple next to us, but we couldn’t see them because of the curtains. I thought this was the delivery room and I started to freak out and regret my decision coming to this hospital. Luckily, it was just a triage room where they checked my contractions and cervix. The cervix check was very uncomfortable, but the nurse said I was 5-6cm dilated already! I didn’t even know what that meant initially but I had it in my birth plan that I didn’t want an epidural until I got to 6cm. This sounded perfect!

I asked the nurse what’s next and she said I’m in labor and would need to stay at the hospital. She said I did an awesome job as a first time mom and not have to be sent home. Jeff and I looked at each other in disbelief. We couldn’t believe this was really happening and said “Are we really doing this?!” I clenched Jeff’s hands as I breathed through more contractions. We left the triage room and he wheeled me into our delivery and postpartum room, number 701. Yes, we are really doing this!

Antibiotics, IV, and Epidural

7:00am

From there it was an absolute whirlwind. We had lots of nurses and doctors come in and out because it was around 7am where the staff had shift changes. We got new nurses that hooked me up to a catheter and IV. I was tested positive for GBS so they gave me antibiotics right away since it takes 4 hours for each dose to be effective and I needed two of them. The first dose was at 7am while the second was at 11am. Shortly after 7am, the anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural. I told them that I’m terrified of needles and didn’t want to look or see anything. Based on stories that I’ve heard before, I was so scared of the epidural, but it turned out to not be bad at all! I felt sooo relieved once it kicked in and to not have to feel the contractions anymore.

9:00am

It was finally just Jeff and I in the room to process everything. Things were calm, but we were still in shock. Jeff held my hands and reassured me that I’ve got this. He then put up his out of office message and asked his manager to cover him for a big meeting he was supposed to lead. I was already on my full-time job maternity leave, but had a blog obligation that day. I was scheduled to publish sponsored content, so while I’m enjoying the epidural, I was posting IG Stories mid-labor. I say it was a productive day! lol

Dilation and Labor

3:30pm

From here, it was the waiting game as we waited for my cervix to continue to naturally dilate (from ~7am-4pm). My epidural did slow down my dilation, but I loved that the OB and my nurses never rushed me. I drank some juice and sucked on a few Jolly Ranchers (cherry flavor is my favorite!). I napped and texted my friends and family with play-by-play updates. The nurses came in throughout the day to change my position to make sure baby was still active and in the correct position. Around 3:30pm, I finally got to 9.5cm. They broke my water and it was almost go time!

4:20pm

Around 4:20 pm, I was 10cm dilated and it was time to push and deliver this baby! With the epidural, I didn’t feel pain, but I could feel pressure and when contractions were coming in. With every contraction, I pushed with all my might. The nurses helped me through breathing techniques. They also got Jeff involved where we played tug-a-war with a towel so that I could focus my pushing in the right places. I’ve never pushed so hard in my life. I was sweating, and after a while, was frustrated and just wanted it to be over. Jeff kept saying he could see a little bit of the head. Baby had a lot of hair!

Meeting Olivia Son

6:33pm

After 2 hours and 10 minutes of intense pushing, Olivia Son arrived on August 27, 2020 at 6:33 pm. She weighed in at 7 lbs 9.8 oz and was 20 in long. She was placed immediately on my chest, skin-to-skin. I am not a cryer, but at this moment, tears were rushing down my face. I was completely overwhelmed with so many emotions. I couldn’t believe what my body was capable of. Most importantly, I couldn’t believe there was a real human baby crying on me…her little fingers grasping mine. Looking over at Jeff, he had tears too and Olivia was holding onto his finger. I don’t know how else to describe this moment. It felt surreal. We were just both so in love with our little baby girl that we created. We are now a family of three, six if you count her fur siblings too. I’ll never forget this moment.

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