This is how I told Scotty we were having a baby!
Our first family photo.
Ready to go home from the hospital.
Daddy with Lou Lou
First of all, I should state that Scotty and I were married in October 2003. We had decided before we got married that we weren’t going to TRY to get pregnant, but we weren’t going to prevent it. We knew we wanted many children, and decided that we would never be “ready,” so we might as well not wait to get rich!=0)
Every month that went by I thought I was pregnant, only to find out within a few days that I wasn’t. However, after three of these months went by, I was REALLY thinking that I was pregnant. I snuck in a home pregnancy test and as soon as Scotty left for work I ran into the bathroom to take it. It was VERY positive! BUT, I wanted to be sure so I took another one thinking the whole time, “OH MY GOODNESS, GOD!” Anyway after two positive tests I decided to go to work and take another one (I worked at a Crisis Pregnancy Center.) After the third positive test I felt comfortable with the fact that I was indeed pregnant. =0) The first and only person I called was Ashley. She was out of the state, so I figured she was a safe bet not to spread the word too quickly. Plus, I had promised her as my Maid of Honor that I would let her be the first to know when I was pregnant. I wanted to tell everyone, but I had to calm down and get a plan. I then went home to try to think up a good way to tell Scotty.
I decided to make a nice meal and really make things look great. I put a sign on the door that said, “Shh. Baby is sleeping.” I also made an extra plate of food and put small portions of our dinner on it. Then, came the best part, I taped a pair of baby booties on my tummy and wrote “Hi Daddy!” across my tummy.
When he came home he was like what does that sign mean, and I told him it was a puzzle that he had to figure out. Then, I served him his dinner and also set the extra plate out. He was like whose food is that? Are you on a diet? I said, “Well. It’s baby size portions. You know…” He was having issues following. (Not too swift!) ANYWAY, finally I said, “Let’s just eat.” He was still trying to figure it out when he saw the small pudge that the socks were making on my shirt and asked what was up. I told him to look and see, and he raised my shirt up and sees HI DADDY! I thought he was going to pass out. He was so excited he cried. We cried. We were so happy. Then we got to do the fun part of telling our parents. They were all very excited. Then began the journey of our first pregnancy…
We were both in College full-time and working as much as possible. We were also on a traveling team for school that went around telling kids about the school. It was my final semester, and the timing was going to be great. I was going to graduate in May and then the baby was due in October. Our only issue was that we never factored in morning sickness. There were so many times when I had to leave class and RUN to the bathroom or make the group stop on the side of the road and let me get sick on the side of the street. It was TERRIBLE. I finally realized that it was my prenatal vitamins and switched them up and things got MUCH better! My OB/GYN went on maternity leave right after we started going to her and was out much of my pregnancy, but things went well, and we ended up getting to see her when it was really necessary(at the beginning and the end), and loved her! After the morning sickness ended, the pregnancy was a dream. I felt wonderful and people were always telling me that I was glowing. I LOVED it!
We had an ultrasound at about 20 weeks and found out that “Little Smittle” was a GIRL! We were SOO excited. We had to decide on a name, which was tricky, because we both hated each other's names. I wanted Olivia Ruth(After my mom.) I don't even remember the names he liked. However, when I suggested we name her Olivia Nichole, which is my middle name he said he could live with it, so we went with that. I think he mostly agreed because he was certain I would never let him REALLY pick out a name.=0)
We found out at about 34 weeks that my doctor was going to be out of town for the two weeks before my due date. She was coming back the day before I was due! I started panicking, because I am VERY paranoid about another doctor delivering our baby besides the doctor that has been with me. AND, I only wanted a female. So, I started praying that somehow God was going to work it out. My entire family started praying about it. Well, the night before the day she was scheduled to go out of town, I decided that it was time for Olivia to come out. We walked for MILES, and I called a nurse friend of mine and asked if there was anything that we could do to get her here. She suggested an enema or caster oil, or if I REALLY wanted her here. BOTH!
SO, we did some more walking around Wal-Mart trying to FIND caster oil! We got our things and went home and at about 11:00PM I did the enema and then the caster oil at about 11:30PM. We then waited around like a bunch of goons! Waiting for things to just happen!=0) Anyway, at about 12:30AM we decided to go to bed. It didn’t last long! At about 3AM I started needing to use the bathroom. I was up with that for a while, but then went back to bed. At about 4AM I woke up thinking man! This stuff is going to KILL me. THEN, I realized that I was having contractions. The bowels had gotten the uterus going! I started timing them, and they were about 5 minutes apart. They then jumped to being about 2.5 minutes apart, SO we left for the hospital thinking that they would sent us home. I had been only dilated to 1 and 50% at my last doctor visit a few days prior.
When we got there we had to go to the ER. The lady WALKED us all the way across the hospital to the labor and delivery area! It was like 10 miles. At least it felt like it was! By the time we got there I was about to DIE! AND I HAD to use the bathroom again!=0) Anyway, they hooked me up to the monitors and everything was fine, but I WAS in labor and dilating, so they just sort of left us alone until the day shift arrived. They knew my doctor was going out of town that day, so they knew they needed to get things going if she was going to deliver, so they called her and got her OK to start pitocin. This is about the time we started calling our peeps. We realized FINALLY that they WERE going to keep us, and by this time it was about 6:30-7:00AM. We called Scotty’s mom who had her list of people to call in her area that would need to drive a few hours to be there and we called my mom, who had her own list. She said she would take a shower and then go ahead and come up to the hospital. The doctor came in at about 8:00AM and broke my water. MY contractions were starting to get a little harder, but still weren’t unbearable. When she broke my water she said I was to 4, and could have my epidural. At this point I felt like I was OK, so I told her not yet, and she told me to just let the nurses know.
The contractions immediately started getting worse after my water was broken, and I decided PRETTY quickly that I was ready for the epidural. Scotty called the nurse and got them to get “my angel” on the phone and get him down there to get the epidural in. This is the only time that I was REALLY uncomfortable. I was coming OFF of the bed with every contraction! I was being VERY good though. It was killing Scotty, because I couldn’t stop the tears that were coming, but I never said a word besides GET THAT GUY HERE TO HELP ME, NOW! PLEASE!!! He felt so helpless. FINALLY, at about 8:45AM “my angel” got there with “the happy shot!” He told me that this would allow me to rest and get ready for the HARD part in a few hours. While he was doing the epidural my mom got there. He left, and I started feeling better right away. When momma got there she sent Scotty down to the cafeteria to get himself something to eat.
A few minutes later, the nurse came in to put in my catheter. She paled when she looked at me, and went over and pulled the nurse cord. She said, “Get the doctor here NOW! She is crowning!” She looked at me and said, “DON’T PUSH, HONEY!!” I asked her what she was talking about. (Remember I’m in lala land because of the epi.) She said, you are ready to have this baby, and we need to get the doctor here FIRST. I went into panic mode, because I KNEW my poor husband was going to die if he wasn’t there for the birth of our first baby. I had my mom go find him and this whole time the nurse if HOLDING Olivia’s head in with her hand. After a few minutes my mom came back with no husband! They were just about to page him when, bless his heart, he comes in with a nice plate of food. When he saw everyone running around getting things ready he was lost. He’s thinking, “I thought she was going to get to sleep. I bet she doesn’t like these nurses running around her room.” Anyway, the head nurse has my mom watching out the window for the doctor. FINALLY, she pulled in and she told me that I could start pushing whenever I felt like I was ready. So, I pushed. The first time, Liv’s head came out. The second time, her shoulders. The third time, Olivia was here. 9:31AM!! She weighed 7lbs 1oz, and was 21 inches long.
She was soo purple, but the only thing I was saying was WHY ISN’T SHE CRYING!!?? They finally got her to cry, but her coloring was still really off. They let me hold her for a minute, but I was so scared because she looked so bad. They took her onto the warmer and started trying to figure out what was going on. They realized that she had come so fast that her body wasn’t able to push out the gunk in her lungs. Sort of like what happens to C-section babies sometimes. Anyway, they were going to have to take her to the nursery and put her on oxygen, so Scotty held her and walked her down there. By this time my dad had gotten there, but wasn’t able to come in yet. MY mom went out to tell him all about things, and I found myself in my room alone. Crying for my little baby. I was so scared!
After a while I was moved into a regular room and they finally allowed me to go down to the nursery so that I could see her, but I couldn’t hold her. She ended up being on oxygen for about 36 hours. Finally, after that we got to hold her and I got to nurse her. She was so perfect. A little angel. I looked at her and saw God's gift to me and thought about the responsibility that I would have to raise her to be God's Little Princess. As I rocked her and she looked up at me with her Daddy's BIG eyes I thought there couldn't possibly be another place on earth more perfect than being with my Little Livi.
She was the only girl in a passel of BIG boys in the nursery! She got the nurses special attention by being so pretty and the only one with special needs. Finally, on the third night we got to keep her in our room. We looked at her all over. We counted her toes and looked into her eyes. We talked about her having my lips and Scotty’s eyes. Most of all we just sat and watched her every move. It was so amazing to be in charge of this little miracle that God had given to me to take care of while she was here on earth. What a great journey God has put us on.
