Olive Mac Norby

 Olive Mac Norby

Born Tuesday May 22, 2018 @ 3:18 am

7lbs 9 Oz 20 1/4 inches 34 cm head

Maverick, Lark, and Violet got to come visit with Grandma Pattie while Autumn was at school.

They all thought she was great!

Autumn came after school before her ninja class.  It was funny because after Autumn arrived and held Olive for a bit I suddenly got very tired and needed a nap, Evan too.  So Evan shockingly let Autumn watch something on his phone for 30 minutes until he had to take her to her ninja class.

We stayed 2 days in the hospital which was the longest I've ever stayed.  Evan left each night to help my mom put all the kids to bed.  I was so bored!  So I ended up taking lots of pictures of Olive.

"New Here" going home!

BIRTH STORY:

I had a contraction about 8:45 pm on Monday night. Not a big deal since I had been having contractions for weeks. Plus the week before I was up with mild contractions for hours only to wake up and still be pregnant. Anyhow I continued to have contractions while watching the season finale of the current show we are binge watching (Amazing Race season 27). Some contractions were stronger than others but seemed to be getting into a pattern. So I decided to go to bed and if I couldn’t sleep than it must be “real” this time. I put on my hypnobirthing and attempted to sleep. I woke Evan up at 12:30 am and told him my contractions were 10 ish minutes apart. So we got some things together and put them in the car. I asked him if maybe we should wait since they were still kinda far apart. I was concerned because a lot of times going to the hospital makes your contractions slow down and I didn’t want to be stuck there forever. BUT then I had another contraction and realized they were getting closer so we got in the car.

Evan called my doctor and updated him and called the labor and delivery floor to let them know we were on the way. So we headed straight up to the OB floor. The sweet nurse Cristeen was assigned to me. I let her take my temperature and blood pressure and she determined I was dialated 4.5 cm. (Which was disheartening since I thought I was much closer than that) Then I proceeded to answer a few dozen questions even though I had just answered the same questions less than 5 days before. When I snapped at the nurse asking why in the world was she asking me these questions again she responded with “just want to make sure nothing has changed” big eye roll! Then since I refused to have any fetal monitoring my doctor asked if he could at least doplor the baby. So we did that. Then finally I was left alone. Evan asked if he could do anything and then I snapped at him telling him to close the bonds since I had already asked him twice before.

I did a combination of walking around, sitting on the yoga ball, using the bathroom 1/2 dozen times, and then finally ended up in the bed on my side. I was able to rest between contractions and squeeze Evan’s hand every time one came. I made a conscience effort to involve Evan in the labor of this baby. In the past I’ve just wanted to be alone, but early in this pregnancy Evan made it known to me that he didn’t want to deliver the baby and that he wanted to be “just” the dad.  So I was trying really hard to involve him.

 I felt prompted to have this baby in the hospital. Which kinda freaked me out to be honest. I kept thinking something was going to go wrong or something was going to be wrong with the baby. I had to do some serious positive thinking and hypnobirthing “birth affirmations” to stop worrying and control the anxiety. I also decided early in the pregnancy that I should switch doctors to one I felt would allow me to the birth in the hospital the way I/my body wanted to. Plus if I switched to a doctor at Evan’s clinic it would be easier for him to make it to my appointments.  It was a good decision.

So my contractions were getting stronger and I would jump out of bed every time one came and hang on Evan and whine. I did try and follow my sisters’ advice of “breathing down” the baby. I'm not really sure what that meant but as a contraction came I imagined my breathing helping her descend. My other sister said to imagine my cervix opening which I totally did. I think both of these things led to a faster labor. I went to the bathroom (again). I thought to myself, “these contractions are getting intense. I wonder if this is what they mean by “transition”, because I think the baby is coming soon and then my water broke. I hollered at Evan to get the doctor. I waddled out of the bathroom and started yelling at the nurses ( :) ) to get the squat bar, which they couldn’t figure out in time. I just grabbed the edge of the bed and pushed Olive’s head out. Then my loving husband told me to push the rest of the baby out. I told him I was waiting for another contraction. "But can’t you just push now" he says, “no” . Next contractions Olive was born.

I am so proud of my body and what it accomplished. I’m grateful I listened to my body and let it do the work. I ended up with a smooth uncomplicated labor. I’m not saying it was “easy” I’m not saying I didn’t experience discomfort, but what I am saying is it was not a traumatic experience for either me or my baby.

In fact, as soon as she was born Evan and my doctor helped me sit on the edge of the bed and I just held my baby. It seemed to me that all the nurses disappeared and it was a very tender time for me, my new baby who came straight from God and my loving husband. My doctor asked if we could cut the cord and I said just give me a minute. When I started to feel my body deliver the placenta a few minutes later Evan cut the cord. I was already sitting up so I got to watch him cut the cord which was cool. Then I finally remembered to ask to see the placenta. I’ve always been curious what it looks like but usually there is too much hustling about for me to remembered look at it.

Then my doctor left, a nurse brought me a few magical warm blankets and Evan and I enjoyed our baby for the next couple hours. Honestly I look back and think (despite the nudity and all the blood) it could have been a Hallmark movie. I recognize now that I felt prompted to have the baby in the hospital so Evan and I could both have this peaceful maybe even spiritual experience with our little Olive.