A birth story from Emily...

Hi everyone! I'm Emily from sugar & spice & everything [mostly] nice guest blogging for Elizabeth while she enjoys her new precious baby. I'm a mother of two sweet and spicy girls- Julianna and Olivia. Julianna is four and Olivia will be two in May. They are 26 months apart and they keep me very busy!

I have a passion for fashion and style- it's such a fun outlet in the midst of being a mommy. I love cooking and decorating. I am also a part-time teacher at an after school program for at risk youth. But my main job is being a wife and mother to my beautiful family.

In honor of Elizabeth's new baby boy, I am going to share the birth story of my youngest daughter, Olivia. My second pregnancy was so different than my first because of caring for a toddler while pregnant but I truly loved being pregnant. I loved every kick and how my skin glowed. Pregnancy is such a beautiful blessing but the moment you meet your sweet baby for the first time is just so priceless. Best moments of my life. 

On the morning of May 16 (40 weeks and 3 days), I couldn't sleep. I was awake at 3am. I was so uncomfortable. I started having contractions that were about 10 minutes apart. By 6am, they were about 5-7 minutes apart. I called the doctor's office after hours line and the nurse recommended that I head to the hospital. My contractions weren't strong or painful, just uncomfortable but the main reason she wanted me to go was because I had group B strep so I would need to get antibiotics into my body before I would be able to deliver. The nurse wanted to be safe since I was 3-4 centimeters dilated the day before.

Josh being silly in our first room before being admitted.

Josh's mom came over to stay with Julianna and we headed to the hospital. I was checked right away. I hadn't made any progress since the day before and the contractions were very sporadic, sometimes 10 minutes apart and sometimes 5 minutes apart. My doctor was already at the hospital and she told me to get breakfast and walk around the hospital for a couple of hours. So we did just that. We walked and we walked and we walked. I even had a delicious pink, strawberry flavored waffle from the hospital cafeteria. After 2 hours had passed, I went back to be checked again, no progress. But the doctor thought I would make progress if my water was broken so she went ahead and admitted me to the hospital. At that point, we knew we were going to leave the hospital with a baby girl!

A cute bench we found on our hospital walk.

I was in my labor and delivery room by 1pm. It felt like it took forever to get there. We had to wait awhile because all of the rooms were either occupied or getting ready to be cleaned. Lots of babies were ready to come into the world that day!

Settled in my room.

So the picture above is when I was all settled into my labor and delivery room. My sweet nurse got me some crackers and jello because I was so hungry.

My doctor and I after she broke my water.

The doctor broke my water about an hour and half later. I started having a few more contractions but nothing really painful (notice my smile in the picture above) and the contractions still weren't helping me make any progress as far as dilation goes. I took a nap and then around 5:30 pm, my doctor decided to give me pitocin. I wasn't happy about getting pitocin- it wasn't in my birth plan but my doctor believed it was the best option so we went ahead with it.

The evil pitocin.

The pitocin was evil but it did the trick. Within 15 minutes of getting it, I was contracting every 2 minutes. Crazy, painful contractions. Every 2 minutes for the most part but occasionally they were coming every minute. I was by myself when this happened. Josh stepped out to get some dinner. I have a pretty good pain tolerance but not when it comes to pitocin. My pain was unbearable and I was in tears. I asked for the epidural about an hour after I got the pitocin. There was no need to suffer. I needed the strength to push later and I wasn't going to have the energy to push if I had to fight this nasty contractions. Once I got the epidural (around 7pm) everything progressed REALLY fast. I was 4-5 cm around 7pm but by 8:30pm, I was fully dialated at 10 cm! I started pushing right away. It was much harder pushing this time compared with Julianna. I thought I was going to pass out so I had to get some oxygen. Josh helped me so much. He counted for me and held my hand. I couldn't have done it without him there beside me. After 30 minutes of pushing, the doctor was concerned because Olivia was stuck. She said we can either do a c-section or I can suction her out. Of course, we went with the suction and on the next push, she was here! The cord was wrapped around her neck and it was preventing her from coming out. Seeing her for the first time was priceless. Such a beautiful moment. All of the pain, so worth it. She's worth it. Olivia was 7 lbs. 11 oz. (much bigger than we ever would have guessed) and 20.5 inches.

Our first family photo as a family of 4.

Olivia has been such a beautiful blessing in our lives. We went from a family of three to a family of four. Julianna gained a sister and a best friend that day. Josh and I gained a second beautiful daughter. We are better and more blessed than ever because of our beautiful babies.