The most monumental event of my life III

The first week of Liv's life has flown by. Once we got home we felt really at ease with Olivia. We both take care of her during the day and if we are lucky we get an hour nap. The I take the late night 1am - 5am shift and Antz takes the 6am - 11am early morning shift. That works for us. I was feeding every 2 hours but Liv has been sleeping in 4 hour stretches and we aren't able to wake her so I feed her on demand. I actually got engorged a couple of times so I had to pump. She feeds great but she loves to fall asleep on the boob. She has been giving us excellent poopy diapers. We took her to see Dr Wang on Monday and she said she is above perfect :)   At the pediatrician appt.

When she was born she weighed 8 lbs 5 oz. and when she left the hospital she lost a little weight so she was 7 lbs 11 oz. and at the pediatrician, she weighed 8 lbs .03 oz so she is gaining weight nicely. We asked Dr. Wang when could we take her outside and she said well, she's out now, so we took her to her Grandmother's house *Antz Mom* to hang with her and Antz Aunt Barbara.

We also took her on a long drive to the beach yesterday. Antz has been cooking more often now and his food is super yummy. He made salmon for dinner on Thursday and his sister Debra came over to visit us. Story and Chris came to visit last weekend and they are freaked out that we have a baby. Liv's Godparents Leslie & Stephen, came to visit on Sunday.

We took her week one photo yesterday but she wasn't very happy about being propped up by a pillow. I tried to get a shot of her without her frowning but I wasn't too successful. Hopefully next week will look better.

Every week her tree will grow and Totoro will be present in her photo. The little anklet you see is the Mal de Ojo bracelet that helps protect her from sickness. In a few weeks I'll put her bumble bell anklet on her. Here she is in her swing, she loves it! More random pics

This blanket and hat were gifts from Antz Mom, we tried them on Olivia but it was too hot for her to wear them. I do need to find some hats for Liv. Today Aimee came over and we took Olivia to Larchmont Village to buy burp clothes and I was looking for cool onesies. We finally had a chance to test out the Bugaboo

We bought a receiving blanket and burp cloth from the Little Seed *which Soliel Moon Frye owns*
I didn't find any onesies I liked so we will go to Kids Kitson. I would love an Edgar Allen Poe and a Vincent Price onesie. Well Antz and Olivia are both napping so I shall join them. I will try my best to keep this up this blog but it's getting harder to find time to use my computer. We are having so much fun with Liv, she keeps us busy but ecstatic at the same time.

The most monumental event of my life *Part Deux*

After Olivia's arrival we were moved into the recovery room which was smaller than the labor suite. The bed was surprisingly comfortable but that's with the aid of my awesome bedding.

We met so many awesome nurses during our 2 day stay but my favorite was Alma and Kim. Alma was our night nurse and Kim was our day nurse. They were both extremely friendly and helpful but Alma was hilarious, she was Filipino but she told us she lived in Saudi Arabia before she moved to California. She was so encouraging with Olivia *we could tell she was her favorite baby in the ward*. She taught me the awesome trick of breastfeeding while laying down and told us to put a little A&D ointment in Liv's diaper to prevent diaper rash. Aimee hung out with us for a few hours and brought me my first post labor meal from Boston Market.

Olivia hardly cried and we quickly figured out how to keep her happy. Antz changed Liv's first diaper with help of Alma and his sister, Reva. I am so disappointed I forgot to take pics with Alma but you can hear her voice on a video we took.

I felt pretty good after delivery. I had to get 4 stitches but I hardly felt them. I thought it was look like a horror movie down there but it wasn't so bad. It took a great amount of effort to get in and out of bed and I went to the bathroom only 5 times in 2 days but I wasn't in any serious pain. The nurses kept offering me pain killers but I didn't want to have it in my breastmilk. Feeding...at first, it hurt and I felt awkward but I got into a rhythm with Liv. Antz was amazing at keeping her happy.

The nights at the hospital were difficult. Antz was sleeping on a cot that wasn't so comfy and there was a light in our room we couldn't turn off so it made it hard for us to sleep. Plus the nurses came in to check on us often and the hospital was a noisy place. Exhausted Antz

He hadn't slept for 48 hours

I couldn't sleep even when I had a chance. I had to watch her sleep, I was feeding every 2 hours and that was hard to get used to. Antz was doing 80% of diaper duty. The nurses were impressed by our record keeping and how organized we were *not surprised, we rule!* This book was really incredible at helping us keep track of her feedings and her diapers.

The first day/night Liv gave us 8 merconium poops which is super. Nicolette came to visit us the next day and brought Olivia lovely yellow daisies and a balloon.

The daisies look so sweet in her nursery. Liv had to get her PKU test and Hep B vaccine

So while she was in the nursery we went to the hospital cafeteria and I *after 10 long months* devoured some crappy store-bought California rolls :) Thursday morning Dr Teng came by to check on me. She said I did an amazing job and I would see her for a follow up in 6 weeks. Then Dr Wang came by to check Olivia. She is super nice, I am so glad we switched because she is great! Friday we were discharged and we took Olivia home around 2pm.

She wasn't very happy about the car ride but I let her suck my finger and that made her happy. Liv had her first stop at Jamba Juice because I was craving it. We came home and the adorable banner I bought from Etsy was hanging for Liv.

I'll post about our first week home later. Today is Liv's first birthday and we are taking her weekly pic with Totoro.

The most monumental event of my life *Part One*

Our daughter Olivia Lily has arrived!! Obviously, I have been away for the last 3 days becoming a Mom and I have been putting off this blog just because I have information overload *as well as pictures*. I have to press rewind and go all the way back to Tuesday evening to tell the tale. Tuesday evening around 9:30 ish I went to the bathroom. As I was finishing up I noticed a small gush happen. I thought it was just me using the bathroom but when I got up, there was more. I called Antz to get his assessment and he wasn't too concerned but he said maybe your water is breaking. I was like NOOO our appt with Dr. Wang is tomorrow at noon, she has to stay put till then. So I took a shower and while in there I kept feeling a clear mucusy gush. After the shower I was drying off and when I stood up water was coming down my leg so I had to call Dr Teng and tell her. She told me to go to the hospital and have them give me a Ph test to see if it was indeed my water breaking. Luckily, Antz had just packed his hospital suitcase and it took us about a half an hour to load up the car. On the way I realized I'd left my lip gloss at home so we had to make a stop at the grocery store and it was just like a movie that when we were waiting in line, the woman in front of us had close to 2 shopping carts full of groceries and I'm standing there with my chapstick and my water breaking waiting patiently. We arrived at the hospital close to 11pm and they sent us to Triage and had me change into a gown *gross* and put a fetal monitor on me. As I was laying in the bed I felt a warm flow of water like I was peeing my pants. Holy Cow, it was tons of water just pouring out on the bed *so weird*. So they admitted us and a little after midnight it was official I was in labor and Olivia was coming right on time.

We moved into the Labor & Delivery suite and although the nurse told me I was having contractions I didn't feel a thing. I was so happy I made it to the final week.

The hospital had wifi so of course I had to update my facebook status and tweet a bit. So from midnight to 4am I was on pitocin and having contractions every 2-4 minutes but I wasn't having any major pain. By 5 am I was really feeling the pain so I asked *well begged* for an epidural.

It wasn't so bad and it took about 20 minutes to start working. I felt a bit defeated because I wanted to have as drug-free labor as I could and already I was hooked on antiboitics, pitocin, fluids and the epidural. Well once the epi kicked in I was a happy camper. I was about 4 cm dilated so my nurse told me I should be giving birth around 1pm *an hour for every cm I dilate*. Dr Teng stopped by *she had 2 c-sections scheduled that morning* to check my progress. My Mom, Antz Mom, his two sisters, Debra and Reva and Aimee came to visit me.

We all started singing TV theme songs whenever I felt a contraction. Close to 11 am I started feeling the pain again so I had to ask for another hit of the epidural.

Not my best look I know. So after I got my happy juice, my nurse told me in 30 minutes I could start pushing.

So quicker than I knew it, the time came to start pushing. I wasn't in any great amount of pain but I didn't think I was pushing hard enough. I asked my support team to count in Spanish and French but I wasn't able to make it past 7. The nurse told me I was doing fine and with each contraction, she was moving further down. After about 45 minutes of pushing Dr Teng came in and it took another 20 minutes before I saw Olivia's head *there was a mirror set up so I could see what was going on*. My Mom video-ed and took tons of photos but I shall spare you the gory details. Lets just see the ones that aren't too graphic.
Olivia Lily born Wednesday June 2, 2010 at 1:35 pm. 8 lbs 5.9 oz and 21 inches long. Her agpar scores were 8 & 9.

I should be taking a nap so part two will have to be posted later. Happy Happy!