Olivia Agnes

Olivia Agnes - Born November 1st, 2015

We did it!! Our little girl joined the world on Sunday November 1st! Yes, I'm only now getting around to writing about her birth. (10 weeks after the fact). They really don't prepare you for the post partum world of learning how to breastfeed, long sleepless nights, accidental co-sleeping because your babe doesn't like to be put down or sleep alone (understandably), and the physical pain your body goes through after being in labour and pushing a baby out.

But, I'll share the story now while I can still remember it. 

This was the last picture I took at 40 weeks pregnant. So there's my final "bump date" for you.

At this point, I was basically living in pi's... and yup, I care not.

October 31st as we were heading to bed around 1am, I noticed my braxton hicks were hurting a lot more and were possibly the early stages of labour. I started timing them over an hour just to see how far apart they were... 5-8 minutes and increasing in intensity. At the end of the hour, they were 4-5 minutes apart and quite painful, so we called the midwife at 2am. By the time she arrived at 2:30am, they were 2-3 minutes apart and I was almost 3cm dilated... no longer wearing pants. Since things were progressing so quickly, the midwife decided to stay. (THANK GOODNESS). I was much more prepared for labour to start out slower and last longer, so when things didn't go that way, it was a bit of a shock. Chantel (amazing midwife) was so calm, reassuring & helped me the whole 12 hours. I'm so grateful for her.

After 4 hours of back labour, demanding the huz turn the AC on, then; "NO! OFF!",  the pool was ready and I basically lived in there the rest of labour, which of course resulted in one wrinkly momma. If only I was a mermaid, right?

At 9:35am my water finally broke! Yay! And then.... 3 contractions right on top of one another. . . . and no one prepares you for that experience. Double peak mode had commenced & it suuuuccckkkeedd. (all my Creighton friends I'm sure can giggle at that). And I thought I was in pain before.

Then I vomited.

The rest of labour was extremely intense with many contractions on top of each other with very few breaks. Each contraction generally lasted about 45 seconds to 1 minute. When the midwife checked things out again, it looked like I was about 5-6 cm, however already feeling the need to push, which is such a crazy sensation. It took every ounce of strength I had to not actively push... this lasted a good 2 hours. I believe this point in time is dubbed "transition", however, I think "hell" would better describe this phase.

Not much time goes by, and by 12pm I'm about 8cm when Ros (second midwife) arrived. When Ros arrived, my husband tells me that she walked in the door, and said "things are looking great in here!!" (this is the time I was roaring like a lion still fighting the need to push with every contraction). I recall gripping onto my poor husband's fingers for the final hours, asking for water & whimpering before another contraction would start: "noooo... I'm not ready".  I'm not too sure there was an exact moment where I started actively pushing, I just know I pushed for about 1 hour until Olivia was born. "Push where it hurts" they said. To which I replied "that's a terrible idea", while obeying their orders anyway. I'm proud to say I didn't drop the F-Bomb once. I do remember thinking a C-section would be nice right about now.


Once her head was born, Chantel had to use her 'midwife voice' and told me to "get out of the pool now!"... so I did... I hobbled out of the pool somehow...

. . .

with her head already born.

. . .

I'm not going to attempt to describe that scene.



Her shoulders had gotten a little bit stuck, so Chantel needed me to get out of the pool right away, because they needed her out ASAP. Also, the movement of me getting out of the pool & changing positions a bit usually helps get baby unstuck!


About two big pushes later, she was here!

Blue faced beauty with tons of dark hair. (which I predicted!) While Chantel suctioned mucus out of her mouth, Ros & I were wiping her down encouraging her to breathe. Shortly after, she was breathing & crying a little bit! It didn't take her long to pink up & Chantel didn't need to give her any oxygen! Yay!

I had tears of joy & relief at this point as I held her to my chest & we decided she was our Olivia Agnes. (named after Saint Olivia & Saint Agnes). My hands & arms were numb from labour, it hurt to move & I was exhausted, but she had finally arrived & she was perfect. So perfect.