The Lee Family: Baby Olivia Arrives!!

Our baby girl decided to arrive a little early. We had a scheduled C-section for September 2nd but instead she decided Saturday August 27th was a better day for her. The day before CK flew the Baron to Arizona to be repainted and I had lunch with two of my favorite girlfriends, Michelle and Thelma, with both of them remarking that I wasn't "acting" like I was going to have a baby in a week....I felt great and had a lot of errands and odds and ends planned for that final week. Instead, I picked CK up at the airport that evening and we ended up spending the night in our guest bed since our A/C compressor decided to die around 6pm that evening and only pumped hot air.

I woke up, as usual, around 4am to go to the bathroom and then lay awake trying to will myself back to sleep. Just before 5am I felt a strange dampness and jumped out of bed to realize that my water broke and was thankfully it wasn't coming out at once! At first I honestly had no idea what was happening and felt fine. I called the OB on call and he told me to pack a bag and get to the hospital within an hour or so. Then the contractions started, which were light at first. CK and I both took showers and while I was frantically packing and trying to remember everything I could possibly need, CK reminded me that we still didn't have a name! That was something we were going to decide over the weekend and coming days....we had it narrowed down to about seven names, but hadn't gotten any further. I requested that her middle name be Sulie after my Mom, but after some reflexion we decided it didn't work with our last name.....and Sue or Ann (my Mom's middle name) didn't have any meaning to me. So, we finally decided to go with two of our first name favorites....Olivia Grace. Plus, although it isn't part of my Mom's name I think Grace very much brings my Mom to mind and I hope she gets a portion of my Mom's grace. Sofia rejected the name since she wanted "Ava" but by the time we made it to the hospital she was a fan of her baby sister's name.

Once we were ready and the contractions were getting a bit worse, CK woke Sofia up and we headed out. First we stopped at Krispy Kreme so they could get a donut, then we continued. Ironically, we were scheduled to take the hospital maternity tour that morning, so we had NO idea where to go! We made it to the maternity ward, checked in and they got me into a temporary bed and hooked to monitors for me and the baby. Luckily there was a white board on the wall, so Sofia got busy drawing family portraits that included her "baby sister." Around 8:30am our neighbors picked Sofia up to spend the morning with them while baby sister arrived into the world.

Finally at 9am they hooked me to an IV (the most painless I've ever experienced) and wheeled me back to the surgery room. The anesthesiologist did the spinal, which also went smoothly and they were ready to begin. CK came into the room and sat by me throughout and my OB, Dr. New came in to perform the C-Section even though he wasn't on call, which I really appreciated! I didn't have any pain, but could feel tugging as they worked which was very odd.

At 10:01am little Olivia Grace was born behind first since she was breach inside me. They showed her to me before she was taken over to the table, cleaned off and weighed and then swaddled and given to CK, who brought her back to me. She was 7.3 lbs and measured 19 3/4 inches and is perfect!

After about an hour in the recovery room, I was wheeled to my regular room where I'd spend the next three nights. It was just after lunchtime, so CK left to pick up Sofia, have lunch with her and bring her to the hospital so she could meet Olivia for the first time.

Checking in at the maternity ward...