Olivia Reagan Bradley

Hey everyone!! 

It’s been a while since my last blog post because we had our baby!! We have a beautiful little girl named Olivia! I’m sharing her birth story and photos below!! 

So at 35 weeks pregnant I decided to take my blood pressure at home one night and it was a little high so I gave the doctor a call. He wasn’t overly concerned with it but wanted me to come in the office to get checked out. That Monday at 36 weeks pregnant I went in and my blood pressure was still high and my nurse practitioner said that if I come back in on Thursday and it’s still high then I have developed gestational hypertension and they plan to induce me at 37 weeks. 

With hearing that news, I was happy and excited because our little pumpkin was measuring about 2 weeks ahead, and on the other hand I was freaked out because 37 weeks was quickly approaching on that Sunday! I went in on Thursday (just 2 hours after I lost my mucus plug) and my blood pressure was still high so they scheduled me for induction for that Monday, October 2nd. 

We got to the hospital at about 6AM, the nurses started on getting my hooked up and asking a million questions and my water was broken a little after 8AM. I was bound and determined to go as far as I could with no epidural, I became really agitated with the contractions and my blood pressure cuff at about 4 centimeters and decided this was only going to get worse so I tried morphine at first and it did nothing for me so a little while later I got the epidural. I felt like everytime I was checked I barely dilated anymore, finally they checked me and I was at a10 but little baby was still sitting up really high! At one point I started feeling contractions in one side and I got a little extra boost and was turned around with the peanut bounce ball thing, which wasn’t very comfortable but did the job. 

Finally they laid me back and baby had moved down and my nurse suggested we start pushing a little. Thankfully I didn’t have to push very long, my nurse said let’s do 3 more sets of pushes and I think we will call the doctor, well I did the first push and she said wow, no more pushing I’m going to get the doctor!! 

Yay!! So my doctor came in and I started pushing at about 8:20PM and she arrived at 8:43PM, I only had to get one little stitch!  Olivia’s umbilical cord was tied in a knot (unfortunately we weren’t able to get a picture but the doctor and nurses were surprised they hadn’t seen it on the ultrasounds) Nick and I were so overwhelmed and emotional about the baby coming out that we didn’t even think to look and see if we had a boy or girl until the nurse placed her on my chest and we saw we had an Olivia!!! We are so overjoyed and our hearts are so full! 

One reason I was debating getting the epidural was because I wanted to feel when to push and not be told and not know what the heck was going on, but it worked out perfectly because I had not given myself another dose of the epidural for a while before we started pushing so when I started pushing I could feel the pressure from the contraction and was able to push on my own and I got to feel Olivia come out!

 

Olivia weighed 7 pounds 15 oz and 19 1/2 inches long, and she has thick hair at the back of her head and a little layer of blonde fuzz on top! At first she was not moving one of her arms like the other so they were a little concerned and called in the pediatrician to look at her, but thankfully it was probably just shock from birth and there was nothing wrong with her! Olivia is absolutely perfect! A little while after she was born my nurse came over to help us get latched and try to feed her, while my nurse held my breast and Olivia’s head she was trying to explain the best way to get her latched and Olivia opened up her mouth and was latched perfectly and sucking away before my nurse could finish her sentence!! My nurse just looked up at me and Nick with her mouth open and was in shock, and we were so surprised and proud of our little girl! Olivia has been latched and nursing like a pro since then and we are so incredibly blessed!

We spent the whole next day and half the third day at the hospital, on the third day Olivia got her hearing tested and she failed her left ear, and the nurse said it was probably because she had fluid built up from delivery and would test her again in a few weeks. (We went back on her due date and got both ears tested again and she passed both!!) Then we were cleared by all the doctors and we headed home with our little pumpkin!!!