How grateful we are to have our fifth baby earth side safe and sound. Being pregnant with her was hard and rewarding and so so long! I can hardly believe how much I have already forgotten about being pregnant with her just a few weeks into her life. It is the reason I was able to do it 5 times and I am forever grateful that I did. I don't know this little girl very well -- yet -- but I do know I couldn't live life without her. I never want to forget the day she entered our lives forever.
Well, before we talk about her birth, let's talk about all the waiting it took to get there...Liv will forever hold the title of longest pregnancy (39 weeks & 5 days), the longest labor (too many hours to count), and the sorest, puffiest ankles for this mama.
Just looking at this photo of my lower legs, I can feel the pain. My feet looked like this and were very sensitive for the last 3-4 weeks of her pregnancy and I could only wear one pair of flip flops and my Tevas...haha! If you know me, Tevas for date night was a major concession I had to make!
Here I am two days before 38 weeks with a very hopeful/certain look on my face that this baby girl will be making her entrance any day.
All of these babies made their way into the world a bit early and I was sure baby #5 was going to follow suit! I had everything planned out with Jeni, for her to take over my kids the last week of school and cover all the sports and toddler needs while in the hospital.
Well, week 38 came and went, then week 39, and my ankles could hardly believe it!
The only thing that kept me sane was getting more time with this little gal as the baby. But on the night this picture was taken, May 26, I started having contractions in the middle of the night and I was CERTAIN it was time for Liv to make her debut. I drifted in and out of it until 6am on the 27th and told Brian it was the day! Well, as soon as I got up to shower and get ready, all contractions stopped. I was a mess. I had been up all night and had never had a false alarm with my other babies, so I was just not expecting it. Luckily Brian was able to stay home for moral support because I really needed it. I got myself a good nap and pout and carried on knowing it would be soon.
Eve took this picture of me on the kids' last day of school, Friday, May 28--the last picture of me pregnant--just hanging with my girls.
The last day of school came and went and so did my my plans for the kids because the Sacketts left for Arkansas the last day of school and I knew she would be gone when I delivered. Luckily I had the best backups and got Christine, Liz, and Melanie on board to divide and conquer when I needed. Saturday was a slow day because our calendar was clear assuming we would have a new baby at this point. We did chores and played with friends and I decided to head to the salon for a pedicure to console myself about still being pregnant. I enjoyed the time to myself, but when I got home I started having contractions off and on again. They weren't super consistent and changed depending on my position of laying down, standing up, or sitting. I tried to take a nap during dinner time to get the contractions going (laying down seemed to create the strongest contractions), and shed some tears about being so confused about if I was in labor or not. This was my fifth child!! How was I so confused about what was going on?!? We took the rest of the evening really easy, watched the Jazz game, and I ended up calling Kelli around 11pm to get some advice on helping my labor pick up. Things were still very sporadic, but I was convinced it was time to get this girl out! I walked some stairs and few laps around my house, but soon conceded and went to bed close to midnight. Contractions kept coming and going, but they definitely started to get stronger as the night went on. Another side note is that my heart had been racing the majority of the night and I was often taking big breaths to try and slow it down. Around 2am I took my blood pressure to make sure things weren't out of control and just kept wondering if we should head to the hospital or not. Mae's labor went so fast and I did not want things to speed up with this girl too fast and miss my opportunity to get my epidural. I debated for another hour or so and at 3:30 a.m. I called Christine to come over so we could head to the hospital. We got to the hospital around 4:30 a.m. and after I got checked in they measured me in triage and I was dilated to 4cm. They decided since I had been dilated to 2cm on Friday at my doctors appointment that I was definitely in labor and they would admit me! I breathed a huge sigh of relief! They insisted on taking an EKG because of my rapid heart rate before admitting me to Labor & Delivery, but all seemed normal and it declined quickly after they told me they would admit me. I knew it was stress induced and the stress was removed once I knew I was in the hospital to have this baby!
I got moved into L&D by 6:30 a.m. and after I got there, contractions really slowed down. Like really slowed down. I wasn't making progress dilating which was very disappointing, but at 10 a.m. I got my epidural in preparation for my water to be broken by 11 a.m to see if it would speed things up. All went well with the epidural and at 10:45 a.m. the nurse broke my water. I was able to nap a little bit on and off, but nothing much was happening. Like for hours. We listened to some of church online, napped, and got lunch because things were so uneventful through the afternoon. Not much action on my contraction monitor and very slow movement dilating. Around 5:30 p.m. my nurse suggested laying me on my side and putting a peanut ball between my knees in hopes it would speed up the process. I laid on my right side and slowly but surely I started to feel the contractions more than I thought I should. I pushed my epidural medication button and was maxed out, so we switched me to my left side in hopes it would even things out with the pain medication. Well, switching sides didn't help and actually things got a lot more painful! My nurse called the anesthesiologist back two times with no success. I was shedding lots of tears as I wasn't expecting to feel these contractions--these transition contractions! Yep, the peanut ball did the job, got my contractions going and my epidural stopped working through transition. My nurse was setting up the table for the doctor and I said, "I'm not going to deliver like this, am I?!" She called the anesthesiologist one more time and she gave me different meds that provided a stronger block and that FINALLY did the job at about 6:45 p.m.! I was so relieved! My doctor showed up a little after 7pm and after about 4 pushes and some turning because she was posterior, Liv made her way into the world a little before 7:30 p.m.
One relieved and HAPPY mama!!
After hanging with this perfect girl for about 45 minutes, I gave the nurse the go ahead to clean her up and weigh her. I let Liv nurse a bit, but she wasn't latching well and was crying a lot and I was just SO SO tired! The nurse did her thing and passed her off to daddy while we waited to head to Post-partum.
Liv Marie Monsen
8 lbs 9 oz
21.5 inches
We made it to our postpartum room around 10 p.m. and had to call and share the details with grandparents right away...does that look like a proud daddy, or what?!
We hung out with this cute girl for about an hour and then sent her to the nursery when it opened at 11 p.m. We were both so exhausted and needed a good night of sleep because we knew it was the only one we would get.
We both got a decent night of sleep and had to call to get her back from the nursery at 8 a.m. We thought they would bring her back around 6 a.m., but they kept her for her hearing test and a couple other things, and by 8 a.m. we were itching to hold that girl!
We have the best friends that were fine to keep our kids another night because we didn't get home until 10 p.m., and when we got home we had the cutest banner and cleanest kitchen waiting for us from the Joyces! Christine brought her kids to our house to hang this darling banner and clean up the mess we had left a couple nights before. It was such a relief and I was so grateful!
We watched some TV and waited for this perfect girl to be ready for bed and basked in the dream it was to finally have her here. We love you, Liv! Welcome to being the baby of the family!
