Alivia Jane

Our sweet baby girl has arrived!

Here's the story: I had an amniocentesis on the 19th. Based on the results of the baby's lung maturity, I was scheduled to have a c-section on the 22nd. But a few hours after my amnio, I started having contractions. By that night, I started getting uncomfortable. The contractions were coming about 4 to 5 minutes apart. I got a little nervous and called the doctor. She told me to go directly to the hospital to get assessed. They started me on IV fluids hoping to slow things down, but the contractions didn't stop. So around 11:30 pm, my OB determined that I really was in labor. He said that letting my labor continue naturally would not be good, because of the risk of rupturing the blood vessel on my cervix. And stopping my labor would not be good, because I would get sent home and I could just go into labor again before my scheduled c-section two days later. The best thing to do was to go ahead and deliver her right away. He did tell me that there was a small risk to the baby because the amnio showed her lungs to still be slightly immature. But the risk was only a 1% chance of her developing respiratory distress syndrome. We both felt like delivering her was the best thing to do.

So at 12:32 am on October 20th, exactly an hour after the decision was made, Alivia Jane Sharp was born. She weighed 6 lbs 7 oz and was 19 inches long. She gave a good cry when she emerged and only had a little bit of trouble breathing. I got a quick peek at her before they whisked her away to the NICU to help her transition. Luckily she only had to stay there for a couple of hours before they brought her to my room after I came out of recovery.

I am so happy with how everything turned out. After a stressful pregnancy riddled with complications and anxiety, I am so relieved that Alivia and I are both safe and sound! I have to say that I was in shock for a while on Tuesday; I had my baby a bit earlier than expected. But I am so grateful for the fact that I went to the hospital when I did. Having been induced with my first two babies, I never experienced the natural start of labor. So when I started having contractions on Monday, I thought I was just having more braxton hicks like I had already been experiencing throughout my third trimester. The only difference this time was that they hurt just a little bit and they were way more regular.

Alivia and I stayed in the hospital from Tuesday until Friday afternoon. It was a bit longer than expected due to the fact that Alivia developed a bit of jaundice, and she failed her car seat test. We weren't allowed to bring her home in her normal infant car seat because her heart rate and blood oxygen levels would drop when she was sitting in it. We had to buy a special car seat from the hospital that allows her to lay flat. And I developed a spinal headache from the spinal block anesthesia I received for my c-section. On Friday morning, they gave me a blood patch to seal the small leak in my spinal fluid. The headache magically went away! By Friday afternoon, we both received our discharge and came home. It has been great being at home. The boys and Grandma Oehrig are enjoying having Alivia here as much as I am.