And We're Back...Plus One!

So I realize it's been 2 weeks since we updated this thing. But what do you expect?? We have a brand new beautiful baby girl named Olivia Grace Banta!!! Olivia was born October 21, 2001 at 7:54pm. Weighing in at 7lbs, 14oz and measuring 19-1/4 inches long.

Backing up a bit...Josh blogged last Wednesday when we got checked into the hospital - he mentioned the balloon - it was awesome - by 9:30 Thursday morning when they took it out, I was 5 centimeters dilated! We were really excited - half way there already:)
They began increasing the Pitocin every half hour until finally around 11 I was feeling strong contractions every 3-4 minutes. Still, though I was staying around 5 cm.
The day kept moving along - I tried the IV pain medication (Fentinol) and that made me feel drunk for about 15-20 minutes, and then wore off. The contractions were very painful - I was not expecting them to be so bad! So I finally ordered an Epidural, and it only worked on the right side of my body and eventually wore off, too, so they gave me another...It worked on both halfs, so I was pretty content for the next few hours.
Dr. Mintzer (who by the way was awesome and is going to be my doctor from now on) came in around 6:30pm and I was still at 5cm. He told me he wasn't going to rush me into a C-Section so I could keep waiting a couple more hours and see if there was any change, but that if I didn't progress, I would likely be taken in for C-Section. Josh and I said a prayer that things would progress - we wanted to avoid the C-Section as long as me and the baby were healthy. Just under a half an hour later I started feeling a lot of pressure and I asked the nurse to check me for progress. Nancy (the nurse) said she would do that, but that she doubted there will be any change in such a short amount of time. Josh went to use the restroom and when he came out, Nancy announced that I was fully dilated and we were ready to push the baby out!!! It was awesome news to hear!
Unfortunately it was right at 7:00 shift change, so Nancy was leaving and Trish was coming on..They were trying to get the NICU team gathered up (Olivia had pooped inside of me, so they had to be sure she didn't aspirate any of the meconium), do their shift change reporting, get Dr. Mintzer to the room, and get all of the equipment ready for delivery. It was a zoo in there and I was in the middle of having a baby! I wasn't getting any direction at that point - Josh and I were just doing it on our own, but I had enough and finally yelled out that I didn't know what I was doing and needed some help! Trish then came to the bedside and she helped coach us through the contractions. Dr. Mintzer showed up, they broke the bed down, and Olivia was on her way. It was a rough hour, and there were some funny things said and done that helped to keep my spirits up and my motivation going.
Josh was amazing - he was completely supportive and never got frustrated or mad or anything. He counted me through the contractions, held my hand, pushed the hair out of my eyes and reminded me of everything I needed to do. As soon as Olivia came out, he was with the NICU team holding her hand and loving her...it was beautiful to see him so happy and proud of his little girl. I knew from the very beginning he would be a great dad and he is.
I could never know how much you can love someone you've only just met until you have a child. It is something hard to explain in words - it's pure unconditional love from the start.

So that is the basic story of Olivia's arrival into the world. It was the most awesome experience in our lives, and worth every bit of pain and waiting we went through!

Here are some picture of our beautiful daughter...She has changed so much already in her first 2 weeks of life. We know that time is going to go by way too quickly and before we know it she will be crawling and walking and talking. We are trying to enjoy everything about her while it lasts - and there is plenty to enjoy!