Livia June Nielson

Our beautiful little girl is here!! She was born June 10th at 7:14am. She weighed in at 6Lbs 7oz (the same as me:) and 18.5 inches. She's so sweet and tiny!! The story: When I was 38 weeks pregnant, Eric went out of town so I did my best to NOT go into labor. Before he left, the doctor told me I was dilated to a 1 with a soft cervix and when I asked him if Eric should stay home he said, "I cant make any promises, it really could go either way." We had the same situation with Weston so we felt okay about it and Eric left. The day he got back I had another appointment and I was now at a 3 and according to the doctor ready to go anytime. I had wanted to go into labor naturally, but was worried I would go late like I did with Weston. Eric had another work trip scheduled for a week after my due date so I was becoming more keen on the idea of being induced early since my doctor was fine with it, and then Eric could spend more time with the baby. I went ahead and scheduled the induction for Wednesday the 13th! We went full steam ahead at home getting ready for her and hoping I would go into labor naturally before then. On Saturday, Taylor came down to help me get a few things done in the baby's room and suggested I try Caster Oil. She convinced me with the success Joslin and my mom had with it. I was a little worried about the horror stories I read on-line about it, but it seemed safe, it was just the possibility of being pretty uncomfortable with no results. At about 2:30 Saturday I decided to give it a shot and took a little less than 2 Tbls. Taylor stayed the evening and watched Weston for us so the Eric and I could go out to dinner and a movie. Throughout the movie I was having contractions, but nothing regular. Once we got home, I kept having them and they were a little more painful, but not regular. I thought everything would be fine so I told Taylor to go ahead and go home. Eric and I stayed up until 1:30am trying to decide if something was going to happen and then they slowed down quite a bit so we decided to go to bed. At 4:15 I woke up needing to go to the bathroom (not uncommon being pregnant), but the strange part was that once I stood up I kept losing liquid (sorry, maybe TMI, but I don't think too many people still read this and it's part of the story). I yelled out to Eric that I was pretty sure my water just broke and he jumped up into gear. Unfortunately, the idea of my water breaking in our bathroom made him a little queasy and he had to lay down for a second:) Luckily he made it through it! I started having strong and quick contractions almost instantly. I called my friend Brooke who came over to sit with Weston and then called my mom and Taylor to come down. We took off to the hospital and checked into the ER about 5:15am. It seemed like forever before they decided I was really in labor and could stay. At that point I was dilated to a 5 and I'm guessing it was around 6:30am. Shortly after I was settled in the labor and delivery room the anesthesiologist came in and started the epidural. Once he had it in, he asked if the contractions were pretty strong. I said yes, so he injected some quick acting meds that would last until the epidural kicked in. After I was all set, the nurse checked me again and I was still at a 5 so they told me to take a rest and they'd call the doctor when it got closer. I told my mom and Taylor, who were now at our house with Weston, the same thing. Just minutes later the baby's heart rate dropped and the nurser kept having me move from side to side trying to get it back up. We weren't having much luck and the nurse was making Eric and I really nervous as it looked like we'd have to rush in for a C-section if we couldn't get her back up quick. The nurse then checked me again and I was already at a 9 and the baby's head was right there. She told me to try not to push and just breath through it. They called my doctor and I think were trying to wait for him, but decided that wasn't going to happen so another doctor that was on the floor came in and suited up. As soon as she was ready, my mom walked in the door, and they told me to go ahead and push. After 1 and a half pushes she was here, and then my doctor walked in:) He finished things up and sewed me up while I was able to hold Livi. Thank goodness for the quick acting meds! Going home from the hospital- Weston stayed with my mom and dad the first night we were at the hospital and when they brought him back, he came with flowers for Livi. While he was at grandma's he found a magic bean that he planted. He kept going to check and see if it was growing so while he was playing with my dad, my mom planted these in the same place. She said he was ecstatic when he went to go check on his bean and told her that he was going to take them to his baby sister:) I wanted Livi to have something special to come home in. Weston had a cute little sweater outfit from my Grandma Beverly that he wore so when I was packing our bag I brought this cute outfit that my mom had bought her and headband from my Grandma Beverly...then of course we gave her a flower from Weston:) I feel like one lucky mom to have these two sweet kids!