One Last Shower

Rob and I asked our very dear friend Hillary to be Olivia's godmother.  Hillary has been a significant part in our lives and we couldn't have thought of anyone more beautiful!  

Hillary and I met while we attended the Art Institute.  We became the best of friends and were roommates for many years!  She was with me on the night Rob and I met for our first "date".  We both had a group of pals and met up at Grandma's in MPLS (sadly, no longer in business).    I still remember her pushing at me encouraging me to go talk to him.  Imagine, me being shy!!!   


Hillary has been my dear friend since day one and has been along side us through our entire journey of dating, marriage and now Olivia.  We know Hillary will be a fun, loving, attentive person for her to be influenced by too!  

We love you Hillary and truly have the perfect godmother for our daughter!

Happy Father's Day to you!  We celebrated Rob's FIRST Father's day by enjoying a couple of hours with our friend Hillary!  She came into town and spent some time with Olivia.  


Then, Rob was gifted some new clothes and a TWINS jersey with DAD and the number 61, for Olivia's birthday of June 1 and some tickets for the father's day game.  We dropped Olivia off at Grandma's and had some quality and much needed "us" time.  At the game, we saw 2 very new babies, ones that were easily a week or so of ours.  It was a little disturbing seeing such little ones there, as we were sitting in the first rows on the 3rd base line.  Several balls came that way, in fact a guy sitting just seats from us caught a home run ball!   

We also got to sit by some very opinionated men that were really on my last nerve by the end of the game and we were by a kid that got physically sick in the seats below us.  The smell was terrible and by the looks, he ate too many hot dogs!  I can assure you, even if I do eat meat someday, it will NEVER be a dome dog!  

Never the less, we had a great time and ran into Rob's Uncle Dave and 2nd cousin Andre, pictured.



After the game, we picked Olivia up and made our first trip to see Grandpa Theisen.  It was our first visit there, since we had her and we passed Kevin in the parking lot and saw uncle Derek in the room.  It was nice to see that all of the boys and their families were able to spend time with Bob.   Sadly, this place isn't nearly the facility I would have imagined.  Bob should have lots of motivation to work hard in physical therapy and get the heck out of there.

Olivia was greeted by grandpa and he teared up and said that she was beautiful!  I wouldn't have expected anything less.  Grandpa has been waiting very patiently to meet her.  Rob and I were advised not to bring her up to see him too early as they are both at risk for infection. 

After a nice visit with Bob, we went back over to grandma and grandpa Flanary's for dinner with Aunt Kelley, Uncle Mark and all the Person cousins and uncles, Scott and Mike.  It was lovely and by 8 p.m. we were beat!  It was time for bed! 

We were dancing to the YMCA

On Monday June 15th, was my dad's 54th B-day!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY to him!
Olivia and I celebrated by going out for lunch with him, his wife Karen and my brother Mike.  We had a lovely time and took Mike up on the offer to pay for all of our meals!  I was pleasantly surprised at his generosity.

I presented tickets for the Twins game on Thursday the 18th for his present and boy did we have a blast!  The game was fun and more amazingly, out of 60,000 seats we had ones that sat right in front of my brother and sister in-law (Kevin, Sheri and the kids).  It was very cool to sit by them!  


My dad and I walked several blocks to and from the Dome, as most of the lots were full by the time we arrived.  He thought we were still in Robbinsdale, by the distance we hiked.  He did an amazing job and thought he lost a few lbs that day!  : )  

Here was the best part of the game!  YES, I enjoyed the entire thing!

Well, what can I say?!?!  One week already!  It has been full of emotions and I still want to keep her! 
         : ) 

The first few nights we were home (Tuesday and Wednesday) were really tough.  I had checked myself out of the hospital a day early because the air in there was so dry and my allergies were just terrible.  
I was constantly coughing and let me tell you - it is NOT something you want to do after having a baby!
So we left a bit early and it was great to get home.

The remainder of the week and weekend Rob and I were still suffering from the "cold"/"allergies", so that really kicked our butts.  I guess we are both feeling a little better today and starting to feel like we can accomplish anything.

On Saturday night we met with our photographer (from the wedding) and had Olivia photographed.  She was quite the little squirmy worm and certainly didn't appreciate us trying to take the cute naked photos.  Who would have guessed?

We will get the photos sometime this week and I will be sending announcements and posting them here. 

Yesterday (Sunday) I got out of the house for a little while and treated myself to a mani and pedicure!  Wow, did that feel great.  I tried out this new color called "Seduce Me" so now I feel sexy!   : )

Rob got to spend sometime with her while I was out and about.  He really feels sad that he has to work and can't be here every moment, like I am.  I thought it would be a great opportunity for him to spend a few hours with her and just do his thing.  He is doing an AWESOME job!  I thought I'd be nervous about leaving her but he just takes over and is such a natural.
It is amazing how much love he has for her.

I am looking forward to this week and have been blessed with a very happy, perfect - latching baby!  

She has been sleeping from 8 or 9 p.m. to about 1:30, waking for a quick feeding then wakes up again around 5:30 a.m. for another feeding.  
We are so lucky!  (SO FAR)

On Sunday 5-31-09 my mom and I went to the farmers market and I was feeling so terrible!  I'd claim to be an avid gardener so I should have enjoyed my time there very much.  But something just didn't "feel" good that day!  So after the market, we met Rob at Chipolte for lunch (that always makes me feel better!).


Then, that evening Rob and I were sitting on the porch and I was complaining of being tired and just crampy.  I was really cold so I took my temp and it was 99.7.  Then about 1/2 later I checked it and it was 100.3.  At 7:30 p.m. I called the labor and assessment line to see if someone could tell me if it was safe to be running a temp.  They paged a Dr. who called me back right away and told me to get in.  
So, we walked over to the hospital (we live 1  1/2 blocks away) and I was seen by a nurse.  


They ran a few tests, thinking that I was suffering from a kidney infection, but that was negative.  They also sent us for an ultrasound to see what level my amniotic fluid was, because the screen they did showed a sign of leakage.  The ultrasound showed everything was normal.


Because I was so close to term (38 1/2 weeks) they thought it best to stay overnight and get some fluids to reduce my temp.


So, I was very upset, thinking I was going to stay in a crappy bed for the evening and get sent home in the morning.  I was very much against staying and I knew Rob had to go to work Monday morning.  He was very sweet and demanded that I stay "to get taken care of".


On Monday morning, about 6 a.m. we woke up and discussed with the nurse about possibly having the baby, because I was having contractions about 5 minutes apart.  I didn't even feel them, but the machine monitoring me was proving to be true.


Rob ran home (literally) to get our bags.  He came back and they started me on pitocin (7 a.m.).  The next thing I knew, it was 8:30 and I was starting to feel terrible!  Then it happened, I felt a "POP" and my water broke!  What an amazing and gross feeling!  I was staring at Rob and he didn't know what to think or say!  He pressed the nurse button and was insisting that someone come into our room immediately! 


So, needless to say - contractions started to become very strong and I was not able to "chit-chat" any longer.  The nurse gave me a IV pain killer - then asked if I wanted an epidural.  I was like "HELL YES!"  
So they came in and I don't even recall the anesthesiologist.  She was talking to me and I didn't have a clue what she was saying.  They asked me to sign a consent form, which I found out later from Rob, that I signed it with my left hand and I am right handed.  I guess I was really out of it.  I don't recall the pain or what the epi felt like - I just recall thinking the IV they put in when I got there the night before hurt more.


Just after 11:00 the nurse told Rob to go down to the cafeteria and grab a sandwich before the lunch rush.  I was dilated to a 4... He came back at 11:20 and the nurse told him to grab a leg cause I was dilated to a 10 and was going to start pushing.  I don't think he did ever eat the sandwich!  


Then at 11:39 (after 5 pushes) she was born!  They took her to the NICU immediately because she had a bowl movement prior to delivery and needed to be monitored. 
She was very pale and wasn't breathing out of her mouth.  I insisted that Rob go with her and stay there until we knew more...


The Dr. tended to me and I was waiting for information.  It was the scariest time of my life!  Rob came back about an hour later and started balling!  He told me that she was fine, but he was so scared and just wanted her to be okay.  He said that she was so pretty and held his little finger the whole time the nurses were working on her.  He was such a different man to me and forever changed my opinion of him.  He is truly the best husband and father to us!  


I was rolled down to the ICU around 2:00 and got to see her!  She was so lovely and I couldn't stop crying!  I just fell in love. 


Around 6:00 Monday evening, they let her out of ICU and we finally got to hold her!  We started calling family and let everyone know we had her.  It was too scary to call before, as we were unsure what was happening.


Then, we decided on her name.  It was a toss up between (my favorite) Eleanor Claire or (Rob's favorite) Olivia Mae. We decided she didn't look like an Eleanor so we decided on Olivia Claire.


The rest is history!  We are at home now enjoying the sleepless nights - but it is TOTALLY worth it! 
She has been so sweet and I just lover her mannerisms.


Until next time!