12:25 p.m. - February 24, 2003
Happy Birthday Sweet Girl
This was written very quickly so please forgive my grammar and lack of pictures. Grrrr, I can't get my camera to upload the pictures I have, but I will try later from home. Enjoy.
February 23, 1993 - It's my weekly check-up to see just where I stand with this baby. I'm plenty tired of being pregnant and oh so excited to finally birth her. My due date was the 28th according to Dr. Young but according to my records (and I know exactly when I got pregnant) I was due on the 24th. So he checks me and says I'm just about a pinky tip and hard as a rock but her head is low and, who knows, it could be tomorrow it could be next week. "Go for a walk" he says. I do just that. I take off for the mall and start at Mervyns and work my way down to Sears. I've got multiple bags in each hand and I sit down to rest. Oh, Lord, I think to myself, how am I going to get back to my car. My legs were aching and I was craving a shrimp Cesar salad. Somehow I found the energy to get myself back to my car and home. By now it's about 3ish and I get everything ready for my salad. Fresh croutons and lots of "gawlik". I settle down and eat my salad and about an hour later I start feeling "different". I couldn't really put my finger on it but I knew something was up. I joked to Mark that it was all the garlic I used. I was completely cool about this, knowing it could still take another 2 weeks at least. My brother was on his way out the door to go to school and asked if I wanted him to stay home. "Nah, go ahead, nothing's happening here". Mark was getting a little antsy, kneeling next to me with this look of anticipation in his eyes like "c'mon, let's go for a jog around the block or something" He was so funny to watch through this; very excited, nervous, happy, you name it he was it. Out of the blue I get this mammoth contraction right in the middle of the small of my back. "Holy Moly" I say, "that hurt". At this point I start pacing the floor wondering if my labor was really going to start. My contractions went from 14 minutes apart to 7 then to 5 back to 14 and then stopped completely. I knew it wasn't the real thing so we went to bed at about 10 o'clock. I fell to sleep immediately only to be woken up by another earth shattering contraction. I remember my eyes popping open as it started and I laid there looking into the dark waiting for the next one to hit. I grabbed little bits of sleep throughout the night but didn't bother wake Mark. Seven am rolled around and he woke up. I told him about my night but that he should go onto work and I'd page him if things progressed. I had already called my mom before she left for work to ask her to please stay home and that I'd be over later. I got up and showered and gathered a few other things that I hadn't yet packed. Thinking back I laugh because I remember seeing my bags on the living room floor, all 4 of them and the video camera with tripod. I packed so much crap I didn't need. Three different outfits for the baby, nursing pads (my milk didn't come in for another 2 days). If I ever do it again I'll know better. Anyway, I lugged all the stuff out to the car, loaded it up with the dogs and headed over to my parents house. I felt more comfortable laboring there than to be at home by myself. Tanner and Maggie were great companions but labor coaches they were not. I didn't want to call Mark home because he would've only drove me crazy with wanting to hurry things along. He is the most patient man I know but when it came to birthing his babies all patience when out the "winder". So the day went on, contractions came and went with no consistency until about 2:00 when he got home. I still didn't want to go to the hospital. I wanted to stay as long as I could at my mom and dads. Mark showered and we went for a walk, by this time things were moving along and my contractions were pretty consistent and painful. When we got home from our walk I needed to use the restroom and that's when I lost my plug. Of course I announced to everyone what happened. My dad was not thrilled in the least, Mark only got worse and my mom pestered me to go to the hospital just to see how far along I was. By this time I was ready. I was in quite a bit of pain. We headed on to the hospital and were checked in quicker than lightening. That just doesn't happen at Washington hospital but I wasn't arguing. From the time we left my moms and drove the 5 miles to the hospital my labor had progressed greatly. I was checked but was only 3 centimeters. They asked me if I wanted to stay or go back home to labor some more. I opted to stay because by this point it hurt to even walk. Mark called my parents and told them where we were at and that they should probably stay home for a few more hours. Ha! Are you kidding, my dad isn't known for speeding but I swear they were there in 5 minutes. They probably had the car parked backward in the driveway and running with Mom sitting in the passenger side right after we left their house. They�re a funny bunch, my parents. After they got there it wasn't more than a half hour before the rest of the Ruiz Zoo showed up. Then Mark's sister came, my friend Barbara, Chris, Evie, my ex-sil. It seems like such a blur from the time I checked in to the time I started pushing. I remember having a fantastic staff, watching Jeopardy and shouting out answers in the middle of contractions and my mom laughing at me about it. I've got Mark on video holding up that plaque that shows what each dilation looks like and him saying he wanted to get one to put on his license place. At one point my dad started getting impatient and he swings his baseball cap backwards, sits down on the stool at the foot of the bed and makes motions like a baseball catcher saying, "Okay now, let's get things moving". At about 8:00 my sil came in to ask if I wanted he to call my brother home from school. I agreed and he was there by 8:20. Mind you he had to drive to Fremont from San Jose (for those of you familiar with the area), it's about 20 miles. By 10:15 I was complete and they got the bed ready for me to deliver. At this point I had 16 people in my room, 4 of which were staff including the doctor (who wasn't even my ob). They were actually fine with the mob of people as long as they had their space and none of the "audience" touched anything. At 10:40 I started pushing, 4 pushes later at 10:57 she was out. I was so numbed up that I couldn't tell when I was having a contraction so my brother would have to tell me when to push since Mark was no help. He head was stuck so far up my patootie that he wasn't paying any attention to me! She came out and they immediately handed her to me. Mark spoke her name and she immediately looked around to find him. She wasn't crying, just looking around at everyone who had come to greet her. It was an awesome birth. The doctor who delivered her wasn't my regular OB but she ended up being terrific and Mark and I were both very pleased with her. I think her calmness and patience was the reason I didn't have to have any "repairs". Thank you so much Dr. Newman. After things calmed down and everyone got to say their hellos it was just my mom, my daughter and myself in the suite. They had turned down the lights and left me there to get to know her. Mark had already gone home, as did everyone else. The nurse was in the room tidying things up and my mom and I just gazed over this new life. I started to have this overwhelming feeling of guilt and I started to cry. I told my mom "She feels so foreign to me, I feel so guilty because I'm not over flowing with love for her", it was an awful feeling. The nurse turned around and said "Don't do that to yourself, she is a stranger to you in a way and you need to give yourself time to get to know her". My mom quickly agreed with her and I calmed down considerably. By this time it was already 2 am and everyone was tired and needed to sleep. My parents left and I was taken down to the maternity wing. I asked if they would take her to the nursery so I could get a little sleep. Ha! I was in a strange bed and all I could think about was my baby. Funny how feelings swing from one extreme to the other. At 6 am I could hear the nurses wheeling out all the bassinets and the anticipation was killing me. I wanted my baby and I wanted her now. I was the last one in that hall to get her baby and I was so excited to see her. I immediately picked her up and changed her clothes and started nursing her. I remember the nurse standing there saying, "You've done this before haven't you?" "No, I said but I've 5 nieces and nephews so I've been around the block a couple of times. I was amazed at how comfortable I felt with her. How quickly she had become "unforiegn" to me. I felt like I had been doing this for years. To help boost my ego all the nurses kept coming in to see here and telling me how beautiful she was. At 3 o'clock that afternoon Olivia-Leigh Maredith and I were discharged and sent home to start our lives. She was such an awesome baby, only crying when she needed something. She never lost any weight (yay breast milk), was very alert especially when her daddy had her. I think my favorite part of her babyhood was sleeping with her on my chest. There is nothing like that. The smell of her little head. I used to snuggle up in the crook of her neck and just breathe in. I've been telling her since the day she was born "God must have thought that daddy and I are special people because he sent you to us". She is such a special child (as are all children). She's never met anyone who she hasn't completely captivated with her personality. Here she is, 10 years old already. Where has that time gone? If I could just go back for one day, one hour and hold that baby again. Happy Birthday little girl, I love you so much.
~Mom
Olivia-Leigh Maredith
2/24/93, 10:57 pm
8 lbs. 10 oz., 20 inches
16" head circumference
10/10 apgar
Can I brag anymore?
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