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Olivia Gail Morrow

Arrival Date: 10/19/2014

Arrival Time: 8:59am

Weight: 7lbs 4oz

Length: 18 1/2 inches

Olivia was born on Sunday morning at 8:59am. I always wanted one of my children to be born on a Sunday, so this was very special. To say that I was ready to have this precious little thing was an understatement. I do not love being pregnant, especially into the third trimester. On the Saturday before, we stayed busy. I took Evie to a cheer clinic at the school, then Maves and I went to see MawMaw and PawPaw and then went to Hobby Lobby to get stuff for Halloween Costumes. That was quite a bit of walking. Then we came home and went to the school for Evie's cheer program. After the program, we had dinner and put the girls to bed. I started on the Halloween Costumes that evening and went to bed around 10pm. I had been having false labor for about 2 1/2 weeks that was keeping me up all hours of the night. My contractions would start up at about 1am and they would get about 5 minutes apart, but never intensify. While it wasn't painful, it was certainly keeping me awake. Well, this night I woke up at midnight with a contraction, but was able to go back to sleep. Until 5am. I woke up, sat on the edge of the bed and had one good strong contraction. Mike was already up working on his sermon. I walked into the kitchen where he was and said to him, "Honey, I'm not so sure that you will be delivering that sermon this morning..." I walked around the house for a few minutes and the contractions started at about 5 minutes apart. And they were strong. So, I called mom and told her to be safe, but to HURRY! We packed up the truck and had it running in the driveway so we could drive off as she drove up. And we did. Thankfully the girls were still asleep for all of this!

We arrived at the hospital at about 6am. I texted the midwife on the way and she responded that she would meet us there. We parked in the parking lot and I almost left Mike behind because I was walking in so fast. We had to fill out a (stupid) questionaire about being out of the country and stuff because of the big ebola scare at the time. (just exactly what a woman in labor wants to do...)

Once we were in a room, they got me settled in a bed and the poking began. I had to have antibiotics because of my strep B test. (Boo!) And I am not an easy stick. It took a number of times to get the IV in my hand and that was not fun, considering I was also in full blown labor.

I anticipated that this deliver would go fast since Mavery came pretty fast also. So, I had talked to Mike and the midwife about being prepared to go all natural since there might not be time for an epidural. This was also the reason I wanted to use a midwife and I was very pleased with that decision. It was by far the most painful birth of the three, but it was the best experience because of my midwife. She was fantastic!

Once the nurses got all of the antibiotics through the IV, they were instructed to detach me from it so I could walk around and do what I needed to do while in labor. Mike was such a trooper. He walked me around, let me lean on him, asked me if I needed anything and kept the outside world up to date on what was going on. (until I told him to turn off the ringer on his phone because it was driving me crazy :)

So, I labored for about another hour. It was intense. I wanted to give in and have an epidural. Honestly, I did. But Mike and the midwife knew that I also really wanted to do it natural so they were very supportive of sticking it out. Once I was complete, she decided to break my water so that things would move along. It was weird because once the water broke, the contractions were less intense and it was hard to tell when to push. But, I managed to figure it out and at 8:59, baby was born and Mike Morrow almost collapsed on my chest and muttered out, "Melissa, its a girl!"

I cried and laughed out loud! Three girls!!!

This was also the only birth were I had them leave the baby attached to the cord for a few minutes and let me hold her before she was all cleaned up. I have never been in so much pain, but been so happy at the same time in all my life.

Mike got to cut the cord and then they took her to weight her and clean her up. The next few hours were wonderful and painful. I had to be stitched up and put on pitocin for the bleeding. That was not fun, but I was able to have some pain meds to take the edge off.

Olivia Gale was a very sweet surprise to her parents and her older sisters. I was almost convinced that we were having a boy. But I was beyond thrilled when Miss Olivia made her way into our lives.

Two very proud big sisters!