Happy Birthday Vivi!!!

Introducing...

Vivian Marion Marshall

Born Friday, December 10, 2010 @ 3:31am

7 pounds, 11 ounces and 19 & 3/4 inches

Our baby girl arrived 10 days early! Our original due date was December 20th, but since she was a repeat C-section, my OB scheduled us for Monday, December 13th. But baby Vivi had other plans!

On Thursday evening, I started having contractions which were painful, but not very consistent. This was after Owen was sent home at 3:45pm from daycare with a fever. :( I took him straight over to the pediatrician who diagnosed him with strep. Poor little man, he had just gotten over pink eye and an ear infection. We were sent home with a new prescription and played together until Ben got home (from his last happy hour with co-workers for awhile, little did he know).

We called Aunt Hillary to come over after Owen went to bed, just in case I went into labor during the night. She got to our house by 8:30 and Ben and I went to bed at 8:45pm to try to get some sleep in the event that we had to get up in the middle of the night. At 9pm my contractions were somewhat regular for 45 minutes, so I called Molly to get her opinion on whether I should call my doctor. She said to take a bath and continue to keep track of the contractions and by the time I get out, an hour would have gone by and I can give the doctor the update. Well I never ended up calling the doctor because the bath made my contractions fizzle. We went back to bed and were able to get a little bit of sleep...

I woke up to painful contractions at midnight which were about 5 minutes apart. By 1am I was ready to call the doctor who told us to head on in. We woke Hillary up and let her know we'd call as soon as we knew the news. The hospital admitted us around 1am and I was hooked up to the monitors. Within 45 minutes, my doctor was there telling us we'd be having a baby tonight! (We were only 3 days away from our scheduled date anyway.)

Our nurse was wonderful, as was the anesthesiologist - both talked me through everything that was going to happen (since Owen's c-section was an emergency and seemed to happen in such a blur). Around 3am, we walked back to the OR (so weird walking into an operating room, let me tell you) and I sat down on the table to get my spinal/epidural. Ben had to wait outside until they were ready to start, so I had to do this part by myself with the help of my nurse. It only took him about 15 minutes to get the line into my back, and before I knew it my legs were getting tingly. Pretty soon after, I was numb from the chest down, Ben was walking in to sit by my head, and the blue sheet was being pulled up. We were about to meet our daughter!

I felt a ton of pressure, and my mouth was so dry from the oxygen and pain meds, but I'll never forget the moment she was born. As the anesthesiologist was giving the play-by-play to keep me calm, I told my doctor how I wanted to hear the baby screaming. She replied in a joking tone, "Well if you'd stop talking, then you'd hear her scream!" :) So I shut up and listened and sure enough, Ben and I heard Vivi take her first breaths from the other side of the blue curtain. Music to our ears.

Ben didn't want to see me cut open. We both watched as the nurses took her to the warming bassinet to clean her off and do all the initial tests and measurements. We were a little surprised that she was bigger than her big brother at birth! She had a full belly when she came out, so that contributed to her overall weight, but the nurses were able to get her to expel some of it so she felt better. I got to see her up close and give her some kisses before she and Ben went to the nursery and I was wheeled into recovery.

I tried my best to rest during the hour and thirty minutes I was monitored but it was pretty tough since I was hooked up to an IV, blood pressure cuff, cathedar, and had a warming pillow over my body to bring up my temperature. I was able to call my parents with the news, Ben called his, and we texted Mike, Lindsey, Hillary and a handful of friends before we were making our way up to the maternity floor.

Once we got settled into our room, Vivian was wheeled in and we were able to spend time getting to know her. I swore she looked so much like Owen did at birth. But she definitely has a different personality. Once she drank some formula, she was ready to take a long snooze. It was tiring being born! We spent the day snuggling and cuddling with her and can't wait for her to meet everyone. Thank you for all of the sweet welcome wishes!