Dustin James Olsen

While everyone is sleeping I'm going to hurry and blog about the birth. Don't worry...the reason I am not sleeping is because Eric is very sweet and letting me get plenty of sleep at night.

Dustin was born on March 24th at 5:20 AM and weighed 7 lbs 2 oz. He was 19 in. long and is doing great. I had been having alot of Braxton Hicks contractions for a week so I was really hoping he would come early but thinking he would really be late. The night before I went into labor I was having only very slightly crampy contractions 5 mins apart for an hour and a half but then they stopped. I was a little disappointed. I had my 39th week checkup the next morning where the doctor told me there were no changes from last week...dang it. That night we went to bed but Mitchel must have known because he kept waking up almost every hour. I probably slept from 10:30 to 12 when I woke up having painful contractions 5 mins apart. Eric was already up with Mitchel so I told him but I was really worried it was false labor. My doctor told me people usually come in when they are 6 mins apart but these really weren't bad at all and since the night before they went away. These contractions weren't getting any closer or longer or more intense that I could tell. At 1 AM we decided have my dad come over to stay with Mitchel so we could go to the hospital. The contractions were worse on the way there but really just the same as my worst menstrual cramps. They brought me in and the nurse checked me. I was 2 cm that morning and had been having contractions for 2 hrs by now and really doing quite well with them. She said "one, two, three, four, five, six". I said "what??? cm???" She said "yes I think I can count". Eric said "as long as it's not babies". I said "I have time for drugs right...I need drugs". So they took blood, started the IV, started monitoring, and got me to the labor and delivery room. Sometime around 3 AM my doctor came in and checked me after the nurse did again. She counted 7 cm....he said 5. Pot-A-toe Pot-AH-toe....get me the drugs. He broke my water, I got my epidural and they start potocin. Dustin was having troubles every time I contracted with his heart rate going into the 70's. They started me on oxygen, attached a fetal monitor to his head and moved me around alot to see if that would help. At 4:15 the doctor checked the progress and decided to stop potocin and watch me for an hour to see if his heart rate gets better...if not they would do a c-section. I think I was at 8cm then. So for an hour we went through contractions with the nurse rubbing my stomach to help his heart rate and me coughing during contractions (I am having serious allergies and my coughing seemed to help his heart rate). He did a little better with his heart rate not dipping for so long. At around 5 AM I started feeling pressure and the nurse came to check me. She was very excited because I was ready. She called the doctor and told him I was ready and they started setting everything up. They were still setting up when the doctor got there and he was irritated that I wasn't completely ready. It was time to push and I was not looking forward to that. I had pushed with Mitchel for an hour and it was exhausting. But one push and out came his head...another and I was done. It was great! We had our baby and he was cute as can be!

We were able to go home on the 25th because I delivered so early in the morning. I was happy about that because I hate those nurses coming in every 2 hrs to wake you up. Luckily Eric went home to sleep that night so he got some good sleep. Mitchel seems to be doing ok with Dustin. Mitchel has had lots of attention from the Grandparents so he's not suffering yet. Eric has been home for this week which has been great and we've been taking it easy. Having a baby has been a much more pleasent experience this go round. We haven't had much time for pictures but I will hopefully get a post out with pictures later.