Meet Baby!

Baby girl has arrived!!!!! Everything went perfectly, far better than we could have hoped for! 

Savanna Michelle Olson arrived on Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 9:44 am. 

I woke up around 4 am on Friday with contractions, and around 6:30 they became consistently 7-8 minutes apart. They were uncomfortable but completely bearable. I took it easy throughout the day, trying to take a nap (although that was a joke since the contractions were MUCH worse when I was laying down... but I was so tired, so I would fall asleep and every 8 minutes I would sit up and wait for the contraction to stop, since I couldn't bear to lay down through it.) I also watched 17 Miracles to pass the time, the movie about the handcart companies. SO GOOD! I highly recommend it if you want a good spiritual pick me up that will undoubtedly make you cry! Anyway, around 3:30 the contractions were 3-4 minutes apart but not more intense than they had been. So Ben and I hung out and played games on our phone together. After dinner we headed over to hang out with Ben's sister and our friends. The contractions were  getting stronger but I still wasn't ready to go in. After all, I see labor every day at work and was quite aware how long first time labors usually last. So, I opted to play Scattegories in between contractions instead of hang out at the hospital! At 10:30 pm I called my work (aka L&D) and warned them we were coming in. Then I called one of my favorite nurses that I work with, and being the SWEETHEART that she is, she met me at the hospital to be my nurse (even though she works day shift with me, she was so kind to come and be with me through this!) 

I got admitted, IV started and checked. I was contracting every minute and a half and dilated to a 4.5, completely effaced and baby was very low. YAY! Around 1:30 am when I was a 6 I got the epidural. The contractions never really got too unbearable, although they were intense. I wanted to wait as long as I could to get it, but by this time I really just wanted to sleep! So I got the epidural and it was INCREDIBLE! Ben slept and I tried, and then at 8:45 I was ready. I pushed for an hour, although it didn't feel nearly that long. It was a beautiful labor and my sweet husband's face when Savanna came out was amazing. He has been completely wrapped up by his daughter and it is the most beautiful thing to watch. We are so so so blessed, and love her so much more than we ever knew we could! We are thanking our Heavenly Father constantly for this beautiful little package!

Just before pushing began

It was Dr. Hartman's birthday as well :)

A perfectly happy family.... even Max loves Savanna!

It is official

Well, it's official... we are building a new home, finally! We picked out the lot and the builder back in October and then got distracted by different lots and different builders and different floorplans... you get the idea. You know us, INCREDIBLY indecisive, both of us. So it wasn't until December that we began negotiations, but the offer was accepted and we had our builders meeting in the second week of December. After that we picked out our colors, which actually was rather fun, and not stressful as we had anticipated. Likely due to the fact that we basically copied the outside of one of the model homes... yeah, we're not much for risk. However, we did pick our kitchen colors from a small palate and have never actually seen the counters large scale... so you can only imagine how many times Ben has questioned our decision :) However, I love it and I think it will look wonderful. Plus the designer agrees so if it all turns out hideous I can really just blame her and won't have to feel too bad, right? On Friday we signed the construction loan so now it is official - they are set to begin digging this week! Oh, I can't tell you how thrilled we are! My in-laws have been SO SO SO kind to let us live here but we are excited to have visions of living on our own again in the future! If all goes well (and we know it usually has some bumps along the way) they should finish around the end of April, so here's hoping!

As for news from the baby front... there isn't much to report. The doctor estimates an eight pound girl if I go to my due date, which is starting to look like reality. I have been crossing my fingers for at least a few days early, but I shouldn't be so picky. She'll come when she's good and ready, I'm sure. I have eleven days til due date, and so far am not dilated or effaced. I picked up some raspberry leaf tea from the health store today... even if it doesn't help bring on labor (although that would be great if it did!) it's supposed to make the contractions more effective and thus shorten labor, so I guess it can't hurt. Besides that I think it tastes good with a bit of honey and helps me get all my water allotment in!

Hopefully soon a beautiful baby girl's face is smiling out at you from this blog... until then!