From Zero to Seven - in 7 days

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Giving birth should be so easy for everyone! The C-Section was scheduled for 8:30 am Tuesday October 20. Wade and I arrived at the hospital in typical style - 20 minutes late - checking in at 6:45 am. After the fun time in triage, we headed into the pre/post op room to change into the fashion forward stylings of Banner Desert Medical Center (blue looks fabulous on everyone).

We were delighted to see Marilyn, the nurse that was so awesome last year when Hannah was born (she's the one that saved me from being mainlined with petocin). We also met Brent, a nursing student who wanted to sit in on the surgery to learn. Then we waited for my doctor to arrive (she was a bit late because the previous day she and her family had gotten a cocker spaniel puppy). Everyone was relaxed and ready to go.

Wade put on his one size fits all scrubs which were HUGE (I wonder how shorter people make it all work). If he pegged the pants he would have looked like MC Hammer - and upon hearing this pronouncement - he busted out his best "Can't Touch This" moves. It was outstanding artistry (so much so that by the time we arrived in post partum - the nurses had already heard about his moves. Wade is now legend at Banner Desert).

After a spinal, some oxygen (for Nicole not Wade), anti-nausea medication and 30 minutes, Olivia Maria Newhouse was born at 9:03 am Tuesday, October 20 - 6 lbs 9 ozs; 18 inches long. A little peanut. A sweet, little nugget of a Newhouse to add to our clan making us now a family of 5.

Nicole and Olivia stayed in the hospital until Friday morning and Nana Clare was at home with Hannah all week (struggling with exhaustion, because that little one is quite a mover and a shaker).

We headed into the doctor one day shy of one week old (how quickly that time flew by!) to check to make sure there was no jaundice and that all was well. She weighed in at 6lbs 7ozs (she'd dropped down to 6lbs 2ozs while we were still in the hospital) and had grown and inch - 19 inches. Still in the 10th - 25th percentile across the board for weight, height and head circumference. While diminutive compared to her older sister Hannah - Olivia was born a week and a half early and Hannah was born two weeks late.

She is eating, sleeping and growing - proving to be a sweet and calm little baby.