Olivia's birth: in pictures

Getting strong(er)

Well, I've been truly "back at it" for about 3 weeks now. It's been really hard. I'm actually not in that bad of shape, all things considered, BUT my mind is way ahead of where my body is. I KNEW it was not going to be like I was immediately going to bounce back to where I was pre-pregnancy but it is hard to convince yourself of this. Or maybe it is just hard admitting that you aren't the same person or body you were then. 

It's funny, when I first started Crossfit, it was all about getting my mind to push my body harder. Now, my mind is much tougher but my body isn't there. And I really need to respect my body and all it has gone through rather than run it into the ground. It is a fine line deciding how hard I should push to improve fitness, but still respect the post-natal healing process. 

And eating is hard. I'm just really hungry. And I'm super scared of eating too little calories and affecting my milk supply. And honestly, alot of paleo meals are not as easy and when you have a sleeping infant (aka ticking time bomb) sometimes you gotta eat just to get calories because it may not happen otherwise. But we are sloooowly getting much better. I found some nitrate free deli meat and I can almost always make a great lunch of that, half a LARGE avocado and a big serving of fruit. We make breakfast at night (eggs mixed with potatoes, sausage, or bacon) so I can easily heat it up in the morning. Dinner I can usually manage to cook. The slow cooker is my friend. Usually slow cooker or grilled meat, either sautéed greens or a salad, and roasted veggies. Easy peasy. 

This post by Lisa Thiel (crazy amazing crossfit athlete and coach who recently had a baby) has helped my mindset. Basically she says you have to rid your thinking about getting back to the old you and embrace your new self, and look at each day as a PR.  Here's to the new me!!

 http://www.lisabenderthiel.com/2013/04/after-jacob-was-born-end-of-september-i.html?m=1

Birth story

Little did I know that when I posted on WEDNESDAY, I would be going into labor just two days later! 

Olivia's birth was the most intense, powerful, utterly human, experience I've ever had in my life. I am SO THANKFUL for a safe, relatively complication-free childbirth. 

Let me just say, although we chose to have a natural childbirth, I have no judgement towards different birth experiences. Every person is different, every birth is different, and I am well aware that under different circumstances, our story could look a whole lot different. Childbearing and childbirth is this wonderful thing that MAKES US WOMEN. No matter how your children entered the world, we as women are all connected by this truly human quality. 

The one thing that really resonated in the process of our childbirth education was the importance of taking charge of your birth experience. KNOW YOUR OPTIONS. Even in the most dire of circumstances, we have CHOICES! No matter which path you choose, or what complications arise, you can still have a meaningful birth experience without feeling like you had no say in the matter. When educating yourself on your options, I highly recommend the following resources: the books, Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way and The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth, and the documentary, The Business of Being Born. 

So, Olivia's birth-since this is a public blog, this will be the less explicit version. Ask me in person if you want to know some more of the gory details ;)

I had been having pretty serious practice contractions all week. I went to the dr at 4:30 on Thursday (3/28). No change from the week before. In my mind, I thought for sure we at least had the weekend. I cooked dinner Thursday night, did some laundry, all the normal stuff. Went to bed around 10 and at 2:30am woke up to use the restroom and felt vaguely cramp-y. These "cramps" felt very different than my Braxton Hicks. I tried to stay in bed and let Tommy and I sleep a bit more. I wasn't successful at falling back asleep but I stayed in bed until around 5am. Tommy and I had a conversation in which he said he was going into work for a little while to which I promptly responded, "no you are not". So I think that gave him the hint that this might be the real deal. I labored around the house for a while, timing contractions. I anticipated having to do this most of the day. However, by 9 am, we were in the car going to the hospital. 

When I got to the hospital, my first exam indicated 4cm dilated which meant I had done quite a bit of work at home. Things were progressing, now I just had to finish! 

Contractions were very painful, not going to lie. I got tired pretty quickly because my contractions were very long in duration with very little break in between.  I definitely couldn't have lasted without my wonderful coach-my husband. He said everything I needed to hear to keep my head on and push through. By the time I got to 7cm I was exhausted and at the hardest point of labor. Tommy was exhausted too! The best way for me to work through the contractions was on my feet, walking, swaying, or squatting. My sweet hubs physically supported me, holding me up with my arms around his neck THE. WHOLE. TIME. It was around this time that I started to really doubt myself and wanted to give up. Tommy's words of affirmation helped me to hang on! Eventually, I got through those feelings and moved to "go mode"- I was ready to get this job done! 

At 7cm, my water had not broken which was stalling things out a little. The Dr mentioned the option of having her break my water. We chose to give it another hour and check back. 

At 8cm, the dr asked again if I would like to consider to have her break the bag of waters. Since I was having pushing urges and baby was so low she felt that once the waters were broken, we would move to pushing very quickly. At this point (4pm) I was exhausted. Though I had snacked some throughout I really wasn't able to get good calories in with so few breaks in labor. So, we decided to go ahead and have her break the water. This was around 4pm. At 4:30pm, it was time to push. Pushed for 30 min- she showed up at 4:59pm! She was perfect and I got to pull her straight up on my chest! 

All of her tests were great and her jaundice levels were really low. All the nurses kept commenting on how alert she was. She caught on to nursing like a champ. I was pretty good too, excepting some low blood pressure due to blood loss. Nothing a few bags of IV fluid couldn't fix. 

She was born on Good Friday and we went home Easter Sunday. Her popi and Lita (my parents), Grammy and Papa Byrd (his name is still TBD), uncle Greg, aunt Jen, and cousin Austin, Uncle Allen, and Aunt Allison were all there to welcome her to the world. 

So blessed! 

Here.

Olivia Rae Byrd

3/29/13, 4:59am

6lbs 10oz, 18.5 in long