Where to begin? I left you on a Friday with my favorite pot roast recipe and a lot has changed since that post.

On October 18 we welcomed our perfect baby girl, Olivia Rae into the world!

On October 10th, at 36 weeks pregnant I went to my first of two weekly doctors appointments and my blood pressure was slightly elevated. Generally my blood pressure is prefect, like exactly 120/80, but it had started to rise and my doctor was keeping a close eye on it. My Doctor said not to return to work and that she would see me on Thursday for my second appointment of the week. At that Thursday appointment my blood pressure was still running high and my doctor said that she wanted to schedule me for an ultrasound on Monday of the next week to check the baby’s size one more time and then we would induce labor Monday night. The reason for the ultrasound was to make sure the baby had not grown to a weight that would cause risks during a natural delivery. My doctor’s concern for the baby’s weight even though I was only at 37 weeks was due to my diabetes. At the ultrasound the technician said the baby weighed 8 pounds and 3 ounces according to her measurements. That appointment was at 4:30 in the afternoon and I was not to return to the hospital to check in for delivery until 8 PM. Clay and my mom were with me because we knew I would be checked in and that the baby would be born that night or the next morning. Those few hours seemed to drag on forever until I could go get checked in and start the delivery process, to kill time we went to a few stores and we had dinner.

    This is our last time to eat out before becoming a family of 3!

Once I got all checked in at the hospital my doctor came in to let me know that the ultrasound results looked fine and we would attempt natural childbirth.

I was given the medication to start labor, but after a long night of contractions my doctor decided it would be better to do a C-Section. I was prepped for surgery at 7 AM and our sweet Olivia was born at 7:47 AM. She weighed exactly 8 pounds and 3 ounces just like the ultrasound tech had said which apparently never happens, they said it usually fluctuates up to a 1 pound difference.

We already knew that Olivia might need to be in the NICU while they regulated her blood sugar, since she had been living and growing inside a diabetic body her insulin amounts were very high and once she was free from my body it caused her blood sugar to run very low, her very first blood sugar check result was 4 and it needed to be at least 60. Since Olivia was delivered at 37 weeks she needed to develop more lung capacity so her oxygen intake level could be normal. Ultimately she ended up spending 12 days in the NICU, it was a rough 2 weeks, but we had a lot of family in and out helping us and even more family and friends praying for us.

There are a ton of photos and a lot of details that I left out, but we are home and well and now the Happy Headricks are 3!