Olivia Ann Young

 Little Olivia joined our family in April of this year. I had a rough pregnancy and was very anxious to be done with it, but Olivia has a mind of her own. She was due on the 6th of April and didn't come until the 13th! I felt like she was never going to come out! McKay's mother Nicci came out a week before the due date and stayed for a week after the due date to help, but Olivia decided not to make an appearance during those two weeks. Nicci had to fly home on Saturday afternoon, then late that night I went into Labor and I had her Sunday afternoon. Grandma missed her by only 24 hours! We were a little bit sad about that, but luckily she had a trip planned for less than two weeks later to attend McKay's graduation, so she still got to meet her pretty soon after birth.

Labor with Olivia was much shorter than with Madelynn. From the very first contraction to the time I had her was about 15 hours, and with Madelynn it was 2 days! Olivia came out in just a few good pushes and she had lots of hair! She was a big girl at 8 lbs 2 oz and 20 and 3/4 inches long. What is funny is that the doctor asked me how big I thought she would be and I told him I guessed 8 lbs 1 oz. I was only 1 oz. off. He said that for some reason mothers tend to have a pretty good idea of how big their babies are and are better at guessing than the doctors. I knew she would be big being a week overdue, and am very glad we didn't have any problems with it.

The Wisconsin Hospitals ran very differently than the Utah hospitals I was used to, which was both good and bad. They let me stand up and move around a lot more during labor than I was used to and I appreciated that. The equipment also seemed a lot more high tech which was very nice. The only frustrations I had were that they would not let me have a pacifier or baby lotion. What? Olivia was nursing like a champ and the lactation consultant even asked, jokingly of course, if she could use me as an example to other breast feeding moms. She was nursing so well that it was all she wanted to do. I needed a break, so I asked for a pacifier and they refused, saying it might hurt her ability to nurse. I get that, but it is my baby and she was nursing  well and I wanted a pacifier. So since they wouldn't give me one Olivia spent the majority of that first night sucking on my fingers, and McKay brought me a pacifier first thing in the morning. They refused to give me baby lotion because they said it might lower her body temperature. both were a little frustrating, but we got through it.

Madelynn and McKay spent a lot of time with us in the hospital. Our wonderful friends the Schmutz's watched Madelynn for us the first night so McKay was able to stay with me. Then McKay picked up Madelynn from their house and they were there all day except for Madelynn' s nap time. There is not a whole lot for a two year old to do in a tiny hospital room, so we had a movie marathon and took many trips to the little kitchen area to get snacks and juice.

We love our little girls and are so happy that they have each other as sisters.