Welcoming Olivia Anne Ward

We welcomed Olivia Anne Ward into our lives Tuesday April 14th at 11:40 in the morning. She was a bit over 2 weeks early, not due until May 1st. I had been having terrible pre-labor pains for the previous 2 weeks and I could not wait to meet our new little girl. My labor began while making dinner for the family, I thought that is was just another bad stretch of the false labor. Nope!! My mother came over around 11 pm and Joe and I went off to the hospital. I was still convinced that they would send me home, but Joe thought otherwise. Joe and I were able to gt some rest once I was checked into the hospital and given a bed at 2am. My labor then stopped and we slept until 7am. My OB was on vacation in China!!! Her on call doctor was Dr. Jick, he is partners with my old neighbor Dr. Jennie Chang. I have since then met another woman in my moms club who also had Dr. Beth Julian Wang as her OB but she was yet again on vacation!
Dr. Jick got my labor going again and voila! Olivia was born just a few hours later, it was such a nice experience the second time around. I will never forget the excitement that I felt welcoming her into the world. I was so sick from a 14 hour labor with Audrey that I could not even hold her. I was so excited with Olivia that I had such a wonderful experience to remember. I will never forget the look in the interns face when the nurse checked my and said "oh my god! don't push!" It was fun to watch the staff scramble around turning on the baby warmer, looking at Joe and sharing our excitement. I had a wonderful epidural this time around that never gave me any grief!
After I was settled in my room Joe went home to see Audrey. Audrey had spent the day with Grandma and had her first happy meal from McDonalds. My mom said that all she really ate was the ranch dressing and her milk. The next few days feel like a whirlwind now that I am looking back. I remember holding Olivia, looking at her and studying her face. She did not look like Audrey at all. She had so much hair and the bluest eyes. I had the most wonderful time with Olivia bonding int he hospital. It was such a different experience than my first. Joe was needed at home with Audrey and this left me alone with Olivia for majority of the time.
Late in the afternoon on Olivia's birthday Joe brought Audrey in to meet her new little sister. Over the months leading up to Olivia's birth we told Audrey that she was going to be a big sister and that a new baby would be living in the house. I don't really think that she understood most of what was going on. But she was infatuated with her new sister. This was both good and bad. The funniest memory i can share is that for the next month Audrey would ask to hold the baby several times a day and them immediately as for her picture to be taken. It was so cute!!!!
Over the next few weeks we rescued Olivia from being smothered with toys and gifts that Audrey felt was appropriate to give her new young sister. This only lasted a while before her efforts were focused on how to get the attention she desired. "Mommy...hold baby" was her new motto when her wanted to crawl into Joe's lap. Rarely was it the other way around. But overall I have to say that when I brought Olivia home I moved up on Audrey's list. She was 100% daddy's girl. Now I have to say that we have evened out on her list.