Feldman Chronicles: Just a day past 1 week

It's been a day past Olivia's 1 week. Things are settling down with Olivia. She's a great feeder and sleeper (we discovered after a night of crying that she doesn't like to be hot when sleeping). With some energy behind us, we thought we'd give a quick recap to the biggest milestone in the Feldman family household.

Baby Feldman was forecast to arrive October 2nd, but has decided to enjoy her time in her Mom's warm cuddly womb. So Mom and Dad had to give her a hand in starting life. Hopefully her late arrival will not be indicative to her future dates and appointments! Here's a quick recap:

Oct 6, 2009
5:30p Check In
6:00p Receive Cervidil to help dilate cervix
7:30p Ate McDonald's Cheeseburger Happy Meal for dinner ;)
10:00p Went to sleep

Oct 7, 2009
5:00a Woke up to menstrual-like cramps
7:00a Received 1/2 dose of Fetenel per Dave saying, "No need to be a hero" (boy was it good stuff - felt like I was drunk and stoned! haha)
8:30a Woke up having had conked out from the good cocktail in pain. The cramps were probably about 3 times worst than at 3am and it came more frequently. Had to grip onto to the bedrails and breathe out the pain. Was very disappointed as I found out I only had dilated about 1 cm! All that time just for 1 cm! Dave thinks the nurse was being nice and exagerated and that I probably dilated less than 1.
10:30a Decided to do Epidural even though I was only 2 cm dilated. Dave thought it was okay and the day anesthesiologist just came in to relieve the night shift. So at this point I'm like give me anything! Yes, what a pansy I am (Dave also told me those were early contractions and are nothing compared to what I'd have felt by the time I got to 4cm!). Getting the Epidural was soooo much better time 100 than I'd imagined in my head!! Everyone should get an Epidural.
12:30p Nurse (Janice) checked my dilation, which I dilated to 9 cm in 3 hours and told Dave to get the room ready as we can start pushing in an hour! Dave decided to shower and to his dismay, as he got out of the shower around 1pm (less than an hour later), he heard the nurse and me doing our first push.
2:00p Olivia Vivian Tane was born at 2pm, weighing 8.0.07 lbs and measuring 20 inches in length (of which when had our first Peds' visit the following Monday, she was measuring at 20 1/2 inches! Yea!).

Dr. Reimnitz and Janice the nurse was awesome. I did a push session on every contraction minus 2. One was a break and the 2nd was a break while waiting for Dr. Reimnitz to arrive from her office. She was there in less than two contractions! I just honed in on Janice's voice and followed her count and commands. Dave was a great partner, with his support and tips for pushing. I finally figured it out, push as if you are doing a sit-up crunch and a Kegel.

But after 10 months and 5 days of waiting she is finally here! We can't wait to share our experiences and memories with you. Our family is complete - for now ;)