It's A Girl!!!!!

My sweet sweet Olivia Lyn was born on May 29 at 8:15 am.  She weighed in at 7 lb. 8.5 oz and 21 inches long.  What a surprise she was!!

We started out her birthday by being at the hospital by 5:30 am...where we checked in, got hooked up and (for me) waited nervously for two hours until it was time to go.  Dr. Axelrod was a little late (telling us a funny story about his convertible) but we were ready to go and headed into surgery by 7:45.  There was lots of excitement over the fact that baby girl was a "surprise" and we all joked about how Mom and Dad didn't have a girls name (the nurses and dr offered up the name Gertrude which we politely declined).

Chad finally came in with me....held my hand and we didn't have to wait much longer.  At 8:15 we heard little cries and Dr asked if we wanted to know what it was....we said YES!  He answered with "It's A Girl!"  He lifted her tiny little crying body up over the sheet and Chad and I commenced a state of shock.

I was convinced beyond a doubt that I was having a boy.  I had pictured it, played it out in my head, I was overly confident...embarrassingly so now that I look back at it!  I just felt like this pregnancy was more similar to Gavin's that it was Sydney's and it just made sense.  I always pictured myself with boys and as much as I dreamed of a sister for Sydney, I always wanted a brother for Gavin too.  I pictured life with just me and Syd as the girls and raising an only girl...just like me.  It all made sense.
Until those words:  "It's a Girl!"

The rest of the surgery is a blur of shock, disbelief, tears, excitement, you name it!  We kept saying "Can you believe we have a girl?"  "Oh my word, another girl!" "What are we going to tell Gavin?"  "What are we going to name her?"  "Sydney has a sister!?!"  "This is crazy."  All of those lines were on repeat for the next 15 minutes.

Then the nurse brought our baby girl up close....and she was beautiful and perfect and when I said hello, she turned and wiggled.  Her and Chad were off and I was left to ponder and process as the drs. finished up.

Chad met me in recovery a half hour later where he filled me in on her birthweight (the exact same as Gavin's!) and how she was doing in the nursery.  She was tongue-tied (go figure) and she had long feet and she was perfect and she was an Olivia....according to Chad.  He showed me pics and videos of her and we talked about what to name her.  We quickly eliminated a few in our lineup and what was left was Olivia....and Chad just kept saying, "It's Olivia, she's an Olivia."

We finally got her back in my room around 11 am and soon after, we officially named her Olivia Lyn.  She shares my middle name and as much as I don't feel a "need" to name a child after me or anything of that sort...I hope it represents just a small portion of all the things we will share in life.  But the bottom line is...her Daddy named her and wanted her to be Olivia.

She's an Olivia.  She's a beautiful baby girl that will have a special place in our family.  She has a brother who adores her...a sister who will treasure her and a Mom and Dad that will love her unconditionally.  She's a lucky girl....but we are the ones truly blessed.

Welcome to the family Olivia!!