Harper Olivia Kozlen

Harper Olivia Kozlen was born July 11, 2013 at 6:47 pm. She was 8 lbs, 21 inches long and absolutely perfect.

Stephen and I were instantly in love. 

 I mean look at that face! So perfect. (the tiny one, not mine. ha)

Stephen wrote a great blog post about the labor. You can read it here. A few of my additions are below.

• All the classes we took and none of the first steps they tell you are going to happen did for us. We didn't labor at home for more than 2 hours and there was no 5-1-1 (contractions 1 min long, 5 mins apart, for 1 hour). I woke up to contractions ranging from 9 to 4 mins apart (they are supposed to be consistant before you go to the hospital). Then within a half hour they went to 1 min long, 6 to 3 mins apart. Another half hour and they were 1 min long 2-3 mins apart! 

• Chewie wanted to be near me when I was attempting to get comfortable on the couch. Comfort didn't happen but it was nice that he wanted to help me out

• We were mins from walking out the door when I remembered how I wanted to get a picture of me in my last hours pregnant. In my mind this would have happened in the hours of laboring at home we didn't do. haha Instead this picture was taken seconds before/after a contraction when we needed to be walking out the door to the hospital. haha
• In my mind it didn't take almost an hour to walk from the doctor's office to the hospital, it felt much quicker. But it did feel like it took an hour to get an epidural and in reality that was 15 mins. haha
• I had no idea I was having back labor. Looking back at it now all the signs were there, as I could only get comfortable standing with Stephen rubbing my back, but since I had never been in labor before I had no idea that was what was going on! 
• I had been very concerned with back labor and paid extra attention during all the classes on the best ways to labor and deliver with back pain. Too bad I was in too much pain to know what was happening. haha
• Fun fact for you...When my mom delivered me I was sunny side up (back of the babies head facing the spine) as well, giving her back pain AND when my grandma had my mom she was also sunny side up! I knew this fact which is why I was paying attention in class, even though there isn't any proven correlation between how your mother gave birth and how you will. 
• My nurse told me after we did some practice pushes and she thought Harper's head would be able to be turned with delivery that all morning both her and the doctor were sure I would have to have a c section. But with my stellar pushing skills (haha) and the fact that Harper was able to be turned as she was being delivered (she never did turn on her own when I was laboring down) we were able to deliver her vaginally as we intended.
• My nurse was AWESOME. She was no nonsense, told us how it was and was really supportive and helpful. The doctor who delivered was also amazing. They worked so well together you could tell they were a team that enjoyed being paired up when it happened. 
• Stephen was my rock. He was truly amazing and I will never forget the looks on his face while I was pushing. He was so excited and so proud of me it was unforgettable for sure.
• I was unsure of how birth would go, I mean you really have no idea. I would go from thinking "yeah I bet I could do the whole thing natural" to "maybe I'll just get an epidural right off the bat". I really really wanted to stick to my plan of getting to 6 cm and deciding from there. My main reason was I didn't want to be stuck laboring in bed, especially since you have no idea how long it will take you to get to 10 cm. When the doctor first told us I was 3-4 cm the amount of pain I was in I was a little disappointed cause I was thinking there is no way in hell I can make it to 6 with this pain. Walking definitely got me to where I wanted to be and further. I am proud of myself for sticking it out and choosing to walk, even if it was miserable and took an hour. :) 
• Looking back the whole day seem's so crazy and it feels like it went so fast. I labored for 8 hours and pushed for 2 (1 hour and 57 mins actually). I never once said I can't do it. I had my best friend by my side (oh and my mom, dad, sister and mama came and said hello for a while too when I was just hanging out waiting for her to turn). In the end I got to meet the most important person in the world to me. Worth it all I would say. 

After labor was an intense few hours/days. Stephen has also already done a blog on the whole experience you should go read here. 

I was able to hold our sweet Harper after she was born but she was quickly wisked away to the NICU. Stephen went with her and my mom came and sat with me while the doctor finished things up. Once I was able to leave the delivery room and be moved to my recovery room they wheeled me to the NICU to see Harper first. Here we are hanging out for the first time :)