Welcome Olivia Ryan Barista

Father's Day

June 19, 2011

We decided to go out to lunch for Father's day at Claim Jumper in Yorktown with Dave's family and my family. We had a great lunch and we were so excited because I was due in three days--June 22, 2011 was D.Day!!! As we were leaving the restaurant we saw a little girl outside and I had said "oh she is darling, what is her name?" The mom replied, "Alice" I was stunned and looked at my mom and asked if you heard what her name was. Alice was my grandmother's name who had passed away on June 19th, 2009. As you know, we did not find out the sex of the baby. I thought it was a sign.

Later that night...Dave and I were at home sitting around in the evening and I was not feeling much movements in my tummy--no baby movements, nothing! We of course looked it up on the internet (don't do this, it will scare you) and I ended up calling my doctor who told me to come in and have a look-see at the baby! I had already been in on June 16th to get checked out for my raised blood pressure, but they had sent me home. Dave and I had left all the baby bags and things in the jeep just in case, so we jumped in the car and got to Central Dupage Hospital in about 20 minutes. As we approached the hospital, it was very calm and quiet. We checked in and waited about an hour. The doctor checked me out and came in and said "we'll let's get you induced tonight since you are about 3cm dialated. She said "your going to have this baby very soon!" I immediately froze and excitement and nervousness entered my body and mind! WHAT! After looking at Dave, we got excited and called our parents and told them. Of course they were over to CDH in a matter of an hour.

I was induced and hooked up to the IV and monitors! As the nurses were busy checking my vitals and the babies they were having trouble getting finding out the babies heartbeat. It seemed as if for an hour, but more like 5 minutes that they were trying to find it. Things were getting a little nerve-racking, but I do remember having an oxygen mask over my face and preparing for something! The doctor flew in and broke my water and then they found out that the machine was malfunctioning-very scary couple of minutes thinking something was wrong with the baby! As this was happening my parents had arrived and the sirens in the room were going off. Poppy Kantorowicz got a little scared and nervous...at this point I told my dad to our house and take Renny back to my parents. He obliged and I am sure was happy to get out of the hospital.

After the initial scare...contractions started getting a little more painful and at that time my nurse, Michelle had asked if I wanted an epidural. I said Yes and then about an 30 minutes later I was given one. After that happened, my body was contracting and I was not feeling everything--which was great! The epidural was nice, but I still felt the pressure after a while. I believe this was around 1am on June 20th.

My mom and aunt had come in to check on me and I was shaking from the epidural...I remember trying to rest and staying warm. I remember them saying good luck and love you and then about an hour or so later...it was GO-TIME!

I had an amazing nurse who was the best nurse along with Dave who was amazing and a great coach. Between them it was a textbook delivery. I remember the doctor coming in and getting ready...within five minutes are baby was in the air and I was looking to see if it was a boy or girl! I screamed "oh my gosh, it's a girl!" I was stunned, surprised and an awe of this beautiful and healthy human being we had brought into the world. Olivia Ryan was born at 6:28am on Monday, June 20th, 2011. She was 8 lbs, 1 oz and 21 inches long.