She's here!

Alivia Kate Gurski was born at 1:36 a.m. Friday, Feb. 5! Stats: 7 lbs, 15 oz and 19 3/4 inches long. Ten fingers, ten toes. Jet black hair (!!).

Here's my best attempt to answer all the basic questions...

Her Name

I've loved the name Olivia since I was a junior-high student. And then a few years ago, the rest of America decided they loved it too. So in an effort to distinguish our child a bit better from the rest of the crowd, we opted to switch the spelling a bit. Plus, we liked that her initials are AKG, which combines our first initials, A & K. And I liked the option to call her Ali if indeed she is among a crew of Olivia/Alivias at school. The final reason for sticking with Alivia was that it incorporated my grandpa's nickname, Al, and since he died just weeks before her birth, it seemed quite fitting.

Kate is a shortened version of my maternal grandmother's name, Katherine. So now both of our children have middle names from one of our grandparents (Tyler's middle name John comes from Andrew's grandpa, John Gurski).

Her Birth

Two words: Fast & Furious. I am still in a little shock from Alivia's birth. On Thursday, I had been experiencing contractions but they were VERY far part - 10 minutes were as close as they got, and they never hung on for long. That night, a strong contraction woke me up at 11:25 p.m. 10 minutes later I experienced another one and my water broke. And then all of a sudden I was having contractions every two minutes!! As soon as my mom got here to stay with Tyler, we flew to the hospital. I got into my room maybe at 12:45 a.m. and Alivia was born at 1:36 a.m. There was no time for anything - we had to wait on the doctor to arrive, and there was no time for drugs of any kind. I'm pretty sure I got that "deer in the headlights" look when my wonderful nurse, Jill (who came thisclose to having to deliver the baby herself), sat down to tell me I was going to be ready to push within minutes and therefore, no drugs. The whole nursing staff was great at trying to keep me calm and to wait for the doctor. I tried not to freak Andrew out by squeezing the nurse's hand moreso than his so he wouldn't know how scary things felt. It was a crazy experience that I barely remember, yet I do recall the big details. When your body takes over and it's up to only your mind to try to take control back, it's near impossible. But as the nurses told me after, that's the way to have a baby - quickly! I pushed 2-3 times and it was over. And since I had no drugs, I could feel the immediate relief of no longer being pregnant and could walk around, shower, etc. whenever I was ready. So I'll say it's nice to know what it's like to deliver a baby both ways - slow and medicated, and fast and natural. Don't ask me which I prefer. :-)

Her Brother

Tyler has been so wonderful! He loves his baby sister, runs to her the second she peeps, and has kissed her more times than Andrew and I have combined. And while I'm glad that he's at daycare as I type this, I am so pleased at how he's been at home.

Thank you to all of our friends and family for the visits, gifts and well wishes! We are incredibly blessed.