Olivia Jean Lacher-Starace

Below is the message we got from Jen today.

Dear Family & Friends, Well, it wasn't what we expected, but we are certainly VERY HAPPY to announce the birth of our daughter, Olivia Jean Lacher-Starace, who arrived on Tuesday, December 6, at 7:37 p.m. She weighed in at 7 lbs., 12 oz. and was 21 inches long. SHE'S A BEAUTY, if we do say so ourselves! (Check out the attached photos!)

You may recall that her original due date was today, Dec. 10. When I went in for my routine, weekly doctor's appointment on Tuesday afternoon, the doctor discovered that little Olivia, gymnast that she already is, had flipped into the breech position. Upon further review (a.k.a. an ultrasound), her position was confirmed and the sonographer measured only 3.7 cm of amniotic fluid (which is apparently not much) and she wasn't moving much. I don't know the degree to which the doctor downplayed his concerns, but he was both calm and matter-of-fact when he told me to leave the office, drive across the street and check myself into the hospital for a C-section that night!

Mike was at basketball practice, so I called him before following the doctor's orders. He seemed to take it pretty much in stride (although the other coach said he looked pretty tense) and he went home to gather what I had managed to pack in my hospital bag (not a lot) and met me in a labor-and-delivery room at Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford around 5:30. I won't lie; we were both pretty much in shock. No one gave us any reason to be concerned about the baby, but this was the LAST thing we expected!

Anyway, I was given a spinal anesthetic shortly after 7; then Mike joined me in the operating room and out came Olivia about 30 minutes later! (Meanwhile Mike's sister Michele, who was supposed to be my labor coach along with Mike, is screaming up the highway from Connecticut. She and Mike's mom, who lives in Old Orchard, Maine, arrived around 8 p.m.) Mike got to help cut the cord and bathe and weigh her and stayed with her in the post-partum room until I came up from recovery around 9 p.m.

So, she's pretty much PERFECT! She has brown hair with the most unique (according to everyone on the hospital staff) blond highlights and, for now, dark blue eyes. We stayed in the hospital for 3 nights. There was a blizzard here yesterday - we got a foot of snow - so Mike left the hospital around 3 p.m. to come home and shovel and snow blow; he came back to get us and we all arrived home about 9:30 p.m. The cats are doing their best to ignore her; although they clearly missed us (Mike stayed in the hospital all three days/nights). I am healing nicely with only minimal discomfort, thanks in large part to some lovely pain killers.

We've managed to get at least some sleep each of the past four nights; hopefully we'll work out a better routine in the coming days and weeks. My parents arrive next Wednesday afternoon and Mike will likely head back to school Thursday. We'll send more pictures soon - meanwhile, hope all your holiday preparations are going well and you are keeping warm. Love to you all, JEN.