Meet Oliver.

Hello World!!!

I am pleased to introduce to you my sweet boy...

Oliver James, otherwise known as "Ollie".  

Last Wednesday at midnight (39 weeks on the dot) my water broke.  Ollie was more active than ever which was a spitting image of his big sister when my water broke with her.  All of his painful & strong kicks and jabs had me thinking it was more than just the fudge brownies I had just eaten, so Josh told me to sit on a towel just in case.  We were watching "Criminal Minds" and organizing home videos on my laptop...just a typical summer evening.  I fell asleep only to wake up at midnight having to go to the bathroom, but realizing I had just wet my pants???  Thinking my water couldn't possibly have broken I ran to the toilet and checked with a liner I was given to test amniotic fluid with Anya's pregnancy.  Sure enough it tested positive!  My abdomen was warm, I had terrible reflux, and no strong contractions...just like with Anya. 
After calling Katie we gathered our last minute things, suitcase, cleaned up a little and were out the door.  I'm so blessed to have Katie as a sister!!!!! She jumped out of bed and was over in a heartbeat.
When we got to the hospital and checked in it was 1:30.  Our L& D nurse was Dawn and she remembered us from Anya's birth!  She recognized our name and when she saw us she knew for sure she's helped us before!  That was very cool!  By the time I was hooked up to IV and officially checked in the Dr. Beall checked me and said I was 3cm.  At 2:30 they started me on Pitocin and I let Josh get some sleep (I knew I would never be able to sleep!) We turned down the lights and I waited.  At 4am I was having contractions every 3 minutes starting to breath through them but nothing too painful.  4:50 am 5-6 cm dilated (nurse and dr had different opinions).  Daddy was still sleeping.  At 5am they upped my Pitocin a little bit because contractions slowed down.  I was hoping and praying to be able to labor without an epidural like with Anya, but was keeping an open mind just in case I couldn't.  6:00am I was 7-8 cm and the contractions were still manageable.  I decided to wake Josh up because I wasn't sure how quickly they'd become more painful.  We turned on some music and at 7am had a nurse shift change.  Our nurse, Leslie, was the mom of people we know from high school and softball.  She also just so happens to be cousins with our pastor at church!  And she knows Josh's parents.  Small world!  We enjoyed talking to her in-between my contractions.  At this point they were becoming much stronger and my back started hurting.  A nursing student came to watch and help out with my labor.  Dawn's shift was up but she was convinced that I was going to have him soon so she finished up some of her desk work and checked back in around 8:00.  Still no baby so she sadly left but said she'd visit our room tomorrow to meet Oliver.  It seemed like every time they checked me I was still 7cm.  Leslie said my cervix was super soft so she thought he'd come quickly.  Dawn had said she guessed I'd only push for 15 minutes tops.  I was started to wondered if he'd ever drop (station -1) and how long it would take me to finish dilating.  With the pain I started to doubt if I could continue on without pain meds or an epidural.  Around 8:30 (I'm guessing) I was in so much pain during contractions that I decided to shift positions and kneel against the bed to get him to drop.  Worst.pain.of.my.life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I felt like I needed to push.  Yes! Most definitely! Major understatement.  After two strong world-shattering contractions, making me feel like the wind was being sucked out of me .  But how could this be?  I was only 7cm, -1station.  Leslie knew I was 10cm she immediately had me flip over and instantly said you're 10cm.  Not really sure what else she said because I was in so much pain and pushing and trying not to push, but pushing.  Doctors and nurses came running in getting ready just as I felt the burning ring of fire (TMI) I was trying so hard to wait for the doctor but it was nearly impossible.  Josh miraculously remembered to do quick "puff" breaths when needing to delay the pushing.  That helped somewhat...kind of like when people say don't think of a pink elephant. In probably 5 pushes he was out.  Thank you Jesus!!!!  Not only was that incredible pain over....Praise JESUS!  but my boy was in my arms.  And that pain was over.  My baby was born. Did I mention the pain was finished?!?  What a relief!!!! Recovery has been so much better than with Anya too. 

 

Oliver was 6lbs 13oz!  Say what?!?!  Little peanut!  20 inches.  Anya was 9lbs 2oz, 21 3/4inches.  Girl had rolls and cheeks when she was born!  Oliver is such a skinny dude with Hobbit feet (as Auntie Kates says).  He's so tiny and precious, I love it!  Newborn clothes are so fun!  We never got to enjoy them with Anya.  It's fun to see so many similarities between the two of them though.  Even with such big size differences. Speaking of Anya, she adores her baby brother.  She loves knowing where he's at and kisses him constantly.  She needs reminders to be careful but loves him so much.  I love seeing her smile at him.  Melts me!
We just went to Ollie's one week check up and he weighs 7lbs 3 oz.  Last night he slept 4-4.5 hr stretches. Can I get an AMEN!?   I can't even tell you how much I love him.  He's awesome!
Ok, I have a poopy diaper to change.  So long!