Oliver Josiah July 9, 2009
7 lbs. 7 oz
19 1/2 in
Our morning began as planned. I hadn't slept but an hour as the anticipation of a scheduled induction had me busy as a bee with last minute organizing, lots of time praying, and the most joyful of jitters. At the crack of dawn I roused Marty from sleep and he donned the "lucky" yellow Fox sweatshirt that was his attire for Jayden's and Zachary's birth, and we were in the car for our 5:15 check-in at Simi Adventist Hospital.
By 6:30 I was attached to a friendly IV that was slowly dosing me with Pitocin and Marty was reclining in an adjacent chair hoping to reclaim some Zzz. The hospital was calm; I was calm, and ready to wait patiently for the hours to pass until our son would make his voyage into my arms.
My OB strolled in at 7:40 to break my water and then leisurely sauntered out of the room to assist in a C-section. As he left the room he surmised that I'd be receiving my heavily anticipated epidural once the anesthesiologist arrived in 1.5 hours and he hoped to be delivering the baby by noon. Sounded like a plan to me...
But less than 30 minutes later I had Marty studying the computer output to determine the time between contractions -- some were only 45 seconds apart! I was definitely feeling the intensity and made a comment to the nurse that I just might start moaning. She decided then to go ahead and set up the room for the delivery, but wasn't too hurried about it and continued to assure me that my epidural was close at hand.
10 minutes later I could barely breathe and asked for a little narcotic assistance to help me wait calmly for my numb paradise. But before administering the Stadol she gave me a quick exam to see how I'd been progressing.
I will never ever forget the pale, apologetic look on her face when she said "Oh honey, I can't give you this. You're 8 1/2 cm and you're gonna have this baby right now."
Some collection of thoughts and yes, a bit of panic, ran through my mind like this:
"Huh? But I'm just waiting here for my epidural and then I'll have the baby..around noon remember. And i can't have him NOW, my Dr is in surgery, and my mom is at Panera getting breakfast for Marty ..and I'm waiting for my epidural...and we don't have the cameras out, and I'm waiting for my epidural...and HELP!"
Marty called my mom to have her ditch the bagel and hurry! The nurse sprinted out of the room yelling for someone to get Dr. Murphy out of surgery STAT. While she was in the hall I curled in a ball, looked up at Marty and yelled "I'm gonna push him out! He's gonna come out!!" Marty had his moment of panic right about now as he tried to picture himself delivering the baby because had been abandoned with me in the delivery room.
Moments later at about 8:35 Dr Murphy flew into the room with 2 nurses in tow. The next minutes were a blur, but I definitely remember screaming very loudly (as does everyone else in the hospital), chomping down on what I thought was Marty's yellow sweatshirt (see pix below), and as Marty describes it being put in a "time-out" by Dr. Murphy because I was so very loud and decided I didn't want to push after all. But at 8:40 I pushed with all my might and out flew our little boy.
Just a fraction of time past it seemed and I was experiencing one of God's miraculous designs for child bearing: the pain is easily, quickly, completely forgotten (and worth it) when a mother's arms are full of the warm, tiny flesh of her child...womb empty, heart overfilled.
Dr. Murphy forgave me for my hysteric display of lung capacity. And my husband forgave me for biting his arm -- he even joked about having it tattooed as a keepsake :)
My mom, dad and Zachary arrived to hear Oliver's first cries.
Marty's mom and Jayden wheeled Oliver to my recovery room.
And Jude wheeled me...she was the nurse who cared for Jayden right after her birth.
Uncle Andrew was the first of our siblings to meet Oliver.
Aimee came with flowers for me and chocolates for Jayden and Zachary.
After 2 wonderful nights just me and Ollie I was wheeled back into the reality of our busy life.
Proverbs 19:21
"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."
Autumn and Zachary have developed a sweet affection for each other and their tender hand-holding and exuberant squeal fests bring a wellspring of joy to us mama's. They've been getting to know each other since May when Amanda and her husband packed up their New York home to re-establish some California roots. Amanda and I have been meeting once a week for fellowship through a Beth Moore Bible Study called "Living Beyond Yourself". While we are cozied up with coffee in the office our kids have a play-date with a babysitter.
We try to meet up with each other at least one other day during the week (having a baby interfered a bit with this plan) and 2 weeks ago we converged at a local strip mall for some Panera yum and wet-n-wild fun!! (Mima was there to provide back-up..ie chasing the run-away kid, lathering tiny faces with sunscreen etc). Oliver was super chill and slept the entire time, except for 1 hungry moment--not bad for being 7 days old!
Zach was eager to show off his 4 blue fingernails. He had to get in on the action as I festively painted and bedazzled 
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Just like last year, at 4:00 we met at the 
Most of Zach's buddies joined us for the festivities. Morgan and Sophia Elder and Taryn 
Marty spent a ton of time chasing Zachary on the playground -- He is quite the daring climber and requires constant supervision.
