Oliver's Birth Story

It has always been interesting to me that when moms retell their birth story they can say exactly how many hours of labor they were in. How do you know when it really begins? When your water breaks? That's when I knew I was really in labor with Trenton... In Oliver's case, "when labor started" was a bit harder to determine. There were times a few days prior when I had contractions all day long-- even called for Grandma to come to watch Trenton! But they weren't painful and subsided... I chalk that up to my body just getting ready for the real thing... which happened right around the time I was blogging this entry here!


Contractions started at 4:00ish and were a bit painful... by 8:30, I was calling Patti (our midwife) to tell her that they were about ten minutes apart, but varying from 30 seconds to one minute in length. We both agreed that we should wait it out a bit and rest (but to get in before the water breaks, of course). After watching The Office and 30 Rock (couldn't miss the season premiere!) I layed down in bed... contractions every 10 minutes, and then my water broke at 10:50! Good thing Grandma Lacina was already there and had brought with her a sheet-protector pad ;)

We were off to the hospital soon after, arriving at the ER around 11:15. Once we got to the maternity ward, we were told that there were no clean rooms available! No big deal-- just labor in the hallway, right? ;) We did that... and contractions started coming 3 minutes apart, one minute apart... finally, we were in a room at 11:40. After checking out the progress (8 cm dilated) and getting into a great position (on my knees, facing the back of a reclined bed), it was time to push! Probably about eight pushes... Jim was fantastic the whole time, holding my hand, saying positive things, dealing with my yelling... And Oliver's head was out! I can remember saying "What time is it?!!" and being told "Right before twelve!"... my intent was to have him out on the 30th ... but wouldn't you know it, he came out at the stroke of midnight. Just like that, we had our little Halloween baby.

"How big was your first son?" the nurse asked Jim. "Seven pounds, fourteen ounces." "Well, this one is bigger than that!" I hear her respond... sure enough, Oliver weighed 8 lbs and 12 ounces and measured 20 and a half inches long! That is a lot of baby... I gained less weight this pregnancy, too. But he sure looked like a peanut.

Of course, everyone says you look just like your brother, Ollie. We see Daddy's eyes, Mommy's nose, and a whole lot of cute lips and chin.