William's birth story

Our sweet baby William is a whole week old today. Already it seems like he's always been here. Before his big day becomes too much of a memory, here are some reflections on the busy week behind us.

The day before William's arrival was Anna's third birthday. We celebrated with a special breakfast muffin (candles!), presents and a lunch out at Two Toots in Glen Ellyn.  Grandma and Grandpa Olsen came for dinner and then both kids went home with them for a sleep over. That gave me and Jamieson a chance to take an after-dinner walk -- the one thing I miss most about life before kids. Before heading to bed, our bags were packed and ready for the big day ahead.

Induction was scheduled for 6 a.m. Since I don't think I slept much past 4:30, I had the chance to spend a few beautiful, solitary early morning minutes on our deck at dawn. I can assure you, William was born on an absolutely perfect Summer day.

Minutes old

The first part of the morning was emotionally rough. The first nurse to take my blood pressure summed it up as she looked at the numbers: "You really don't want to be here, do you?" I most certainly did not. When the next nurse came in and announced she was ready to get the Pitocin started, I fell apart. (With Erik, I'd tried for a natural birth. Several hours into that exhausting experience, I asked for an epidural. While that was helpful, the Pitocin I was also given several hours after that ushered in a rather unpleasant experience. Till Erik arrived, of course!) So, it took a conversation with the doctor to explain his plan before I was comfortable proceeding. Everything made sense once spelled out. It would have been nice if I'd had a chance to talk with that doctor before delivery day, though! Since I was already being induced, and already exhausted and emotional, I decided to go straight for the epidural, too, due to my Pitocin fear. That turned out to be a brilliant choice. I felt every contraction, but as pressure rather than pain. It was the easiest birth I can imagine. Probably not more than two hours after getting everything started, I realized that when the contractions came, William's heartbeat beeps disappeared from the monitor. I asked Jamieson to call the nurse, who determined that I was ready to deliver. Speedy! She told me not to push since she still needed to get various equipment set up in the room. When the doctor and nurse were ready, it couldn't have taken more than few pushes before William was in my arms. Anna had arrived very quickly, too, so the doctor and nurses expected me to go quickly. I didn't expect it to go so easily, though. All my fears that too much medical intervention would be bad for baby evaporated once he arrived. He scored 9s on his Apgar tests (the typical blue hands and feet kept him from the perfect score). He had no problem eating right away and was very, very alert.

William met his brother and sister later in the day when Grandma and Grandpa brought them to visit. Both seemed genuinely excited. When Anna was born, Erik was definitely nervous. This time he had a very proud big brother smile. Anna just wanted to hug the cute baby right away and has been an eager helper ever since. Jamieson and I agree that William looks very much like Erik with more and darker hair, although not as much hair as Anna had!

In the incubator (Aviator glasses are a good look, no?)

The second day in the hospital was difficult again. It started well when the pediatrician declared William to be in fine shape and offered to send us home early. The doctor who delivered him said it was our choice. That was a surprise option, since I had assumed we would be at the hospital for two full days, but once I started thinking about it, heading home seemed like where I wanted to be. So the rest of the day was busy trying to get everything done. Grandma and Grandpa Grosz came to meet William and had just a few minutes with him between his various checkups, screenings, circumcision, and hospital photographs. By late afternoon, I was still waiting the final okay to get out, when a nurse called the nursery for me to check on the status of things and heard that William had elevated bilirubin levels and would need photo therapy. We'd already been told William was healthy, we were being treated as if we were going home, and when Anna had similarly "high" levels, she was just sent home to sit in a sunny window and come in for a blood test at her next checkup, so this news came as a shock. William needed to spend the night in an incubator and while I was nursing him, I had a biliblanket to hold next to his body. It was a difficult night.

Proud big sister and her little brother

Fortunately, the lights did the trick and we were really ready to go home by Friday morning. The big kids were happy to have everyone home. Callie seemed puzzled that we were bringing another little creature into the house. After the stresses of being in the hospital, it was so good to be home with our complete, healthy family.

So, here we are, a week later. William is a great baby. He's into cluster feeding, which gets exhausting for me, but eating is what he needs to do. On Monday, he had his first office check up and did fine. There were no jaundice concerns. The doctor simply wanted to see him regain his birth weight by the time he comes in for the two-week check up. So it's dinner every three hours or less round the clock till then. I'm not worried. He enjoys a good meal. Today, he seems to have a plugged tear duct in one eye, but Anna had the same issue, so we will just keep it clean and massaged till it clears up. While there's no way to minimize how exhausting it is to be home with a newborn and his two active siblings, at least the infant care issues aren't as scary as they were the first time around. We know he's growing and we know he will get stronger and more personable as time goes on. He's already a strong, pleasant little guy. We have been richly blessed. God is good.

Welcome, William!

William looking at Daddy, just minutes old.

William smiles for Mommy. 

The big kids love their new brother. 

The Olsen Family, August 10, 2011

Hello, World. I'm William!

Introducing William Jamieson, born August 10. 

Our "little" guy was 8 pounds 14 ounces 

and 22 inches long. 

Baby update: 40 weeks ... yes, 40 weeks

Baby apparently didn't get the message that today is his due date. So, here we are at 40 weeks. Lesson to be learned, please don't tell an expectant mom that you are sure she will go early because when that doesn't happen, it's just depressing.

Anyway, I had yet another checkup today. Baby is perfectly fine. He's still "breathing" well, still super wiggly and still has plenty of water in his swimming pool. I, however, apparently have slightly elevated blood pressure. It's not dangerously high. (Honestly, I attribute it to the chocolate I ate before the checkup to ensure a happy, squirming baby.) The doctor said that if I was at 38 weeks, it would be fine to just keep monitoring it. Since I'm now overdue, he wasn't willing to give baby till the end of the week, though. Since Anna's birthday is tomorrow, he was willing to wait until Wednesday. So, we are now scheduled for an induction bright and early Wednesday morning. Unless, of course, Baby finally figures out where the door is tonight or tomorrow.

I'm not thrilled with the scheduled induction thing. It seems absurd that a third baby would need to be helped along in such a way. To be honest, it really feels like a failure on my part that some aspect of my body isn't doing what it's supposed to be doing. I know I should just be grateful that everyone is healthy, but I can't deny my control freak nature. It annoys me that something that I'm supposed to manage has to be controlled by other people.

Part of the frustration is that Anna's birthday is tomorrow and I haven't been able to plan a good birthday celebration for her. Even now, we're telling the kids what to expect for tomorrow and Wednesday, but it's certainly possible that those plans will get changed at the last minute. (It would also be nice if Erik would stop saying things like "It's not your birthday yet, Anna," "You can't open your presents today," and "You don't get to have kids over.") Oh, well. Like it or not, this week we all learn a lesson in flexibility.

So, 48 hours from now, one way or another, there will be a new baby in the family. Keep us all in your prayers and we will update everyone as soon as we can.

Baby update: 39 weeks

Here's a picture of our little man from yesterday. Yet again, it was hard to get a good picture since he's always hiding behind his hands. I'm trying to figure out if he was winking at us or managed to give himself a black eye. (The real answer is that it's just a shadowy picture.)

Baby had the same tests yesterday that we did the past two weeks and passed them again with no problem. The doctor says he looks like a beautiful baby. She thinks it's unlikely that I will make my appointment next Monday. Every indication is that he's getting ready to meet us sometime soon. Of course, we thought that for a few weeks before Anna put in her appearance, so it's certainly no guarantee. So, he could show up today. He could be a tease and hang out for another week yet.

Whenever Baby decides to arrive, we are ready. Over the weekend, Jamieson hung up some pictures on the nursery walls and a nightlight suitable for late-night diaper changes. Our main goal is to get Jamieson healthy. He's fighting a rather nasty sinus infection now. Sunday morning, we let him sleep while the rest of us went to church. Nothing like being as pregnant as I am with two bouncy preschoolers to get me plenty of sympathetic looks and doors held open.

The older kids are going absolutely stir crazy with being stuck inside during this summer heat. I just can't endure spending much time outside these days, so they're stuck in with me. On the occasions when we do get outside for a bit, my fair-skinned children turn red within minutes, so they don't fair much better with the humidity than I do. Fall and school days can't come soon enough for them.

It will be interesting to see how the kids react when Baby finally arrives. Erik's current concern is about the crying. He asked how much time Baby and I would be in the hospital. I said it would be two or three days, assuming everyone was healthy. He said we should stay three days because he doesn't want Baby's crying to wake him up. Anna just wants to hold the cute baby. I'm sure she will be frustrated with being dethroned from her role as the youngest. Some days it seems the closer she gets to three, the more she acts like a two-year old. Again, it will be good for them to have school soon. As I update our August and September calendar with all the back-to-school activities, I find it challenging to think that I have to haul a newborn along, too. When Erik was born, Jamieson and I pretty much sequestered ourselves for a few weeks as we tried to figure out what to do with the tiny little person we now had. That didn't happen with Anna and it certainly won't happen this time!

Right this moment, I have a traumatized little dog hiding under my chair. When the kids are getting ready for bed or napping, Callie searches for them and has even been known to nap on Anna's bed with her. (Erik isn't as much of a dog person, it seems.) The rest of the day, Callie spends trying to get out of the way of the stampede. It's tough to be a 10-pound elderly dog around this crew. It's probably not her first choice for a relaxing home, but she's certainly good for us when we slow down enough to snuggle with her.