MEET OLIVER

I am happy to be sharing with you the many joys, trials and tribulations and milestones of my baby Oliver.

He was born on May 11th 2009 at 2:08pm. Forty-eight hours from the time my water broke. Yes…48 hours. My water broke while I was eating a Big Mac. Now, I don’t have McDonalds very often, but when I do I really enjoy it. So can you see my dilemma? Well luckily I was at home with my husband at the time so I finished my Big Mac (wouldn’t you? I was hungry!) got my bag and we headed to the hospital. We had to go right away even though I wasn’t having contractions as I had GBS and needed antibiotic.

*Something they don’t tell you – when your water breaks, it keeps on gushing until you have the baby. Luckily a girl friend of mine had given me a pack of Depends. I had laughed at the thought of them before, but I’m telling every one of you who read this, do not go to the hospital without depends. It will save you from having to use those nasty hospital pads!

I’ll spare you all the details, but after 48 hours of some mild contractions and only reaching eight cm dilation, it was discovered that my baby’s head was facing upright and could not be turned manually so we decided to go ahead with a C-section.

I don’t think I will ever forget having a C-section. It was the most bizarre experience I think I’ll have in my life. All the doctors and nurses where chatting away which in a way was comforting because it made you realize how routine this was for them. But, at the same time I wanted to say ‘Hellooo notice me. I’m about to have a baby for goodness sakes!! Never done this before! Could use some reassurance!’

It all happens very fast (10 minutes!) It doesn’t hurt, so you don’t need to worry about that (well not until later when the freezing wears off). I felt incredible pressure on my stomach as the doctors pushed and prodded to get him out. The elation that came when they pulled him out… I can’t even write what it was like. If you have a child you know what I’m talking about. If your having one, all I can say is that this is the moment that makes those long nine months worth it. I think my husband put it best saying that it is at that moment that all ego goes out the window.

Oliver weighed eight pounds exactly at birth and despite a little jaundice was perfectly healthy.

Something that I learned very quickly about having a baby, is that you can plan how you want everything to go until your blue in the face, but at the end of the day your baby is your new boss, so you better get use to being able to adjust to him.

For example:

-I wanted to have a natural birth and ended up having an epidural AND a C-section.

-I wanted to breast feed. That went out the window after many tears on both our parts. I am now bottle feeding formula. For those of you who are able to breast feed I commend you! For those of you who don’t want to breastfeed – or can’t – please repeat after me ‘I am NOT a bad mother!’ You will be made to feel guilty in the hospital by many nurses. When my husband returned the pump to the hospital he felt inclined to lie and tell the nurse that breast feeding was going great in order to avoid the evil eye!

-I said I would never have the baby sleeping in bed with me. Well, when you are used to getting eight to 10 hours of sleep a night and are now getting sleep in two-hour intervals... you get desperate. I slept on the couch with Oliver for the first two to three weeks of his life because it's the only way I was going to get any sleep. And yes…he even slept in our bed one night.

The moral of all of this: Plan as you may but keep an open mind to other possibilities.