Rhea's taking over

Hello everyone. I have realized that if this blog is going to continue that I needed to take over. Brock has a tendency to get very excited about new projects but loses his enthusiasm if something new comes along or as life gets too busy.

The last post was way back in April. So I will begin with May to give the updates. May was quite uneventful, at the beginning. I was eager to have Oliver and be done being pregnant. I was feeling great but just having the normal pangs of the third trimester.


Ian turned 6 and had an army party. He thinks that he will join the army as soon as he turns 18. I can't tell him not to but I can encourage him to explore other career paths. Isn't that what moms are for? He had a fun birthday. Brock set up an obstacle course in the front yard and we had a "bomb" range with bean bags and water bottles. Being 30 weeks pregnant I wanted it to be as relaxed as possible. The kids had a blast. I will try to remember to plan something this relaxed for his next birthday.


Things began to change toward the eventful side about two weeks later. I was at school doing some work on the computer and just didn't feel right. I finally called the doctor three hours later. They told me to come to the ER immediately. After five hours of lying on the bed strapped to the contraction monitor I was told I was in preterm labor. They need to make sure that Oliver was doing alright so I had two different technicians do ultrasounds, making sure that all the measurements were right. I was given a shot to stop labor and was about the be released when they let me know he was in the breech position. The contractions never did really stop. I was put on a medicine to slow them and told to stay home and sit. So from 32 week to 39 weeks I was at home on bed rest. At 36 weeks they tried to turn Oliver around but it didn't work. We scheduled a C-section for July 11th.

So June for me was spent on the couch with everything within arms reach, so I didn't get up too often. Ian finished the end of his Kindergarten year at Renton Park Elementary without his mom there. He did okay but was very concerned everyday whether I was going to have Oliver and he wouldn't know. Brock was very sweet and made dinner every night and cleaned the house. He had to finally admit that he didn't realize how much work I do around the house that he didn't notice before. I think this June was the first time he ever used the vacuum cleaner at this house. June seemed very slow for all of us.

July was much different. We went to our friends house in Steilacoom for the fourth and watched the little parade and fireworks. It was nice and not too hot. At this point I had gotten tired of taking the medicine. It was a medicine that blocked calcium from your body. Contractions need calcium to be full strength. So do fingernails and building bones. I told my doctor that I didn't want to take it any more and she said that since I made it past 36 weeks, that would be okay. Contractions came back full force but did nothing. I made two more trips to the delivery section of the hospital to be monitored and checked. The contractions would be stable and hard for a couple hours and then become sporadic again and Brock and I would be sent home. We finally resigned ourselves to just waiting for the c-section.

July 10th came and we were all very excited. I was supposed to check in at the hospital at 7 am for a 9 am surgery. We were dropping Ian off at our friends and stayed to chat for a while. 10 pm came and my cell phone rang. I didn't recognize the number so I didn't answer. Who ever it was left a message so I checked it and it was a nurse from labor and delivery. She wanted us to call right away. They need to postpone our c-section. She said that all the beds were full and since my c-section was elective I would have to wait. I told her that I had not elected to have a c-section and had been in labor for almost 2 months by this time. I tried very hard to control my temper and disappointment. They said they would call us in the morning and let us know if we could come in. To make a long story short, if you talk to the right people they will make things happen. I talked to the head of the department and they scheduled the c-section on the 12th a Saturday. They only do emergency c-sections on Saturday. But finally he was going to be here.

July 12 we got to the hospital in the late afternoon and got all suited up. You can see we are all ready to go to surgery. Ian was with our friends and they were on stand by to drop him off so he could be the first to see Ollie. Ian was so very excite to be a big brother he could hardly stand it.


The surgery went fine and he arrived at 4:30 in the afternoon. He was 7lbs 4 oz. Since he was breech and very stiff they estimated his length to be 19 inches. He had lots of hair and I thought he was beautiful. I finally had the completion to my family. I will continue the story on my next post. I hear Oliver on the monitor and I must go get him.