Baby Oliver Martin Dunford is here!

A week before he arrived, I started having constant and progressing contractions that kept me up all night from excitement (very manageable pain at this point). They started last Saturday night at 11:00 and by 3:30 AM Nate and I thought I could be in labor, so we got final odds and ends packed up, showered, and waited until the contractions reached 5 minutes apart. Once they hit the target, they stopped cold at around 5:30. Bah! I had random contractions for the next three days, and then Tuesday night I had the same progressing contractions. I was up all night timing them (I couldn't sleep from the pain anyway), and they progressed from a half hour apart to 6 minutes apart. Again, I thought this could be it... but I didn't trust them. Sure enough, they started tapering off. This happened Wednesday night... Thursday night... Friday night... I was exhausted. I wasn't sleeping, and my uterus was already shot. Nate had to stay up with me to slap/pound my back during each contraction so that I could endure the pain. It felt like I had been in labor for days already... which I kinda had been.  Darn Braxton-Hicks!

Saturday morning, I was about to throw in the towel. I knew I couldn't make it another night and still be able to get this baby out VBAC-style like I wanted. The words "c-section" crossed my lips as Nate and I talked it over, and I knew something had to happen that day. We said a prayer, then he gave me a blessing right there in bed, and within twenty minutes my water broke. We called Nate's mom upstairs to massage some pressure points on my feet to get my random contractions closer together. Almost immediately, the contractions came ten minutes apart and progressed quickly to seven. We left for the hospital and arrived around 1:00 PM.  I had two contractions during the 15 minute drive to the hospital, and then two more on my way to the room. I still wasn't convinced that I was in active labor, though, because the contractions weren't yet five minutes apart. When I was told that I was dilated to a six, I almost cried from relief. I couldn't believe that my body did on its own what it was forced so long (40 hours) and hard to do during my labor with Max. From that point on, I was completely calm and content. I got an epidural (something that I waited 26 hours to do last time), and Lori continued to rub my feet to keep contractions going. When the doctor told me it was time to push, I had five rounds of contractions/pushing before Oliver's heart rate started dropping. The doctor asked the nurse to get some forceps when another contraction started. During this push, Oliver's head came out with the cord wrapped around his neck. Another push, and his body came out... the cord wrapped tightly around his right leg. The doctor quickly and calmly unwrapped the cord and placed Oliver on my chest. After a few minutes Dr. Allen had Nate cut the cord.  The entirety of the pushing phase lasted only seven contractions over ten minutes. Ten minutes! I definitely shed some tears as I held Oliver for the first time. The whole experience was so different this time around - I actually enjoyed it.

Oliver was 6 lbs 9 oz and 20 inches long. That's two pounds lighter than Max was, so Nate and I were pretty shocked. He is really mellow, feeds well, and HATES having his diaper changed. Unlike me, he prefers to be really warm... so I had to get out the winter baby blankets for him. He is still nocturnal, sleeping in the day and eating all night. I think he has Nate's ears and eyebrows, just like Max. I think he might have Martin eyes and hands, and he definitely has my feet. His fingers are really long, and his skin is olive. He's a perfect little baby... and so small. His bum is all bone, so his diaper slips off really easily. He keeps his hands up to his face while he sleeps. And he sometimes gets a Popeye thing going and only opens his right eye.  He was born on Brazil's independence day - September 7th, which is much better than some of the other dates that he might have come. 

Max was adorable with Oliver the first time he saw him in the hospital. Zach, Julie, and Sandra brought him in Saturday night. They sat him on a chair and put Oliver in his arms. Max knew something important was happening; he was subdued and obedient. He cradled Oliver and looked closely at his face. He pointed to Oliver's nose, eyes, and mouth. And then he patted his chest. We told him to give Oliver a kiss, and he leaned in and gently kissed his forehead. I was dying... SO CUTE. Max spent the rest of the visit eating my crackers and Oreos.