Welcome Oliver Thomas Barnes

{This is a recap of Week One with our little boy.}


We (finally) welcomed our baby boy, Oliver, into the world and our family at 4:30 in the afternoon on June 1, 2011. He weighed 7 lbs and 12.5 ozs and was 19.5 inches long. Since he was breached, we ended up having a scheduled C-Section. It was actually nice knowing what day he would come and having time to prepare for it.  Our house got cleaned top to bottom, bags were expertly over-packed and Joe and I were somewhat well rested. I may be silly, but I was a little disappointed in not getting to experience labor pains and have Joe massaging my back through it all, but I think it happened for a reason and I am thankful Oliver is here as healthy as can be.

The delivery wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The worst part was checking in, waiting in the stinky waiting room with loud people for a nurse to take us to prep (1.5 hours of waiting), getting prepped for surgery and getting the IV (which gave me a little bit of a panic attack). The spinal block felt like a prick and the surgery portion flew by.  Oliver came out booty first, just like his mama, and was a perfect little boy.  He scored high of his APGAR test (9 out of 10) and we couldn't be more pleased.

 Our first family picture in the OR

Recovery was tough (lots of throwing up and nausea) and it was weird not being able to feel half my body which I think made the nausea worse.  It was almost like being sea-sick and just feeling so disoriented and not myself. Joe held Oliver for the first 3 hours of his life while I got taken care of by the nurse but we were all together in the recovery room.  I remember telling Joe at one point in recovery that I could do it again.  All the horror stories of C-Sections that I heard were not my experience at all which I am so thankful for.

 Oliver Thomas Barnes

Recovering at home has gone well. The first week and a half I needed a lot of help getting up and just felt really weak. Even now, there are still times when I am pretty sore in my belly but I am able to get around and do things by myself now. Joe has been such a sweet and patient husband. I cannot imagine going through all of this without him by my side. I really don't know how people do this alone.

Oliver is such a sweet and easy baby. While I was pregnant, we had so many people telling us how awful the first couple of weeks are (I really don't know why people like to tell you horror stories about things) but we have been really lucky with an easy newborn. Oliver cries when he is cold (diaper changing, baths, etc) but quits as soon as we wrap him in a blanket and warm him up. He gets a little fussy but holding him, putting him in his swing or just talking to him quietens his fussing. We are sure he will not be this easy the rest of his life, but we are truly thankful to be eased into parenting.

 sweet Oliver, part one

Oliver has been eating and sleeping in three hour stretches with one four-five hour stretch at night. A few times a day he is alert between feedings and opens his beautiful blue eyes (which we hope he keeps) and really takes in what is going on around him. He smiles in his sleep but not at us yet and I am so looking forward to him hitting this milestone.

 sweet Oliver, part two

oh-so-blessed

Our life is pretty simple as it is.

We have an old house.  We have 2 dogs.  We have jobs.  And we love them... unless the heater goes out again, the pipes have to be replaced again, we get robbed one more time, we are awoken to the sound of a dog throwing up or peeing, we get the car vandalized in some other fashion or walk into the 3 feet of water in the basement.

We are oh-so-blessed with a large, loving family, great friends (and great-er neighbors), consistent paychecks and a roof over our heads.  Sometimes those things get annoying (maybe not the friends/neighbors part but reference the list further above) but they are blessings none-the-less and we are grateful. 

Joe and I have been happily married for almost 3 years.  He is my best freind and I couldn't have asked for a better one.  We don't always have the best of luck (again, see that list above?) but we get through things and it works out in the end. 

The purpose of starting this internet documentation is because our life is about to get alot less simple.  Why, you ask?  Cause we thought it would be a great idea to expand our family.  And honestly... we are pretty excited about it.  Little baby Barnes is due in about 21 weeks (on June 8th to be exact).  We will find out what it will be in about a week and we are hoping for a little nerd like us. But of course, we will love it even if it is hip.  

Joe and I don't really know what to expect with this new addition to our family.  I have been told how hard it is and how we are crazy for even wanting this...  (I don't know what it is about being pregnant that makes people think it is a great idea to say some of the things people say... but that is probably a whole post in itself)... but this is something Joe and I both want.  Our kid is going to have so many people that love it from grandparents to great-grandparents, aunts and aunties, uncles, cousins... and this makes us so excited that we can hardly stand it.  We know it isn't going to be an easy transition but I do know it will be worth it.  I also know that we won't be doing this alone due to all those people that are going to help us love this baby (and hopefully help with diaper-changing as well.)