Home Sweet Home

While I had a great experience at the Mater Mother's Hospital, I was dying to be home in my own bed (and honestly I didn't think I could go another night alone without David). On the second day, with everything going great with Oliver, we were discharged that afternoon and made it home! Here are some photos from his first few days. 

Just 2 days old, home from the hospital, having some skin-to-skin time with Dad.

First bath at home and he loved it. His first bath at the hospital...not so much. 

The first meet & greet

Some photos a few hours after Oliver was born, when he got to meet some of his (Australian) family for the first time!

My two boys. 

Look how chubby Ollie looks! I know he was a big boy at 9lbs but really he isn't chunky at all. He was just very swollen from birth. Oh, how I wish those cheeks would have stuck around at least a few more days! 

Ollie and his Great Auntie Julie! 

We LOVE her and were so happy she was up from Melbourne :) 

Auntie Julie and cousin Asher...and cousin Hart #2 (to arrive this February)! 

Cuddling up with his oldest cousin, Will

Auntie Karen, Will, Ewan, Bryn and Ben! So many boys! 

Kisses from Benny Boy Xx

Grandma Carol 

And one more of my little man, only a few hours old, just because I think he's pretty cute. 

Ollie's Story (the labor)

September 11 2013

At 6am I woke up to David's alarm clock going off for work. After he hit snooze and fell back to sleep,   I was trying to do the same when all of a sudden I felt a kick real low in my stomach - which was weird because at this stage in my pregnancy (I was 40 weeks and 3 days) he didn't kick because he was too big, I just felt movements like an elbow nudge or a squirm. Immediately after the kick I felt and heard a pop in my stomach and my water broke! I was so excited because I knew this meant I was having our baby today! 

I woke up David then and told him the good news. We decided he would go to work while I showered and finished packing our hospital bags - after all, women, especially with their first baby, are usually in labor for hours and hours, if not days. While I was in the shower I felt a real strong pain really low, like the worst cramp you could imagine. I thought OUCH, here comes pre-labor! I knew I was in for it if this was just the beginning. After I showered I called the hospital to let them know my water broke. She told me to take my time and come in sometime today to get assessed (when your water breaks you need to go to the hospital within 24 hours because the baby could get an infection). After the phone call the pain kept on going and then coming back and it was getting worse quickly. David was just about to leave for work and I told him I thought we should go to the hospital now, because honestly I was already in a lot of pain. I was trying to tell him a few last minute things to pack but the pain was getting so bad I couldn't really concentrate or talk. My brother-in-law James was taking us to the hospital and when he saw me, him and his wife were like, this is nothing, you haven't even had contractions yet (the pain was still really low and not in my stomach). I felt like such a wimp! How was I gonna last?

In the car ride to the hospital the pain was intensifying fast. I couldn't sit still. I kept squirming and taking my seat belt on and off and couldn't talk through the pain. It was bad. James decided to time the pain, and it went from 4 minutes apart to 2 1/2 minutes apart to 2 minutes apart, all within a 20min car ride to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital sometime after 8am. We went in to let them know I was here and I couldn't even tell them my name, and then I started throwing up right there in reception. At this point I was thinking If they tell me I'm not even dilated I will die!

I went in the room to get checked out. They first checked baby's heart beat, asked me some questions - this took sometime since I kept having to stop, turn on my side, and breathe through the pain. I also threw up one more time. Then I had the biggest urge to start pushing. It's a crazy feeling when your body takes over and starts acting on its on accord. At this point I almost freaked out because I hadn't even been assessed yet, I was in an incredible amount of pain, and I was thinking I needed to push! So the midwife finally checked me out and I was 9cm dilated. As soon as she said that, the urge to push came again and very strong. I said I need the epidural right now! The midwife said I couldn't have an epidural because by the time I got it, the baby would be out. OKAY now I was freaking out. The pain was insane and I knew I had to start pushing and I wouldn't have any relief - I didn't think I could do it. But luckily, I realized I was about to lose it and it would get me no where and I calmed myself down (I had to do this a lot throughout my labor), just for a second before I yelled out I have to push. They quickly wheeled the bed to the birthing suite and I was pushing along the way.

Half an hour later, at 9:34am, the sweetest and cutest baby boy was welcomed into the world and we called him Oliver James Allen. He weighed 9 pounds and was 21.8 inches long. He was perfect. As soon as they laid him on my chest everything else just faded away. It was just Ollie and me and David in this perfect little bubble. David and I just sat there staring in awe at this boy who was our son. He was SO cute and just snuggled right on my chest and stopped crying within 10 seconds. He was so lovely. In such a surreal moment I was completely overwhelmed with so much gratitude and joy and love.

Ollie's Story (the pregnancy)

{I wrote this post the day before we had Oliver, 
but I never published it, until now}

David and I had been trying to fall pregnant for what felt like a really long time, but was only about a year. As much as we wanted to have a baby, we were never upset or worried about the timing not quite working out like we thought it would. I'm a big believer in things happening when they're meant to and plus, David and I just really love being together and that last year we spent a lot of time taking little trips and enjoying the "just us" part of our life.

In January we went on a fun trip to the Sunshine Coast with a group of our close friends and family and stayed beachside for a few days. While on that trip I realized I was pretty late...as in a few weeks. But at this point, I didn't really think anything of it because that was normal for me. When we got home, the next morning David made me take a pregnancy test. I did it, expecting it to be negative as we've been in this spot quite a few times before, and to my complete surprise there were two little pink lines telling me it was actually positive and we were having a baby!! I was in shock and in tears! David and I just kept laughing and crying together we were so happy - we were finally going to have a baby! 

The very next day I got my first taste of morning sickness. I later found out I was exactly 6 weeks pregnant. I won't go into much detail about me being sick, but it has been a HUGE part of my pregnancy as I have had it the entire time. But basically I was throwing up every hour or less from morning until about 6 o' clock in the evening, everyday. I literally thought I was dying. This went on on for a few weeks before my doctor insisted I take something for the nausea. I was finally able to go back to work a few days a week and hold food down during the day, even though that queasy, nauseas feeling never quite left. Then on top of that, at about 12ish weeks (I think) I started to get horrible migranes would come every other day - thankfully that only lasted about 3 weeks. By the time I was 18ish  weeks I had stopped taking my medication as I was only throwing up until mid day and I thought I could just deal with it. Somedays though, I would start throwing up and wouldn't be able to stop. Even a sip of water would send me over the edge. I started to get sick in the evenings as well, and sometimes through the night. On those horrible days I went back on the medication for the day to avoid a visit to the hospital. One time I even popped blood vessels on my face from throwing up so much! By 30 weeks though, I was only throwing up in the mornings and then the rest of the day would usually be fine. And it's been that way up til the very end! 

I wanted to keep this post really positive, but thinking about my pregnancy makes me want to vent. Pregnancy is horrible. Seriously! Some women say they love being pregnant and they feel a wonderful energy and glow, and they get sad towards the end that the baby will leave their belly...I am definitely not one of those people. I cannot wait for our baby to arrive! I am not even the tiniest bit scared about labor because I am so excited for it to be over and to finally be able to hold my little boy! I don't remember what it's like to feel normal. To not be queasy. To sleep comfortably and on my stomach or my back. To go ONE DAY without throwing up. I feel like I've been pregnant for 3 years, at least. And I know I have it better than some people. 

That being said, I would do it all again, in a heart beat, for our baby. And our next one, maybe even the one after that ;) I want to point out that even though pregnancy doesn't agree with me at all, I am so incredibly grateful that I am able to be a mother and experience this. There is nothing in the world like being pregnant, and having a baby grow inside you. It's instant unconditional love. The first time I felt him kick was in the middle of the night when I was exactly 17 weeks and I remember just being in awe that there was a baby in me! A little piece of David and a little piece of me. My heart was so full and has been ever since that day. 

When I was 20 weeks we went and got the ultra sound where you find out the sex of the baby. We had the doctor write down the gender on a piece of paper and slip it in an envelope, as we wanted to find out that night with our family and friends. We then gave the envelope to our friend Heath, and he went and bought two cans of either blue or pink silly string, depending on the gender. Then that night, with all our friends and family around, we shot the silly string at each other and it was BLUE! I was in absolute shock! I was convinced we were having a girl. I was so shocked in fact on first seeing the blue silly string all over me, that I kinda just stood there frozen with my mouth open and forgot to shoot the silly string at David! It was pretty crazy and surreal - it took a couple weeks for it to sink in that we were having a boy but now I couldn't be more excited! 

Now I am two days overdue, waiting around for this boy to decide he's ready to come. I can't wait and can hardly believe I will have him here no later than a week (hopefully a lot sooner) Xx

photography by Benjamin Hurt Photography