Oliver Chandler

Oliver's Birth Story....
I was 4 days overdue and decided it was time to be induced. Despite all my intentions to not be induced I felt it was the right thing to do at this point.  We were headed to the hospital at 6AM and received a call from the hospital they were full and needed to move my induction to 11AM. I was so frustrated and exhausted, it seemed like all I had been doing was waiting. We turned around and headed home to maybe sneak in some more sleep. Luckily when we went back at 11AM I was hooked up to pitocin and the show was on the road. The nurse checked me and I was exactly the same I had been for the last 3 weeks, 1cm dilated 50% effaced. So, appears my body was not putting itself into labor for the 2nd time. I had done everything to get things moving, including walking 3 miles the night before. Looking back I am fine with my decision to induce and don't regret it at all. Prior to the induction I was having a lot of mixed emotions. I knew I would not induce prior to 40 weeks but didn't think about the possibility of going overdue. At my 40 week appointment we scheduled my induction really not thinking I would still be pregnant 4 days later. Well we were all wrong.
I ended up being in labor about 10 hours, surprising both my nurses and my Doctor. They were all expecting a 3AM birth and I had Oliver at 10:48PM. I was induced around 11am, I got the epidural around 6PM. I was having pretty hard contractions during the epidural which made it extremely uncomfortable. The epidural was great, I still had a little movement in my legs and feet but couldn't feel the contractions. Everyone just hung out and chatted and I rested for a few more hours. My Mom and Sister Amanda were there and of course Merrick. I really missed having my youngest Sister there this time.
Similar to Owen's birth as soon as I hit 6cm it took about 45 minutes for me to be at 10cm and ready to push. I started feeling a lot of pressure and contractions and was sure my epidural had wore off, my nurse wasn't going to check me because she just had just checked me about 45 minutes prior. She checked me and said "We need to call your Doctor in, you are ready". It took about 5 contractions and pushing before Oliver made his appearance! By the Grace of God, we had a smooth birth and healthy baby boy.  I loved my nurses and I absolutely adore my Dr. She was such amazing support and encouragement my entire pregnancy and after.
Naming Oliver was a different story. Oliver was the name that Owen gave him when we found out he was getting a baby Brother. My Mom taught him that was him name because she thought it was cute. We played along and called him Oliver, I swore that was not his name and honestly never imaged I would have a Son named Oliver. Everyone adopted the name throughout my pregancy and called him Baby Oliver. About a week before I had him Merrick said "what if he really is an Oliver". I just replied that we could change his name, we aren't committed to anything. Despite the fact I had a hat made already with the name we had agreed on. Once Oliver was born he didn't have a name for a few hours. We asked my Mom and Sister to leave the room so we could make a decision, we stared at our fresh little newborn and decided he was our Olie.
My Sister was in charge of pictures during Oliver's birth and she did a wonderful job capturing the moments. I love them. Some are out of order but you get the picture.