Getting ready for Oliver (part 1)

It's kind of crazy how slow pregnancy goes, until it's over.  Looking back on the months before our newest family member arrived, there were some struggles, some growth, some exhaustion (lots of exhaustion, actually), and many blessings.  I consciously tried to keep my thoughts positive and not focus on how uncomfortable I was.  And it worked.  While I did feel tired and like I was pregnant for years, I also felt content and grateful to have another little one on his way.   

Some significant events that happened in the months leading up to delivery were a surprise 2 week trip that Matt took with two nurses (Cheryl Wynkoop and Whitney Davidson) to Vanuatu after Cyclone Pam.  They left right before April conference when Matt’s parents, Reid, Lisa & Adam with 5 kids and a nanny were all coming into town.  It actually helped to pass the time to have so much family around.  Plus, I really enjoy and am thankful to have time with Matt's family.  It's a blessing we see his parents as much as we do.  The second week that he was gone I tried to schedule things daily with friends and family to try and stay busy.  It was an important (and challenging) trip for us both.  Since then Matt and I have had almost constant talks about humanitarian work – what it means, looks like, if/when we will be able to do more, how to start now, etc. 

Another event was Emily’s graduation from high school and learning to look at her as more of an adult. She's always been mature and responsible... but now it was official.  As a jump start into adulthood, she left for a 3 week trip to the Dominican Republic at the very end of June.  We got to Skype with her quite a bit and hear about her time there.  It didn't work out how she had planned, but she really enjoyed it.  I think it was an important trip for her to see a little of the world and recognize her ability/willingness to do hard things (traveling on her own to a new place that speaks a different language, to name a few).  I cried dropping her off at the airport.  I was going to miss her.

The same day she left we began our first Macdonald Family Reunion.  In the weeks building up to it Brett, Caroline, and I met a few times to make some plans and try to organize some activities.  It turned out great.  I wasn’t able to participate in everything like I would have liked (no jet skis for me this time) but loved chatting with siblings and nieces and nephews. 

Also on that first day of the reunion we had our 35 week appointment with the OB, Heather Dabling (Matt is the pediatrician for her kids, so he knew her well).  We were very surprised and excited to find out that I was dilated to a 2 ½ cm., which hasn’t happened before.  All along I’d been planning on this little guy being an August baby because I’d gone overdue with both Kate and Daniel.  Since I was progressing on my own Dr. Dabling said an elective induction at 39 weeks was an option.  Matt and I talked about it for the next week.  We realized that if we were induced a week early it would be on July 23.  I (not so) secretly hoped that we could somehow have a 24^th of July baby.  They don’t schedule elective inductions on holidays, but you never know how things can work out, right?  And so I hoped as we scheduled the induction for Thursday 23 July 2015.

 

If anyone asked Kate about the coming baby she would inevitably announce that she was going to have, “another baby brother!”  She had also chosen a name for him.  Bubble.  Yep, Bubble.  Daniel would often echo Kate after she’d say it, only he’d whisper “Bubble.”  I don’t know where she got that name; perhaps my big belly looked like an over sized, very firm, bubble. 

Once the reunion was over it was time to really focus on Baby Boy's arrival.  I started pulling out baby boy clothes and bought newborn diapers.  I ordered another crib mattress and we shifted Daniel to taking naps in his bed upstairs so that the baby could sleep in the pack‘n play.  I cleaned and reorganized the Littles room, and since I was on a roll I cleaned out the desk in the bedroom and the pantry and had the carpets cleaned as well.  Time passed relatively quickly, but I still felt anxious for the day to come.  In the few days before the induction I would get teary at random times, feeling the reality of bringing this little soul into mortality and our family.  I was a little nervous but more of the emotion was anticipation.  I didn’t sleep very well, waking up repeatedly to go to the bathroom and when I had to roll over. 

Carpet cleaning prep. That was a lot of work!

 

Ready for a baby... 

We were told by the hospital that we’d get a call on Wednesday (22 July) to confirm that we could be induced on Thursday (23 July), then we’d get a call Thursday morning telling us what time to come.  When the hospital called on Wednesday they explained that they were really full and wondered if I’d be interested in coming in at midnight that night?  We decided not to because Tuesday night we’d been up past 1am picking Emily up from her trip to the DR.  I was exhausted and wanted to try and get a good night’s sleep before the big day.   

Matt gave Dr. Dabling a call to see what she thought about times and schedule.  She told him that she thought they would tell us to come at 7am on Thursday morning.  So we finished packing our bags (Kate was also preparing for the baby to come by warming up the swing with her doll and a "doggy, 'cuz the baby will like doggies." and then we knelt for our evening prayer.  A few days earlier I’d asked Matt for a blessing and we decided this was a good time to do it.  I’ve written about the blessing in my bedside journal.  I cried through the whole blessing, so grateful for this wonderful man I was married to, for the gift of priesthood blessings, and for the comfort of the Spirit at this time. 

 

We woke up at about 6am and got everything ready, expecting a call at about 6:30am.  Well, the hours started ticking by without a call.  By 10am I was quite fidgety.  I'd started cutting out felt dolls for Kate and Daniel to play with at church, in an attempt to distract myself.  Matt was reading and working on his computer, also trying to stay busy.  He called the hospital to see if he could get a sense of time and they said there were still two women ahead of us.  By then Grandma had offered to take Kate and Daniel to Tufa’s house so that we could leave whenever they called.  So, we decided to pack up everything in the car and go on a date.   

We went out for sushi at Yamato (across the street from University Mall).  It was delish.  We talked more about this little guy’s name, which still hadn’t been settled on, well, not completely.  We both liked the name Oliver a lot, which is Matt’s grandfather’s middle name, George Oliver.  He was a great man, one who I look forward to meeting someday.  The baby’s middle name was where we got stuck.  A week or so earlier Matt and I were lying in bed chatting when out comes this, “Since I chose Daniel’s middle name and it wasn’t your top choice, I think you should pick Oliver’s middle name.”  I was actually surprised that I said it, but it felt right.  Over the course of the next week he suggested names and made a list.  I consciously tried to not say much because I wanted him to choose what he wanted without feeling pressure from me.  I’m not sure that was very helpful.

After lunch we went next door to a furniture store and wondered around for a while talking about the older kids.  Next we went to the mall to walk around.  We were looking for a charm for my “Mama necklace.”  The first Christmas after Matt and I got married the older kids gave me a heart shaped necklace charm that said “Mom” in it.  When I was pregnant with Kate I found a charm with a tree on it.  On the back is written, “A family’s love is nature’s masterpiece.”  (I wish it said, “A family’s love is God’s masterpiece.”)  I wore the tree charm for the last several weeks I was pregnant with her.  When Caroline came to the hospital after Daniel was born she brought a tiny CTR ring as a little gift.  I added that ring to my necklace.  So now I wanted one for our little guy.  We looked at several stores in the mall but didn’t find anything that we liked.  We drove over to Deseret Book and found a charm that was a compass and really liked that.  A lot.  As we were standing in line to buy the charm (and a mint truffle, cause they're yummy) the hospital called (it was about 3:15) to say they were ready for us.  Hooray!!!  We were going to have a baby!!!