Introducing Oliver!

On February 6, 2012 at 9:20pm, we were blessed with the arrival of our new baby boy, Oliver Micah James. His birthmother Rebecca was only 26 weeks along when he was delivered...he weighed only 1 lb. 13 oz. and measured 12.5 in. long! He is currently in the NICU and will be for the next several weeks, but he is doing well and we can't wait to bring him home!

So here's the LONG story of how he came to be ours...Rebecca selected us to be his parents in November. We were thrilled, and were very much looking forward to his due date of May 13. We attended her ultrasound, where we found out he was a healthy little boy, and stayed in close contact with her. Then in January she started having some complications with her pregnancy...she was in the hospital twice for excessive bleeding, and the ultrasound she had was a little bit concerning, but the doctors just advised her to take it easy and get as much rest as possible.

Then on February 1 we attended another ultrasound with her and the doctor told us we needed to take her to the hospital immediately where she was to be admitted for the remainder of her pregnancy! She had leaked most of the fluid from the baby's gestational sac, but didn't realize it because of the bleeding. They hoped to monitor her and keep her there for 8-9 weeks before inducing her at the end of March...but she didn't even last a week!

Monday night, Feb. 6, she started having contractions at 5:45, we texted a couple times that evening while she was waiting for the doctors, then at 8:30 we told her we were coming to the hospital to make sure she was OK. Her adoption case worker called us back a minute later to tell us that she was going in for an emergency C-section in 10 minutes! We rushed to the hospital and arrived after she had gone into the operating room, but I was able to quickly get dressed and enter the delivery room just minutes before Oliver was born. What an incredible experience to be in the room and see him come out...then to watch him immediately passed through the window into the NICU. I was in a bit of shock. :)

We got to see him later that evening and couldn't believe how tiny and perfect he was. The nurses were all amazed at how well he was doing with his breathing and he didn't seem to have any obvious problems!

Rebecca was discharged from the hospital 3 days later, and we all signed the adoption paperwork at that time. She's been back to the hospital to see him a couple of times, and we'll likely do some sort of formal placement once Oliver is released from the NICU. Oliver is doing fairly well...he had an infection in his second week of life that required him to be on a ventilator, receive a couple of blood transfusions, a few antibiotics, steroids, etc, but nothing too scary. He's been digesting his milk well, and his brain, heart, and lung ultrasounds & X-rays all look good! He passed the 2 pound mark a few days ago...so now we just hope that he will continue to grow and develop into a healthy little boy!

Quite a life-changing experience for us...we're so excited to have him as part of our family, and even more excited to bring him home as soon as possible! Kate still hasn't been able to see him since she's too young to enter the NICU, but she's excited and we know she'll be a great big sister.

SUCH a long post...I'll try to keep updating the blog every week or two if there are new changes. :) Welcome, Little Oliver!!