The Arrival of Oliver

This post has been a little later in coming than we had hoped, but Oliver's arrival has made us more tired than we had anticipated. We are doing better now, and we can tell you a little bit about Oliver's first week. We have a few pictures here, but our Picasa album has a bunch more.

When we last left you, we were planning to head to the hospital on Sunday morning for Amy to be induced, but Saturday morning at around 3:30 a.m. her water broke and we headed to the hospital a few hours earlier than planned. Because she was so overdue (2 weeks + 1 day at this point), they ended up inducing anyway and actually sent us home again. Our friend Britta had driven us to the hospital and back on Saturday and had driven us again that morning, so we didn't want to bother her again and we rode the bus and train home to wait. We rested a little while, but around 3 in the afternoon Amy started having contractions that were very quickly only a few minutes apart. We called Britta and headed to the hospital again. This time they kept us there.

We spent a few hours in an early-labor ward, but by evening were moved into the delivery ward. As the contractions grew stronger and more painful we elected for an epidural, which provided a few hours of rest and made the rest of the journey doable. After a few more hours of tough labor, a 10 lbs. 2 oz. boy named Oliver Reed arrived at 3:32 a.m. on June 22nd. We were all very tired, but also very excited. After Oliver's safe arrival, we spent two nights at the hospital where we could rest and recover while under the care of the hospital staff. We had visits from Oliver's Grandma Merkey and also from a few friends of ours.

We left the hospital on Wednesday morning and started settling in to our apartment. We were happy to be home again, though things weren't quite calm yet. Thursday morning we had to go register Oliver at our local church (Holte Kirke), as local churches keep all Danish birth records. We also filed his name papers that day, though in Denmark we would have up to 6 months to name him. (We needed to get this all done quickly in order to have all the papers ready for the Monday appointment at the US Embassy.) Also on Thursday, I went in to work for a few hours to help with a course I had organized, and in the afternoon we had a home visit from a nurse to check on how Oliver was doing (he just needed to get more liquids, but otherwise good). Friday I again went in to work a few hours, but all this activity took its toll on both me and Amy: I ended up with a bit of a cold, while Amy went in to the doctor with a high fever due to a case of mastitis. With both of us quite down, it was a blessing to have my mom there to help us out. She took care of Oliver during the nights so that Amy and I could sleep, and by the end of the weekend we were both feeling much better.

Monday morning was busy too, as we had an appointment at the Embassy to register Oliver's birth and to apply for his passport. (We would have preferred an appointment a week or two later, but their next nearest opening was not until September!) This was also the morning that my mom had to fly out, so we rode into the city with her and said our tearful goodbyes on the train. It was hard for her to leave her new grandson, and hard for us to say farewell to the person who had held us together for a few days. We are already looking forward to seeing her again very soon.

Now that Amy and I are doing better and have had a little rest we've got things more under control. It has been wonderful to get to know Oliver and to see him change so much in just a week of life, and we are looking forward to showing him a little of his birth country before we move back to the US in a few weeks.

I'm sure some of you are wondering about our experience with the Danish health care system, and we have been very happy with how the whole pregnancy and birth process has gone. The check-ups during pregnancy and the delivery itself were all handled by midwives. All the midwives we met were very good at their jobs, and all were more than willing to speak English with us, which made everything so much easier. (It is truly humbling to come to a foreign country and have professional staff adjust to OUR needs.) The midwives present during the delivery were extremely supportive and provided the needed motivation to get us through the difficult time. After the birth we had two home visits from a nurse who made sure Oliver was getting enough to eat and that he is developing as he should (which he is).

We also want to acknowledge everyone else who has been part of Oliver's first week: over the course of this week we received many emails and cards from people expressing their congratulations and well-wishes. We have not been able to respond to everyone, but want you all to know that your care and thoughtfulness have not gone unnoticed. Thank you for thinking of us over here - the arms of family and friends extend very far indeed!

Oliver is such a joy, and we are happy to finally have him here to hold in our arms. Though we are tired, we wouldn't trade this little guy for the world!