Happy Birthday Olive

I started this post, oh, maybe two weeks ago, maybe three. I'm finally getting back to it. And, for the record, both girls are in bed tonight before 9 p.m. While Olive will be up again soon, I count this a fairly large accomplishment.

Without further adieu...

Olive's birthday started out early...very early. My C-section was scheduled for 7:30 a.m., which meant we needed to be at the hospital between 5 and 5:30.

My kind, selfless, generous friend Lee Ann made her way to our house around 4:30 that morning to stay with Addie until she woke up and then would take her to her house. Addie knew all of this, as we'd been rehearsing what her schedule would be when "we went to the hospital to get Olive." All along I was praying she would transition well into the next couple of days. I'd selfishly kept her up a little later the night before, knowing it was our last night as the Chaneys 3. She didn't know the difference, but I did!

After a little sleep and a lot of last minute nesting tasks on my part, the car was packed and ready to go. Sabian and I headed out and made our way down the long, dark two lane highway that would take us closer to meeting our little girl. I wasn't nervous, but I was excitedly anticipating the next couple of hours. In my mind I kept replaying the events of the morning when Addie was born. I hoped I wasn't naively assuming that things would unfold similarly...it was all I had to go on and, since our experience with her was so positive, I believed it would be the same with Olive.

We arrived at the hospital, took a couple of last belly shots, and headed in.

All was pretty quiet in the labor and delivery wing. It felt a little surreal, knowing that soon we were going to see a little face we'd so been waiting to meet.

We went through all of the regular pre-op stuff, talked to nurses, the nurse anesthetist, the doctor who would be doing the C-section and answered a ton of questions.

 One of the things that had been so hard for me when we realized I'd have to have a C-section with Addie was that we would be picking the day for her to come, not her. All along I'd wanted it to be the right day and the right time and in my mind I thought that could only happen if it came about spontaneously. With Addie, when I was hooked up to the monitors, I actually started to have some contractions. At the time, Sabian and I knew that was confirmation that it was right, that the day we'd chosen for her to come was right. This time, my belly was taking a strange shape, as Olive was moving quite a bit. One of the nurses asked me, "Is she transverse?" She was asking if the baby was laying sideways. I honestly didn't know, but if you looked at my belly, sure enough I had two lumps sticking out horizontally across my belly, her head at one end and butt at the other. If this was the case, then we knew that there was likely no way Olive would have come on her own. Again, to us that was confirmation that this was THE day for her to make her appearance.

Once they started suiting Sabian up for the OR I was feeling a little more nervous. Obviously I knew surgery was involved with getting Olive here, but I started thinking more about the details of her arrival. Not just the seeing her, but all that would have to happen in order to get her here.

I really can't say enough about the staff at the hospital. Everyone was so nice, reassuring, comforting and supportive every step of the way. Everything went pretty smoothly and I felt well taken care of. At 7:34 a.m., when Olive made her appearance, they lifted her up so I could see her and she made her presence known with loud cries. I was able to watch as they cleaned her up, with Daddy standing by to take pictures. He brought her over so I could kiss her face, tell her how much I loved her, how happy I was to see her, and then Sabian and the nurse whisked her away for her real clean up.

One of our main requests is for me to see our babies while I am in the recovery room, before they take me to my real room. There, I was able to get a good look at her while I nursed her for the first time (she was a champ!). Her dark hair and darker complexion set her apart from her older sister but she resembled Addie in other ways. We suspected she might look more like my side of the family but I was so happy to see that she and Addie looked alike. She has her dad's fingers and toes, just like Addie, and was one inch shorter than Addie at birth. She did surprise us in weight - we expected her to be bigger than Addie was when she was born, but she was actually smaller. At 6 lbs., 12 oz. and 2o inches long, we were so happy to finally be holding her in our arms.

Later that day Lee Ann brought Addie in to meet Olive. Again, we'd rehearsed this with her, but I really didn't know how it would play out for us. I couldn't have been prouder of her. She marched right in to the hospital room and declared that she wanted to hold her baby sister. She climbed up in bed with me and Addie and Olive met for the first time. 

I'm so thankful Addie did so well with this first meeting. I'm also so thankful that Olive is here, safe and sound.

We really have so much to be thankful for.

Oh wait, there's more!

As I was going through some pictures I realized there was a little bit of life going on in the weeks I was absent from the blog.

Lounging with Daddy.

Our youth group/ladies at church threw us a sweet baby shower.

Ah, yes, my belly was just a game. ;)

Beach visit with some friends.

Can't hit the beach without catching a crab!

Carson and Addie.

Fireworks on the beach.

Second round of fireworks with friends in Wewa.

Wewa puts on a good show!

Fireworks and friends.

Mini golf with our youth kids.

Cow Appreciation Day!

We had plenty to do to keep us busy as we waited for Olive's arrival, but trust me when I say we took plenty of time to rest, too.

I am thankful for the friends we have to share these fun memories! 

Let's play a little catch up

According to my last post before Olive arrived, I was about to roll over to 35 weeks in my pregnancy. Sheesh, seems like a lifetime ago now!

So, a little catch up before we can move on to the current happenings in our household.

At 36 weeks I had another ultrasound to check Olive's (at that time, still not 100% named) position. Sabian was not able to go to this appointment with me so it was just me, Addie and my growing belly. I was a little apprehensive about this since Addie would be sitting through the ultrasound with me and no Daddy to keep her from dismantling the place. She was awesome. She did so well, even when my ultrasound ran long as they were trying to get a good read on the baby's diaphragm movement. Not only that, but I still had to see the doctor after my ultrasound and then unexpectedly had to stay for a non stress test. This appointment was running much longer than normal and Addie was picture perfect through it all.

The verdict of this visit - baby was head down. Down? I was not expecting this news. I wasn't disappointed, rather, I was thrown for a loop. I fully expected to hear that she was still head up and it was time to schedule a C-section.

While I wasn't disappointed, the planner in me was now thinking of all of the possible scenarios that were presenting themselves - would I go into labor on my own? If so, when? Would I know/remember what to do? Should we go ahead and schedule a C-section, just in case? How long do we/can we wait? 

The next couple of weeks passed uneventfully. In fact, Sabian was at camp with our youth kids one of those weeks. I had been dreading that week, given that I was so far along and would be solely responsible for Addie while wielding my huge, aching self. But, thanks to great friends and plans I had made to keep us busy, the week passed quickly and without the appearance of baby.

At my 39 week appointment it appeared that Olive was still head down, but there wasn't much progress being made toward labor. We decided to go ahead and schedule the C-section. I was hoping to schedule on my due date, the 27th, which would give her another week to work on coming on her own, as well as giving me the reassurance that we waited as long as we could. Between scheduling the hospital and the doctors, Tuesday the 24th was going to be the day we were able to do it. I went home that day feeling a little uneasy. It was only three days early, but I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe it just wasn't the right day.

I'm a terrible decision maker. It doesn't matter what it is - which restaurant to have dinner, which color shirt to buy...what day to have a baby?

By that evening I'd told Sabian that I would likely call the doctor on Monday, cancel the C-section, schedule a regular doctor's appointment on my actual due date and then go from there. This would mean if I did have a C-section that it would send us into the week after my due date, but I felt like at least we'd have given her long enough to get here on her own, just like we did when Addie was born.

To be honest, part of me was a little scared. I just wanted to do the right thing. I've said that I really struggled when it came to the point that we knew we'd have to have a C-section with Addie. It just wasn't the way it was supposed to happen and I wanted her to pick the day, not us. But then once it was said and done, it was all smooth, I was fine and she was healthy and perfect. Since I'd already gone through all of that I didn't feel so torn up about it this time...but I still wondered if there was a right or wrong way to go about this.

I did pray about it and I really felt God knew my heart and my desires. The next morning I woke up and as I was laying in bed, thinking about everything, I felt a confirmation. Just the night before I thought I had a plan, but this very next morning I knew what was confirmed, and that was to keep our appointment for the 24th to meet our little girl.

So, our plans were in motion. I had two wonderful families who would be taking care of Addie for us while we were in the hospital, our bags were packed and, as if on cue, my nesting instinct had kicked in the week before. Granted, it might have been nice if I'd felt it in the months before, rather than just a few days before, but it did prompt me to get the house clean and do some other things that just had to be done. Thankfully, this time, as opposed to when I had Addie, it didn't mean painting anything.

Olive's birthday week also happened to be the week of our vacation bible school at church. It meant that we had to take a backseat to helping, but it also meant that Addie would have something to look forward to each night.

This was a tough thing, leaving Addie. While Sabian has been away on various trips in her three years, the two of us haven't spent a night apart. It's just worked out that way. I was comforted knowing she was in excellent hands and had prepared her in the weeks preceding Olive's debut, so she knew what was going to happen. I had no worries that she would do well, but me...well, if I thought about it, really thought about it, the tears came knocking. But, when it came down to the time for us to go, I was fine, mostly because I think I'd gotten all of that out of the way and was excited to move forward as our family of four, and also because I was so thankful for those who were pitching in to help us out and I knew Addie was going to have fun.

That brings us to Olive's actual birthday, which I think deserves a post all its own.

I am thankful for God's timing and confirmation and that He recognizes the desires of our hearts.

She's here

From this:

To this:

And then this:

It's been over a month since I've blogged and there's much to catch up on, but this, well, this is the big news.

Olive Mae Chaney made her appearance on Tuesday, July 24 at 7:34 in the morning. Weighing 6 lbs. 12 oz. and measuring 20 inches long, her sweet disposition and bright eyes have made their mark on the three of us Chaneys who have been anxiously waiting for her to join our family.


Overwhelmed. If I type any more than that I'll dissolve into tears. This would be of no surprise to my patient husband, who is sitting next to me on the couch while we watch the Olympics, as it is surprising he hasn't yet had to build an ark to make it through the tears that have accompanied these post-partum days.


Okay, okay, I'll type a little more but I warn you - coupled with just finishing watching the girls take home gold in gymnastics, you might have to borrow a boat to find me tomorrow.


I'm just so thankful. We have two healthy girls. Two. And yes, we are adjusting, but we're a week in and it feels so good to be a family of four.


I'm thankful for good...no, great friends who took amazing care of Addie while we were in the hospital. I prayed and prayed and hoped she would do well and she did.


I'm thankful for those from our church family who have provided meals for us since we've been home. Between those meals and their leftovers, I haven't had to cook a meal in a week.

It's after midnight and I suppose I should be responsible and head to bed. I think the nap I was able to take this afternoon has given me a false sense of restfulness. I should know by now I can't "store up" that rest!

More details on Olive's birthday and the weeks preceding her big day will be forthcoming. For now, my heart is full of thanks.

Welcome to the world my sweet Olive.