little sketches of us…

We have a new family member! And we finally have a few spare minutes to update you on the last four weeks. Everything has gone by so fast that it has taken me a while to pull myself together. But, better late than never, here is the announcement:

Oliver is wonderful and beautiful. We named him Oliver Stefan Icleanu. Stefan is after Cristian’s maternal grandfather whom he admired very much and was closest to as a child. We chose Oliver because it is such a happy, nice name. An additional surprise came when we called Cristian’s parents with the news on the morning after the delivery; Oliver was almost born on the birthday of his namesake Stefan. Stefan Popescu was born on October 31st, and Oliver was born on November 1st. He was 6 lbs 11 oz and quite tall, 20 1/2 inches.

Oliver has silvery blond hair, and he seems to like to smile already. He is a joy, and we are re-learning the challenge of being the parents of a newborn. I thought I would remember everything, but I’m now realizing how much I’ve forgotten… Merayla, however, seems to have perfect instincts about becoming Ollie’s good friend. Right now, she is covering him with her favorite green blanky and the Ursul (Romanian for her favorite bear). She also tells stories of Prince Ursul, Princess Layla, Prince Oliver, and Princess Jewanna every night. (I really don’t know where Jewanna came from…or who she is…)

Here is the story of the birth: The delivery was a whirlwind. It started out slow, with contractions during the Saturday evening session of Stake Conference. When we realized they were 3-5 minutes apart, we went home to get ready for the hospital. After a few hours at the hospital, the contractions suddenly stopped. So, what were we to do except stop at Cafe Rio for take-out, watch a few old episodes of Stargate SG-1, and hang out like a long-forgotten date night? (My mom had taken Merayla to a Halloween party at the Eppichs. We are grateful because I think the break from being the Mom is what finally helped me go into labor.) I should have gotten some sleep, however, because the real contractions started at midnight about the time we decided to go to bed. They came hard and fast. The drive to the hospital an hour later was reminiscent of a comedy show with the wife yelling at the husband to either run the red light or pull off to the side of the road because you can’t take the braking. When we finally arrived, the nurse at the front desk said that she hoped my cervix had progressed. My response was, "If not, you can give me some drugs and suck my baby out!" (I include this funny tidbit for all those that know I like to do natural births…) The nurse said she didn’t know if they could suck a baby out, but they would work on the drugs. Well, they didn’t have time even for an I.V. I had some very strong contractions while they got the room set up and Cristian went back to the car to get our bag. By the time Cristian came back, I had gone from a 5 to a 9 1/2 and the nurse was telling me I needed to get on the bed because she didn’t want to deliver a baby on the floor. The body pushes the baby all on its own when there aren’t any drugs confusing it so Oliver was out 3 minutes later at 2:19 am. The speed of everything was a surprise to us all, and it took Ollie a few minutes to catch his breath. After that, he has been healthy and growing well. We have been babying around, and it has been fun and exhausting and interesting and cuddly.

I’ve included lots of pictures because I couldn’t decide which were the cutest… I hope you like them. They include a few at the hospital, his first day home, bathing, sleeping, and hanging out with us. Also, this is going to be our Christmas letter so we hope you are all doing well, and we would love to hear from you!

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