Great, Great, Great, Great

Great Grandma Mills and Oliver

Great Aunt Belva and Oliver

If you can believe it, there was a long list of important people that had not yet met Mr. Oliver. So before I head back to work, we made some visits.

First we went to Basehor, KS with Grandpa Mills to meet Great Grandma Mills and Great Aunt Belva. They had both been keeping up on Oliver via this blog, but the real thing is always better. We had a great time visiting and passing him around. Something tells me they had a good time too.

On Friday, we went to visit Grandma Mills at her work and to grab some lunch. We ate at Johnny C's and it was great. We had a good time showing him off to 

my Mom's co-workers.

After that visit, we went by Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Bolt's house. Great Grandma has been under the weather lately and had not yet met Oliver. She had to go almost 3 whole weeks before seeing him! After some snuggles and some cookies, we headed back home after a long day out. What Great(Grandma), Great (Aunt), Great (Grandma), Great (Grandpa) couple of days.

Great Grandma Bolt and Oliver

Great Grandpa Bolt and Oliver

A Big Day

Friday was a big day for Oliver. The three of us had lunch with our good friend, Uncle Dustin. We went to On the Border. This was Oliver's first lunch out. He seemed to enjoy it as he slept through it. 

Apparently orange is a good color on Oliver, as his bilirubin levels are still on the high side causing some jaundice. The yellowing of his skin is mixing with his natural olive color and making him look a little too tan for winter time. People are starting to think he's fake baking. The truth is, a little UV light would go a long way to bringing his bilirubin levels down to a normal level. When we saw an opportunity to give him a little sun bath, we couldn't resist.

In the meantime, we have been on a strict eating schedule of every 2 hours during the day and every three hours at night. The idea is that the more he eats and passes, the better he'll get. He needs to not only get rid of his jaundice, but he needs to continue gaining weight.

We also had an appointment to visit an Ear Nose and Throat specialist to look into Oliver's tongue tied issue. The thought was that if he is too tongue tied he may not be able to feed properly. So we saw Dr. Walls and he recommended a lingual frenectomy - removal of the small flap of tissue under the tongue that prevents him from fully extending it.

After a ridiculous wait in the waiting room, we saw the doctor and had the procedure done in hopes it would help the little guy. It wasn't fun watching him go through pain. They assured us it was only discomfort, but either way he didn't like it. The good news is he can now stick his tongue out. Results on feeding has yet to be determined.

After having lunch out and having a minor surgery, we packed up and went over to Uncle Sonny and Aunt Adrean's for dinner and fun. Given our rigid feeding schedule, fun proved difficult so we stole a bunch of movies from them and returned home for another exhausting night. Pretty big day for such a little guy.

The First Week

Oliver's first week has been full of adventure! After coming home, Daddy got sick with the stomach flu followed by a head cold. I'm feeling much better now and the energy is returning, though I'm feeling pretty tired.

Mommy is doing well as she adjusts to her new role as a caretaker and tries to figure out all the intricacies of breast feeding.

Oliver is doing great. He had his one week Dr. appointment with Dr. Markway. After a little confusion on the scales, Oliver weighed in at 7lbs. 5 oz. - one oz. less than when we left the hospital. This isn't optimal, but we are hopeful he will start putting on weight soon and everyone will be happy. Though, I'm just now getting used to holding him at this weight!

Oliver has had many visitors, both in the hospital and at home. Lots of nice friends have been bringing us food and company. It is so important to have a great support system and we have that and then some. Oliver will know friendship.

Oliver made his first trip to Target this week - a very important step as we teach him the ways of the world. We are starting early to instill a good sense of design. What do you expect from parents like us?

I decided to open a Flickr account to house all the photos of Oliver. Please take a look for the most recent pics of our favorite little man.

Poll Results: Will Oliver be born with a beard?

Alas, my hopes for a bearded baby have subsided. It just wasn't meant to be. Fortunately my second favorite option came true. The 40% of you that voted for "More of a Teen Wolf all over fuzz" were correct!

Oliver has a nice head of hair - including his ears (see above). He is also sporting a bit of a perma-sweater as his shoulders and back are pretty furry. I know he will lose it all, just to grow it back when he's older.

For now, I'll call him Ollie Bear (Oh-lee Bear).

Quick Update

I just wanted to post to thank everyone for all their best wishes and comments. We are very thrilled with our little man.

We had quite a few visitors while in the hospital. Unfortunately, so many people are sick right now and couldn't make it to see him - Including Grandma Bolt and Great Grandma Bolt.

We are home now and have had a run of bad luck... Daddy either has the stomach flu that everyone else has, or a mild case of food poisoning. Given the quality of food at the hospital, the latter is very likely. I'm keeping away from Oliver, which is killing me! I got all the fun symptoms a couple hours after we got home from the hospital. 

The other bit of bad news is that our camera bit the dust yesterday as well. So after coming home and before moving into the bathroom for 12 hours, I ran to Best Buy and bought a new one. I think I'm going to like this one better anyway.

Not the first night home with Oliver that we had hoped for, but it will get better. I'm already feeling tons better. I've got to hand it to Amber for making it through the first night alone. She once again proves how amazing she is. 

More photos and updates to come.

Introducing..... Oliver!

Oliver Liam Mills was born December 28, 2008 at 8:04 am. He weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz. and was 21 inches long. As you can see, he has a full head of dark brown hair. He looks a lot like his Daddy, but has his mother's chin and dimples. Amber and I couldn't be happier - he's everything we hoped for.

We went into labor around 7:30 pm on the 27th and stayed home through the first 5 hours to be sure we were truly in labor and so Amber could remain as comfortable as possible. At about 12:30 am on the 28th, we left for the hospital (Centerpoint in Independence, MO). After being admitted, we went to the "holding cell" to be monitored and determine if we were truly in labor. After more than three hours of that we were placed into our birthing room - room 348, the very room Oliver's cousin AnnaLie was born in.

Labor progressed slowly at first and all the parents (Grandparents to Oliver) were called at about 5:00 am. From here labor progressed quite quickly (Amber may argue with that...) Before we knew it Amber was dilated to 9cm and the doctor was called. Dr. Mosher delivered Oliver, as our doctor was out of town.

It wasn't long before Amber started pushing and out came our Baby Oliver. Amber was amazing. She delivered 100% naturally. I'm so proud of her. She also received many compliments from the ladies around the hospital for going natural.

Welcome Baby Oliver. We can't wait to introduce you to the world.

Oliver's Room