Vance Daniel Bolin
April 12, 2013
8lbs 11.7oz
21 inches long
Vance is Lynn's mom's maiden name, which although English, was actually changed from a somewhat similar sounding German name when Lynn's ancestors arrived at Ellis Island. Daniel is obviously after Dan, a tradition in the Bolin family - the middle name of the first boy is the dad's name.
The Birth Story... for those who are interested...
We’d passed my due date, on Monday, which wasn’t a surprise
since Amara was late and I already had another appointment scheduled on
Friday. Dan was planning to go with me
so we could be on the same page about options going forward if Vance didn’t
decide to show up soon. Since we were
going to Waverly anyway for a dr. appointment I had planned on running some
other errands as well. Thursday evening
I told Dan, “I think Vance is going to come tonight because I don’t really want
him to come tomorrow since I have plans!”
Well, he did decide to come…
About 2:30am I woke up thinking… I think my water’s
breaking, so I jumped up and although it was breaking, it ended up just slowly
leaking for the rest of my labor. I woke
Dan up and the contractions started, only being 8 min or so apart from the
beginning. Dan set up an area for me to
try and comfortably labor while he gathered the additional things we needed to
take to the hospital.
Finally about 4:30am Dan grabbed a few things from his
parents’ house, which is across the yard from our house. Upon hearing him, they woke up and guessed
correctly that we were on our way to the hospital. They usually get up at 5am anyway to milk the
cows, but that morning they were going to milk the cows without Dan and look
after Amara, who was thankfully still sleeping! So thankful for them!
We arrived at the hospital and I was wheeled down to the
birthing center. Note to moms – just
take the wheelchair. I could’ve walked
but it would’ve taken a lot longer, and the emergency room entrance guy told us
he was thankful that I took the wheelchair, as sometimes it takes him ½ hour to
help someone to the birthing center because they refuse the wheelchair and stop
every few minutes!
Since we’d called birthing center to let them know we were
coming they were all ready for us. The
nurse on duty was in Dan’s little brother’s high school class so she already
knew us… that’s what happens in a small town environment! They got me checked in while my contractions
continued 4-5 minutes apart. By the time
the nurse checked me I was 7-8cm dilated and they went to call the doctor on
duty.
The nurse told me that apparently I scared the doctor a
little because she told the nurses to get my orders ready even though the
doctor normally does it herself and the doctor said she was going to have to
jump in the shower quick.
Dan helped me continue laboring - I was so thankful to have
him with me. Just when I wasn’t sure I
wanted to change positions or move around a little to keep labor moving along,
he’d encourage and remind me that we wanted Vance to come and that with each
contraction we were getting closer.
I was finally almost there, dilated to 9cm but with just a
little lip in front that was keeping Vance’s head in. The nurse suggested another position and it
seemed to help in that the contractions kept getting stronger but each time
they checked nothing had changed!
Finally I really felt like I needed to push and said
so. The fury of activity of the doctor
& nurses getting ready began as I continued to have contractions. The little lip was still there but with each
contraction the doctor moved it out of the way so Vance could come.
At this point I was thankful for the nurses’ and doctor’s
coaching on pushing, as it was so different than with Amara in Turkey and
pushing went so much faster. After more
than a few pushes but so many less than with Amara, Vance finally arrived into
the world at 9:48am. Dan got to be by my
side the whole time & I never had to move rooms!
It was so amazing to give birth in an American hospital,
just one more way we’re so spoiled in the US.
Although I was so thankful for how well Amara’s birth in Turkey went
(read her birth story here), what a difference! I could labor in whatever position I wanted,
Dan got to be with me the WHOLE time!, everyone spoke my language, I got to
stay in the same room for labor, delivery, & recovery. And the postpartum
care for mom & baby was amazing!
