Oliver Lee Richards Part 1

Well, since my last post there has been a lot of developments. Namely the arrival of our newest, sweetest little man, Oliver Lee Richards! Let me start by saying that in all honesty Mommy and Daddy were trying for a baby girl. With Madden having his autism diagnosis, the likelihood of us having another child with Autism increases by roughly 18%. That being said, boys are much more likely to have Autism than girls, and since we already had a girl and were clear of the Autism diagnosis, we thought the baby might have better odds if she was a girl to not get the diagnosis.
Now I know what some are of you are thinking, how awful are these parents who would not be happy just to have any child at all, no matter what their disability may be. Well, I say to you that if we were really worried about having another child with Autism, we most likely would not try for another child at all. We love our Madden with all our hearts and we honestly wouldn't want him any other way than how he is. Having said that, any child with Autism is going to have more struggles than your average child, and have a harder time understanding the world around them. Madden is beyond any of our expectations and continues to surprise us everyday. However, would you not want your child to have to struggle in life if you thought you could do anything for them? We knew no matter what that we could have another child with Autism, and we decided that it was well worth that chance to bring another beautiful child into our life! So there, I have had my say.

Back to Oliver, I was given a due date for this precious bundle of December 26th. Now if you know me, I LOVE CHRISTMAS!! The thought of having a baby the day after Christmas sounded like a nightmare to me. How was I going to enjoy my beloved holiday season when I am nine months pregnant and miserable? I started immediately talking to my OBGYN about scheduling an induction and/or if that would be a possibility. I had scheduled an induction for Lainey because I was given the diagnosis of having Group Strep B, and when you have that you are told that you have to get a dose of antibiotic before you give birth or else the baby could get very badly sick when they are delivered.With Madden I had a very short labor and delivery and having known that second babies usually come much faster I was scared I would not get the antibiotic in time. So with Lainey they went ahead and got me scheduled for an induction and I was able to rest easy knowing that she would get the treatment needed. With Oliver I thought that maybe they would go ahead and do the same, given my history. Lucky for me they were very obliging and were able to get me scheduled for December 19th. That way I could prepare and get things ready before the holiday, and be home with my baby before Christmas day. I was so relieved once I was scheduled and ready to go.


I was actually positive (in my mind) that we were having another girl, until the ultrasound tech said, "Looks like you are definitely having a boy." I must say in all honesty I got a bit worried. Only because I knew the chance for Autism were greatly enhanced now, and I wasn't even thinking about boys at that time. The rest of the pregnancy I was in a bit of a fog. I honestly had never felt more vulnerable or worried about either of my other pregnancies as I was with this one. Maybe I was just feeling bad juju, or I know the problems that can arise in pregnancy and now being a mother of two other children I was more concerned about the worst case scenario's and what I had to lose. Any way you looked at it, the whole pregnancy was not too pleasant. I have never had good pregnancies, I always envied those women that would say, "I love being pregnant!". For me I always felt miserable, and extremely uncomfortable. I am quite positive that through all my pregnancies I have muttered the words, "I'm never doing this again!" However, once that baby arrives and you have a little time to heal, you forget about how miserable you are those 9 months and are ready to get back on the baby wagon. Well at least some people are anyway ;)