Announcing: Oliver Alton Sprague

Born Tuesday, April 13 at home in Bristol, England at 9:40PM, BST

7 lb. 1 oz.

We are very proud to announce the birth of our son, Oliver Alton, who arrived very swiftly at home and was delivered by his Daddy!

Terra started having very mild and sporadic contractions on the evening on the 12^th, which stopped late night.  They started again around 2pm on the 13^th while sister Anoush was at nursery.  By 6pm they had regulated to about 5 minutes apart, and increased in intensity, but we managed to enjoy a nice family dinner together.  We put Anoush to bed just before 9pm and called the hospital to start the process of notifying the midwife unit.  Immediately after the call, Terra’s waters broke and just a few minutes thereafter the on-call midwife called to say she was on her way.  It became quickly evident, however, that our baby was arriving at a fast pace, and the midwife was unlikely to make it in time.  Jason called for an ambulance, and, with the guidance of the emergency operator over the phone, and four quick pushes from Mommy, he delivered Oliver at 9:40!  The EMT arrived just minutes after, followed promptly by two midwives who were surprised to see that baby had already arrived!

Terra and Oliver are both very healthy and feeling well!  He’s been a very good eater and sleeper and the past two nights has only woken up twice during the night.

Anoush adores her little brother and is learning to call him Ollie, which will be his nickname.  She wakes up each morning and says ‘hi baby’!  She loves to hold him and show us where his nose, ears, eyes, fingers and toes are.  So far, she’s shown few signs of jealousy and we’re pleased that the transition has been rather smooth thus far.

We now look forward to some upcoming visits from family in the weeks and months ahead.  We are unsure when our first trip home to the US will be.  It will take some time to get Oliver’s passport, and it’s unlikely that we’ll make it home before autumn.

In the meantime, keep looking here and on Facebook for more pictures, videos and updates.