Pictures of Oliver

We setup a site where we will post pictures of Oliver. I know, another site... not everyone has Facebook, and we are out of space on Picasa and here! Sorry about that!

Tumblr is very nice for a photo blog, so we thought it worked best anyway!

http://overthehorizon.tumblr.com/

Enjoy!

Announcing Oliver Thad Hoskins!

as for the details...
he was born this morning at 5 AM (German time)
51 cm (20.7 inches)
2.97 kg (6 lbs 9 oz)

Jana did a great job... she basically went into labor Wednesday afternoon, and "finished" at 5 AM this morning (Friday).

Please continue to pray for Jana and Oliver! I will join them back at the hospital in a few minutes.

Progressing, albeit slowly

We arrived at the hospital this morning at 8AM. They hooked Jana up to the monitors, and she stayed that way for 4 hours. They are taking good care of her and are very encouraging! Obviously, Jana is very tired, since she did not sleep at all last night. While on the monitors, she was able to sleep for 30 minutes or so (granted, there were 3 contractions during that, but she fell asleep just after they ended). Not a lot, but it was nice to see her sleep.

She ate not too long ago and they told her to get out and walk. So, we walked to McDonalds to get me food and send out an update. We will go back in a few minutes.

Please pray for strength for Jana and progress on the delivery!

Thad

Pray for energy and endurance

6:20am here, and we head to the hospital in about an hour. Jana's had contractions every 10 minutes all night, so very little sleep was had. They've been pretty hard for her, so pray for strength, endurance, and ways for her to be comfortable. Pray for me to have energy and to be intuitive in knowing how to help her.

Pray also for good communication with the Doctors and Midwives.

Thank you for all of the notes, emails, and messages received. We know many of you are praying, which overwhelms us greatly.

and Home again

They said we should be where Jana is most comfortable to wait and see if the tablets work... which is home. We are scheduled to return at 8 AM tomorrow for an IV, if things don't progress this afternoon and evening.

At the Hospital (sort of)

We are in Lörrach, where our hospital is. They monitored and checked Jana this morning. She is having contractions, but is not dilated. They gave her some pills to take that are supposed to help induce labor. She will take those every half hour until 2 PM, then we go back to the hospital for more monitoring. We are not exactly sure what is after that. If things do not really get under way today, we return tomorrow morning when they will give her an IV to really induce labor.

I will post here and/or on Facebook when I can!

Thad

Needs time...

Just loved this email we received from our friend Thomas, and thought we would share this little bit of German culture/wisdom:

"Gut Ding braucht Weile" = For good results (development), it needs time!

Still Pregnant

Jana and I just got home. She is still pregant.

Our doctor had prepared us (hence the email and a few calls) that the hospital doctor would induce labor after a checkup this weekend. When the doctor finished all the checkups, she said Jana and the baby are doing very well and urged us to wait a few more days. So, we continue to wait.

Thank you for your prayers! We hope to have more news soon.

Added by Jana: just to clarify, the doctor I see for the pregnancy is a different doctor than the one who will do the delivery. It was the delivery doctor who thinks we should wait because inducing could potentially take a couple of days. And, since the monitoring showed me to be having some regular contractions (in addition to the baby and me doing fine), she thinks inducing now would be too soon. They will consider inducing 10 days after the due date, which is Wednesday.

Today, maybe...

We have an appointment at the hospital today at 3pm (GMT+1) with the delivery room. They will check on the little guy to make sure he is doing fine, talk with us about options, and potentially induce sometime today. If they induce, we won't have the opportunity (unless they send us home to wait) to update here, on Facebook, or via email until later. So please be praying for us.

If we are sent home, we will update on here and on Facebook, so check back in throughout the day.

Thad will use all methods of communicating (email, post here, Facebook) to let everyone know once the little guy arrives...with all the official stuff like name, size, time, etc. So again, just keep an eye out, and pray in the meantime.

Thank you to everyone who has been sending us well wishes, prayer, thoughts, and love. We appreciate them all! Love and blessings to you too...Jana

Added: Oh, and please pray for good communication. We have been told that the doctors and midwives speak English, but it's still an unknown. I feel comfortable communicating in German, but who knows how I will feel in the midst of it all. Pray for clarity and understanding throughout. Thanks again!

Still waiting...

Just a quick note to say that we are still waiting...patience is hard when you don't know when the when is!!

Our last necessity for the baby's room arrived today...a mattress, so he officially has a place to sleep once he arrives! Maybe that's what he was waiting on...maybe today is the day?? Maybe...

We'll keep you posted!

How will the announcment come?

We have had a lot of people ask how we are going to begin spreading the word when the little guy comes. First, I would like to say that we will try to inform as many people as possible, but time will not be on our side.

We will make a few calls to family. After that, depending on when Jana goes into labor, we will notify a few people in Kandern.

Next, I have an email list that I will use to send out the announcement that we are heading to hospital. If I send that out and I do not have your email address, please forgive me! I have tried making sure I have everyone, but that is not always possible.

While those are going out, I will post here.

Last, before we run out the door, I will change our Facebook status to say that we are driving to the hospital.

In the days after the little guy comes, I will try to find an internet connection (or drive home) to send out updates on how Jana and the baby are doing, perhaps with pictures.

So, it could be any moment now! Please continue to pray for us!!

Laugh Out Loud - Talking Funny

While standing in line at the grocery store, Thad strikes up a conversation in German with our Insurance Agent who is waiting behind us. Her 3-year-old daughter’s head goes back and forth between the two as they talk, when the daughter eventually turns to her mom and says in German “Why does he talk so funny?”

One week...

Yikes, the countdown has really begun...One more week until our due date!!!