Olive Arrow Birkey was born at 11:25 pm on Monday, June 22nd. Laura calls Olive her “eleventh hour baby.” She was scheduled for an induction on Tuesday and was born, literally, in the eleventh hour of the evening. We’re so glad that she is here.

We’ve known her as “Olive” for a long time already. I think Laura first mentioned her name in late December. By the night of her gender reveal party, it was pretty much set in stone. (I found this interesting because with Kellen and Oaks we never heard any name discussions until we met them.)

Laura warned me a few weeks ago that her middle name was kind of a “hippie” name. Today she called it a “biblical hippie name.” Four verses go with Olive Arrow’s name: Psalm 52:8, Psalm 127:4, Psalm 128:3, and Isaiah 49:2. My favorite is Psalm 52. I think Laura’s favorite is Psalm 128 because it uses both images. Her nursery theme also follows the middle name, kind of a southwestern theme with arrows.

Olive looks a bit like Kellen with lots of dark hair, like Laura. She’s been wide awake both times I’ve seen (and held her) just quietly peering out at this new world, looking a little puzzled. Like, “what have I got myself into here?” She seems pretty content.

And now Olive is home. They decided to leave the hospital as soon as they could, 24 hours after birth. They came home at midnight to avoid having to waiting half the morning for all the doctors to come in and the discharge to happen. It was nice to “sleep” in their own bed and to wake up together.

The first day went well. The adult-to-child ratio is still even with grandmothers on board. It’s been nice to snuggle with Olive while they catch up on sleep. It’s been fun to be with the boys too, sharing this special time with them. They love their little sister!