No, he’s not an Olympian and he’s never been to the Olympics. Here’s what happened.

I was 41, and we thought we were done reproducing. Not only did I struggle to get pregnant with our first child, but then he was born over 4 months early and had to spend the first 17 weeks in a bright, intense, extremely high-tech and stressful medical environment. Facing death-defying crisis after the next, Chris is extremely lucky to have survived. 

Then when we tried to give Chris a sibling, I had four miscarriages until our Rainbow Baby Kieran was born squealing and spirited.

So when we were watching the Winter Olympics a few years later in 2006, I kept nodding off on Mike’s shoulder. This is unusual for me; Mike is usually the one to snooze while watching TV. When it kept happening, I thought I should probably take a pregnancy test, although surely I couldn’t be pregnant! I’d never gotten pregnant without trying hard and taking Clomid, an ovulation drug. I was 41 and still nursing toddler Kieran.

The chances of a 41-year-old woman getting pregnant per cycle is about 5 to 10%. And the miscarriage chance in that age group is 33-40%. Topping that, having 4 miscarriages previously gave me a 40-50% chance of another miscarriage. So I had somewhere between a 1-in-40 and 1-in-16 chance, each cycle, of both conceiving and this pregnancy not ending in loss. I am fiercely pro-choice, but I felt that he was a surprise blessing to us after all our infertility. It was clear that Nicholas was meant to be born!

When the pregnancy test turned up positive, my shock turned into planning. To Mike’s amazement, I started thinking about where we’d put three kids, both in our house and vehicles. But both of us had come from families with three children, so we knew we’d make it work. 

We’d gotten rid of most of my maternity clothes and baby things—oops! My pregnancy, even higher risk than before, went pretty smoothly until the 20-week ultrasound, when they saw soft markers for an often-fatal disorder. I was offered an amnio, but I refused it, not wanting to add to the chances for miscarriage and just trusting that all would be okay.

Because I’d had a radical c-section with Chris, I was one of the few women who could not have a vaginal delivery post c-section. Both Kieran and Nick were scheduled for c-sections at 37 weeks, after testing to make sure their lungs were mature enough.

Nadine was in the delivery room for Kieran and Nicholas’ births–and in addition to having my beloved sister with us, having a doctor observer really put my mind to ease. (She was watching all of the surgery intently and giving reports, while Mike stayed up near my head!) The c-section was kind of stressful, because they had to cut through a lot of scar tissue to get to the baby…and then when he was born, he had some breathing troubles and they had to call in a NICU team to check him out. That freaked Mike out more than me. He wasn’t as feisty or big as Kieran when he came out.

With the exception of a few very upsetting incidents with the Family Birth Center nurses regarding nursing and bottles, Nicholas was fine. He was just a little peanut at 6 lb, 7 oz (but still huge compared to Chris).

It’s hard to imagine our lives without Nick. Each one of our boys have truly unique personalities. Nick has always been the cautious watcher, observing the world and forming an internal commentary on what’s going on. If you’re lucky, he’ll share it with you.

As a child, he began telling stories and filming himself at an early age. Mike helped him capture his stories, calling him “The World’s Tiniest Author.” Drawn to the “hero” story at a young age, he idolized Indiana Jones and would go around in his Indy costume everywhere! It was interesting to see his draw to tough, macho male figures….not only Indy but also WWE wrestlers, Trail Blazers basketball, Rocky, and James Bond. As a young boy he loved to take his shirt off and flex his muscles, trying to look tough…amusing since he was such a skinny thing!

Painfully shy as a kid, he’s always had a sweet heart and a deep conviction for social justice and compassion. He cherishes his family and friends. And while he is quieter and less prone to the spotlight than the other males in our family, he’s got a phenomenal singing voice. He taught himself how to make videos on his phone, starting with wrestling videos and moving into full-length James Bond and Indiana Jones fan films.

And even though he is supposedly the “non-actor” in the family (not pursuing theater like the other two but appearing in his own films), he has always gravitated to storytelling. I just found this amusing blog post from 2012, about when he directed the whole family two nights in a row in plays. “He is one strict director. He’s also got the dramatic actor part down, as he is prone to tears if we try to cut the plays off prematurely. And he’s known to declare ‘I hate this family!’ if we don’t do what he says.”

And as much as he is not a huge fan of studying, he achieved straight As throughout high school and got admitted to Colorado College, where he’s studying film and psychology and is on the Dean’s List. I just proofread his latest paper, on the 1978 slasher film Halloween, and I’m always impressed by his insights and analytical mind. He helps me look at the world differently, for which I’m always grateful!

I can’t wait to keep watching to see what he makes of his life, this surprise Olympics baby of mine!