Owen's Arrival

It has been two glorious and hazy weeks since Owen's great arrival! We checked into the hospital right at 10pm as planned and had an experience beyond what I ever expected. Very soon after admission, I was given a hormone to get the ball rolling. Then, Chris and I turned out the lights and went to sleep. Around 3am I started feeling contractions and put Chris to work as my coach. He did an amazing job! He remembered how I was supposed to breath (lifesaver), rubbed my back, walked with me around the nursery (we were looking for what was to come) and stayed right with me. Around 6am I was ready for the dreaded pitocin. I heard so many horror stories and was bracing myself for intense pain...even though I already lost my light dinner and legs were like jelly from what I was going through.

Thankfully, there is no horror story here! They started me on a light dose and the experience became more intense, but manageable. I was super sleepy though, so when the nurse came in and said if I wanted an epidural, the time would be now before several scheduled c-sections started, or wait several hours. Keeping the horror stories in mind, I went for it. It wasn't long before Chris and I were settled back into bed and napping in the morning hours.

Around 12:30pm it was time! But we waited and waited. The doctor was paged, on his way. But...we waited. Thank God for the epidural. Chris and I did a round of Mad Libs.

By 1:30 it was go time and what a shock my doctor had when he came. Apparently Owen was nearly here. Three contractions latter and less than 15 minutes from when we started, Owen was here!

My experience: The epidural was a bit stronger than what it should have been (so I was told) I could not feel a thing from my ribs down. It was eerie. Once the doctor was ready, the nurse told me to take a deep breath, so I did. Then she and the doctor start telling me to push. I had no idea what to do. I concentrated on where I think I should be pushing but with no sensation was a bit lost. I had to ask. I was quickly told to stop talking and keep pushing...so I guess I was on the right track! Seconds latter I heard, "his head is right there!". Next time I was a bit more aware what was coming when I was told to take a deep breath, so I was ready. All of a sudden I see a blueish-purple floating head moving and opening it's mouth. Wow, this is the little guy I've been carrying for 41 weeks!!! Next deep breath and I hear the doctor call over Chris and next thing I know there is a crying baby. It was surreal and I was working so hard to keep my focus on exactly what was happening to capture ever moment. Feeling Owen's skin, hearing his little grunts and breathing. It was amazing...

Chris's experience: He was fully prepared to turn down every offer the doctor would make to be a part of the "business end" as he called it. He was holding my back and helping with the "push" encouragement. Chris said the look on my face while pushing was of complete confusion. The doctor asked Chris to come take a look at Owen's head and Chris did as he was ready, he said "no thanks". Then, during the next contraction and Owen's was out to his shoulders and Chris was asked to come over and Chris said he just reacted. He ran over to the doctor, put his hands under Owen's arms as he was told to and pulled Owen out. Fighting through some tears, he handed Owen to me and helped cut the cord. He said it was the most amazing experience ever. What was so neat too, the next day, one of the assistants that were there told us that she started tearing up and thought it was such an amazing thing to see Chris jumping in like that.

We stayed in the hospital for two days and it was a whirl wind. We were so thankful to come home to peace and quite to enjoy our 8 lb 6 oz, 22 inch baby boy that was born on January 4, 2012 at 1:54pm!