Owen is Here!

Owen is here!! He made his big debut on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 10:37am. He was 8lbs 10oz and 21 inches long. (1/2lb and 1/2” less than his big brother was, but also a week earlier).

The day started off a little rough. Basically the hospital has horrible communication between departments. The day before the registration lady told me I was scheduled for that day instead of the next, but they got that figured out. Then when we arrived at the hospital at 6:30am they couldn’t figure out why we were there so early. Apparently they had me down for an 11:00 c-section, instead of 9:30, but that was finally figured out too. However, they were full, so we got to spend over an hour in the waiting room, and then got prepped in the recovery room, because there still weren’t any rooms available. After a delay due to an emergency c-section, we finally got to go at about 10.

I had asked my doctor if there was any way I could see him being delivered and she was happy to accommodate me, even though she’d never tried it before. They didn’t have a sterile mirror, so they decided to incline the head of the table when it was time to pull him out and let down the curtain. It was perfect- they pulled him out and he was right there in front of me- the best view possible. There was also a clear view to his table, so I got to watch him getting cleaned up and assessed. (I didn’t get to see ANYTHING with Carter or see him until he was about 10min old and they’d finished all their assessments, so it really meant a lot to me this time). They then brought him over and laid him on my chest, another thing they didn’t do with Carter. (They had to knock me out after Carter was delivered, because I was hemorrhaging, so I only got to see him for a minute).

Once we were done there still weren’t any rooms available, so we got an extended stay in recovery. On the plus side, I got lots of attention, because the nurse can’t leave you unattended in recovery. On the down side, you’re not supposed to have visitors back there. They did however make an exception since we’d been there so long and let Ryan’s mom bring Carter back to meet his new little brother.

He instantly started petting him and pointing out his nose, ears, and eyes. I unswaddled him a bit to show him his hands and feet. Owen then proceeded to cry from being unswaddled. When Carter came back that evening to visit again, the first thing he said was that he didn’t want to tickle his feet, because he didn’t want him to cry again.

To my surprise and great relief, I wasn’t in nearly as much pain this time around after the surgery. I had been dreading the intense pain and not being able to do anything for myself. This time though I was able to get up out of bed on my own that very night. I knew it would be easier this time, since I didn’t go through labor first, but I hadn’t realized how untypical my pain was last time.

The last night in the hospital brought some frustration. They were again running short on rooms and had people coming in for inductions, so they wanted to move me down to a room on the surgery floor, since I was more recovered than some. I was a bit perturbed by this, seeing as 2 years ago I was sent to a different hospital for my induction, because they were full, but now they were squeezing people in. We did find out the next morning that all the local hospital maternity wards were overflowing though, so I guess they had to make room for people this time. We packed up our stuff and then waited, and waited, and waited. Again, the poor communication between departments showed up, as we found out the surgery floor had a room ready for me, but they never notified the maternity department.

Once we finally got moved I found comfort in the bed. The maternity beds are thin and uncomfortable and you can’t raise the legs, because they’re designed to come off for delivery. The new room however had a regular hospital bed with a soft, comfortable mattress that was fully adjustable. Poor Ryan though moved to an even smaller bed than he’d had before (and on his birthday too, what a sport).

We received prompt assistance when needed that night, because there was a maternity nurse sent down for the 8 of us who’d been displaced. The next day though it took forever to get help (if it ever came at all- frustrating when you’re talking about pain meds!) Owen was supposed to get circumcised that morning, but the doctor was busy doing her rounds on the maternity floor. I was finally asked if I wanted to be discharged at noon or wait until after 4p for them to get to Owen. We opted to go home earlier and take him back in on Tuesday. However, come noon my doctor still had not appeared to discharge me. She finally sent down my midwife, who had come in to visit, and she did my discharge and we were released around 2.

The following Tuesday was a LONG day. Owen had his 1wk check-up that morning. His weight had dropped to 7lb 14oz and he was jaundiced. We ran a few errands while we were in town and then went to our afternoon appointments. We both had a 2:15 appointment, me for my incision and Owen for his circumcision. I went in a reasonable amount of time, but we waited quite a while for Owen. You’re not supposed to feed them 1hr before the procedure and he was due to eat, which made it even more fun. After a long wait they took him back and said he’d be done in 5-10 minutes, but it ended up being 30 minutes. In total we were at that doctors’ office for over 2 hours.

We then had to take Owen back to the pediatrician on Thursday to check his billirubin level again for his jaundice. He went from 13.4 to 13.8, which means it was leveling off, but they want to check it again just to make sure it's coming down. We’re supposed to go for that tomorrow morning. He was also up to 8lb 1oz.

That brings us to today. Carter came down with a cold basically the same day Owen was born and Owen has now caught it. It’s been a little rough, not getting much sleep last night and having to hold him most of today. So that’s everything for now. It’s been an adjustment, but we are definitely loving our new addition and Carter loves helping out with his new baby brother. Click on our gallery to see pictures of the new little guy.

37.5 Weeks

I guess I’m overdue for an update. My apologies to anyone who’s been keeping up with the blog and been waiting for info. My last 2 weekly appointments have given no new news other than the fact that we now have the c-section officially scheduled. If he doesn’t come sooner, which at this point I’m really starting to doubt he will, he’ll be born on Aug. 19 somewhere around 9:30am. The Dr. has another c-section that morning at 7, so whenever she’s done with that one, it’ll be my turn to go in.

Not much else has changed- still having lots of contractions. In general they’ve gotten more painful, but for the most part they’re irregular. There have been a couple days where they were 10 minutes apart for a good part of the day, but then they’d go random again. Hence the doubting he’ll come before the 19th.

I’ve been doing my best to keep busy and help labor come on. I’ve been going on walks with Carter every morning around our neighborhood, which is 1mile, plus all the other walking and chasing him around I do during the day. We’ve also started going to the pool in the afternoons. It’s not so much to help labor, but it is nice to feel lighter. Plus, it’s a workout. It’s amazing how sore my muscles are after walking around in the pool for a couple hours. Carter of course loves it. He can swim all by himself now with just water wings on. The school’s pool has a waterfall wall at one end, so he likes to play in it and catch/pop the bubbles in the foam.

My last appointment is this Tuesday. If there’s any news I’ll post another update, otherwise the next post will likely be to announce Owen’s arrival!