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Sunday, February 19, 2012

Welcome, Little Owen



















Our beautiful youngest son, Owen Maverick, was born on February 14th, 2012.  That was my due date, ironically, and also Valentine's Day of course.  He was 18.5 inches long and 7 lb. 14.8 oz.  He was only .6 oz less than Ricky was when he was born!  They were almost exactly the same weight, although Owen was 1 inch longer than Ricky.

My water broke at 4AM which is the exact time that my water broke with Ricky, it's funny how similar they were.  =)  I arrived at the hospital around 5:30AM, was 1cm dilated, and I attempted a VBAC.  The OB-GYN  told me as soon as I got there that I have a very narrow pelvis and that the baby may not fit through.  Eric and my best friend Amanda stayed with me in L&D while I attempted labor.  I was still only 1 cm at 12:30PM despite the fact that my contractions were consistent and getting very painful.  Painful enough that I couldn't get through one without squeezing Eric's hand, and I felt that if they got much worse I'd be begging for an epidural.  The doctor obviously told me that I needed a c-section and I was sort of relieved.  I knew I probably wouldn't be allowed to have an epidural at 1cm dilated and that continuing labor would be horrifiying.  The c-section was tentatively scheduled for around 1:00 PM and Eric and Amanda tried their best to distract me from watching the clock as the minutes passed by.

Everything went well with the delivery, technically, but the surgery and the recovery were much more scary and uncomfortable than they were when I gave birth to Ricky.  I was hysterically crying when I walked into the OR, terrified during the spinal block, and panicking almost the entire time they were doing the surgery.  I kept thinking I couldn't breathe right because the anesthesia made me feel weird and I thought they were going to have to put me to sleep to keep me from freaking out.  I somehow managed to calm myself down enough to get through it, with the help of my amazing husband at my side.  When I heard Owen's cry at 1:42 PM I cried A LOT, only this time it was happy tears.  I got to look at him briefly before they took him to the NICU but couldn't really tell what he looked like because I was lying down and Eric was holding him at a weird angle when he tried to show him to me.  After they were finished stitching me up they took me to recovery where Eric and Amanda were waiting to be with me.  I was exhausted and felt very weak, and when they gave me the IV pain medication I instantly started to get nauseous.  I was unable to drink for the rest of the day because even just thinking about drinking made me sick.  As soon as they stopped the IV pain meds that night I felt better.  Owen got out of the NICU at around 8:30 PM that evening and we were finally able to cuddle with him and get to know him.  The rest of my hospital stay went pretty well.  The first time I got up and walked around was 1,000X easier than it was with Ricky, and Eric couldn't believe that I just got out of bed and walked to the bathroom without seeming like I was in much pain.  I got my first shower by myself that same day, and with Ricky I needed help from a nurse and Eric when I took my first shower.

As for Owen, he's doing wonderful.  Every time I look at him I love him more than I did the time before.  It's weird trying to love a person you've never met before, so it makes sense that my love for him grows as he becomes more familiar to me.  I just adore him.  He doesn't cry that much, and usually if he's crying but nothing helps, he's actually hungry (despite having just eaten recently) and then I'm pretty surprised when feeding him makes him happy again.

He eats a lot, more than most babies do.  The nurses at the hospital said that he's eating much more per feeding than normal, so I won't be surprised if he ends up being a chubby little guy!  We tried breastfeeding but failed miserably, he wasn't latching right and I got very sore.  I didn't have a lactation consultant offer me help in the hospital until after I was already sore and miserable and considering quitting, although I totally admit that I should have asked for help.  Now I'm pumping and bottle feeding and it's going pretty well.  I was going to just bottle feed but I feel good knowing I'm giving him some breast milk.  I feel guilty that I gave up on nursing so quickly but I was hormonal, miserable, and knew that continuing to breastfeed would really stress me out and make me dread seeing my son.  I went through the same thing with Ricky- I was working so hard trying to breastfeed (and supplement, and pump) every 3 hours through severe pain that I didn't really want to spend time with him anymore because it seemed like every time we were together I was in pain.  In my opinion, under no circumstances should a mommy continue doing something that makes her dislike spending time with her children!  I think babies can sense your emotions and I didn't want to give off a negative aura to my babies when I was feeding them.  I think we're all a lot happier when I'm not trying to breastfeed!  I'm working pretty hard, most of the time, to increase my milk supply by pumping thoroughly and often.  I'm currently pumping about 1/3 of what Owen eats and it's getting closer to 1/2.  Maybe I'll eventually be able to pump enough to fully satisfy him so we can quit formula.  Occasionally I sleep through a feeding time and miss pumping, and then feel really guilty when I wake up because I know that diminishes my milk supply.  Either way, some breast milk is better than no breast milk, and we're doing the best we can.

Here is the link for the online nursery with his "official" first pictures in it:   http://www.wellspan.org/body2.cfm?id=1876 

Go there, and it should have you put in his date of birth, which is obviously Valentine's day.  There were 3 babies born that day and he will be one of the babies on that list.  I think the babies are listed by the names of their mothers, and my name will show up as Anna H.  Click on us on the list and then click "view full detail" and it will load up the page with his pictures.  There are 8 of them.  I think they turned out absolutely beautiful, especially the one with Owen lying on his belly in Eric's hands.  Speaking of Eric, he looks pretty darn handsome in the last picture of the 3 of us.  Drool...  

We bought a great package of pictures, birth announcements, a free 10X13 black and white picture that was a special offer, an enlarged announcement for framing, a DVD slideshow, and a CD of the pictures with the rights to print out more copies.  We never bought Ricky's first pictures because 1. they didn't turn out that great and 2. Eric was unemployed when he was born and we didn't have 2 dimes to rub together.  We did get a bunch of professional pictures of him done when he was around 6 months old so we sort of made up for not having the first pictures.  I'm really really super excited to get all the pictures in the mail!  They should be here in about a week.

6 comments:

  1. Oh yea!! So happy to hear he was born and doing well. Sorry you weren't able to have a VBAC, I ended up having all C's, so understand. He is so cute! And yes, if breast feeding was asking you thT miserable then definitely not worth it.

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    1. Now that the birth is over I'm not too upset that I didn't have a VBAC, but I'm glad I tried. Labor was tough during my short experience so I don't think I was missing out on much!

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  2. Congratulations! I have been pumping for nearly 7 months and it is very time consuming but I feel like it is important and plus, I wasn't able to breastfeed or pump the first time so I'm giving it my all this time. He is so handsome and I'm happy for y'all!!

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    1. Thanks Tara! It's been so crazy adjusting to having two kids, especially since i'm a stay at home mom and i'm with them 24/7!

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  3. Congrats! What a beautiful family! Blessings to all! How's things going for the big brother?

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    1. Ricky's doing fine as a big brother, but he's jealous sometimes when I have to hold and feed Owen. He likes to give his brother kisses and he also tries to help feed him and brings me his diaper and pacifier sometimes!

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