We welcomed our newest little Cozy Baby on Tuesday at 2:15 AM. Owen Graeme weighed 9lbs 5oz and was 20" long. Here is his birth story.
Since I suffered a miscarriage immediately before conceiving Owen, the start date of my pregnancy was a little vague. According to an early sonogram the due date was set for October 3rd. But no one really expected it to be that day. In September the doctor predicted little Owen would arrive on September 23rd. I chose the 27th. My mother chose her birthday, September 30th. Owen kept us waiting.
I was against induction from the start because of several risk factors. However, when we saw the doctor on the 30th and there will stll no signs of labor we decided an induction was the right thing to do. He scheduled us for an office visit on Monday, October 3rd. I was dilated to 1.5 cm that morning. The doctor explained the procedure.
We were to arrive at the hospital that evening at 7PM. They would administer something called Cervadil to make the cervix thin out. Then they'd let me rest all night. It wasn't supposed to cause contractions just mild discomfort. The doctor would come break my water at 7:15 AM and then they would give me my epidural and start administering pitocin to bring on contractions. Once I had a timeline I was good. Now I could plan. We called my family. My mom drove up from Tulsa and my dad came up from Little Rock Monday afternoon. They were going to stay with Evie for the night and come up to the hospital in time for the baby's birth. The doctor said it would be around 11AM-2PM on the 4th.
But like all plans it didn't quite work out that way and we were very lucky to have both Mom and Dad here Monday night!
We arrived at the hospital a little later than expected. They hooked me up to a monitor where we discovered that I was experiencing very mild, pain free contractions about every 10 minutes. They weren't concerned about that, and I was still only dilated to 1.5cm, so they administered the Cervadil at around 8PM. After that my contractions became painful and sped up rapidly. Going from every 10 minutes to every 5 minutes in less than an hour. I was in so much pain they checked me again, and although the Cervadil was not supposed to cause me to dilate, I was now at 3cm. The nurse removed the cervadil, explaining that the contractions should slow down and I should be able to rest. She gave me an Ambien. No sooner had she done that, my contractions sped up to around 2 minutes apart and were lasting 60 - 90 seconds each! She turned around and offered me some pain medication to take the edge off so I could sleep. That didn't work either. But it did make me feel exceptionally drunk peaked with painful moments of lucidity that just kept getting closer together and lasting longer. And I was uncontrollably shivering with chattering teeth during the brief breaks in between contractions. In tears, I begged the nurse for an epidural. She took pity on me, checked again and when she found I was rapidly dilating further and feared my water was about to burst called the on call anesthesiologist (who barely made it in time) and my doctor. By 1AM we were at 8cm and got my mom out of bed too. The epidural was taking forever to kick in and the anesthesiologist explained that he was going to speed things up but that it would wear off faster. He laughed that at the speed I was moving it wouldn't matter. And it didn't. It barely kicked in before I was being told to push. The delivery room was a much calmer place after the drugs kicked in but the real excitement was quickly coming. Now that I was feeling no pain I could focus my energy on pushing.
I pushed with only 4 contractions and at 2:15AM delivered a bluer than expected Owen Graeme, who had managed to tie his umbilical cord in a knot. The doctor was very calm, suctioned him vigorously and allowed Mike to cut the cord before handing Owen off to a nurse with some Oxygen, which happily pinked him right up. He scored 8 and 9 on his Apgars. Later the doctor explained that about 1 in 100 babies have their cords tied in knots. In his calm way it didn't seem all that scary, but I know just how lucky we were and am even more grateful we decided to proceed with the induction (If you can really call it that. We prefer to think of it as a kick start.) when we did.
Owen is a very laid back baby. He rarely really cries, although he does let us know he is hungry or uncomfortable. He took right to breastfeeding with no problems at all and eats well. I only hope my wonky thyroid allows me to hold up my end of the bargain. Owen is a little snuggly cuddle bug. He loves to sleep in your arms and will curl up right next to you, sleeping better there than in his bed. He hates to be undressed or cold and diaper changes have been a LOT easier since we got home to our wipe warmer vs the cold ones at the hospital.
Owen's first name is Irish and means "Born of Nobility" which is fitting because, as you all know, I am a princess. ;) His middle name, Graeme, is after his daddy. Naming him was exhausting and involved an NCAA tournament of names written on little cards all over our bed one night. The final showdown was between Owen and Andrew. Owen had the added benefit of Evie being able to say it perfectly, but it was not formally declared the winner until a day or so before he was born.
Everyone seems very taken with his mop of dark hair. I haven't washed it yet, but I think it's going to curl like Evie's did at this age. Up close he appears to have highlights. He weighed in at a hefty 9 lbs 5oz but he's not a rolly polly little chunk. His little legs and arms seem darn right skinny. He does have big feet though. They barely fit the newborn booties I made for him.
Evie is a caring and gentle big sister, but has a short attention span for her brother. She kindly gave him a blue blankie and taught him to rub the satin on his cheek the way she does with her pink blankie. She likes to give him is binky (which he wants nothing to do with) and she wants to help buckle him in his car seat.
It's only been 2 days but we are very taken with our sweet little guy. Welcome to the family little Owen.
