Bright and Earl-y: Owen's (early) birth day

It's been a crazy month, but I wanted to write down Owen's birth story before I start forgetting the details. I cannot believe he's already over a month old!

Let me start off by saying that other than the occasional nausea and fatigue, I had a pretty easy pregnancy. Looking back, I'm kicking myself for not milking the "cravings" thing. And I bet I could have gotten way more foot rubs if I would have complained more. Now I've ruined it for all of my future pregnancies. Dang...

Weeks leading up to Owen's birth day

In the weeks leading up to his birth, I had some cramping that woke me up in the middle of the night (nothing super painful though) so I wasn't that surprised that I was dilated to 2cm at my 35 week appointment. At my 36 week appointment, I was dilated to 4cm and 80% effaced.

35 weeks, 4 days along 9.16.14

The weekend before my 37 week appointment, I had called the hospital and spoken with a labor & delivery nurse (since my OB office is closed on the weekends) and told her that I thought there was a slight chance my water was leaking. (I'm a natural worrier, so I figured I would call just in case even though I thought I was most likely overreacting.)

The nurse told me it would be pretty obvious if it was leaking because there would be a lot of fluid, so I stopped worrying and figured I would double check at my appointment that week, just in case.

Wednesday, October 1

The day of my 37 week appointment came and we were pretty excited to see if I had progressed any more. When we were taken back to our room, I told Dr. Erickson about my concern of possibly leaking amniotic fluid. He told us he would check to see how dilated I was (I happened to be 5cm & 80% effaced already) and then take a PH strip to make sure I wasn't leaking. Normally he's a pretty laid back guy, but I remember seeing a very concerned look on his face after the PH strip immediately turned blue (not a good sign).

We were both pretty shocked when he said we needed to head over to the hospital right away so I could be induced because of risk of infection. So, we left the appointment and ran home to get our stuff.

On our way to the hospital
October 1, 2014

Leaving for the hospital!

Last bump picture!

Getting admitted

We arrived to the hospital around noon. We checked in and they put me in Triage while waiting for a delivery room to open up.

Waiting for a delivery room

Around 2:00pm, we got in to a delivery room where my doctor broke my water the rest of the way. (There had just been a slight leak, it hadn't completely broken.) My doctor said my amniotic fluid looked fine and my WBC count was normal, so they didn't think there was an infection.

In the delivery room!

Soon after, they started me on Pitocin and around 3:00pm, my contractions were about 3 minutes apart. I really wasn't in any pain, but since I was already so dilated, I talked them in to letting me get the epidural right away. I've got nothing to prove :)

The next few hours were pretty uneventful. I sat there numb from the tummy down watching a movie and Brad studied in the chair next to me. Some time around 6:00pm, the nurse examined me and we were excited to hear I was dilated to about 7-8cm. Shortly after that, my mom and brother arrived from Vegas. We all just sat around and talked and waited. Some time after 7:00pm, the nurse examined me again and I was dilated to 10cm! I couldn't believe it was already time.

Brad and my mom stayed in the room with me and my brother happily went to wait in the waiting room. After pushing for about 20-30 minutes, Owen was born at 8:07pm! I balled like a baby as soon as I saw him for the first time and when they put him on my chest. There's really nothing like it.

Before I started pushing, Dr. Erickson had us all guess what Owen's weight would be. I gussed 7 pounds, 3 ounces and he ended up being 7 pounds, 3.6 ounces so I won! Brad had guessed 7 pounds, 8 ounces.

At first, everything seemed great and Owen seemed perfectly healthy. After they cleaned him off, we got to hold him and take some pictures.

I love this picture because we didn't see him open his eyes again until about 5 days later since they got so swollen in the NICU.

Our first family photo!

Grandma holding Owen!

Chris, mom, me and Owen!

Stuffing my face with McDonald's afterwards

Hanging out in my recovery room bed.

After delivery

As we were holding Owen after he was born, we noticed he was grunting quite a bit and it seemed like he was having a hard time breathing. We alerted the nurse and after a little while, they took him to the nursery just to make sure everything was OK. Brad went with him while I stayed in the room since my epidural hadn't worn off yet.

In the nursery 10.2.14

Having a hard time breathing 10.2.14

They kept Owen in the nursery for a while and at about 3am, we got a call saying that his breathing seemed to be improving and they would be bringing him to our room. When he was brought to us, we could tell that he was still grunting and just didn't seem right. Brad and I just kept switching off and on holding him because he struggled a lot when we tried to lie him down.

The next morning, our new nurse came in to check mine and Owen's vitals. When she was checking Owen, I could tell something was off because she had a strange look on her face and made the excuse that her "machine didn't seem to be working" properly and that she was going to take him back to the nursery. My motherly instincts must have already kicked in because I thought that seemed odd and didn't think there was anything wrong with her machine. A little while later, they came in and told us they admitted him to the NICU.

Owen's stay in the NICU

Owen's two week stay in the NICU was an emotional roller coaster. He was put on oxygen, CPAP, had an IV and also a feeding tube. It was terrible seeing him hooked up to all of those machines, and even more terrible on the days when we weren't allowed to hold him.

Because Owen's breathing wasn't improving, and because his body was acting like he was fighting off an infection, the doctor's started him on antibiotics. (I cannot describe to you how guilty I felt when I heard he could possibly have an infection. I knew I should have followed my gut and gone in to get checked when I thought I was leaking fluid). We were also told it could possibly be a metabolic disease, which really upset us.

After hearing this bad news, Brad and our good friend Weston Packard gave Owen a blessing and over the next few days, many of our friends and family fasted for Owen. We know it's because of everyone's fasting and prayers that Owen's blood cultures came back negative for infection and he started improving. I'm so thankful for the power of prayer!

Me, baby Cora and Katherine Packard. Not only did the Packard's come to give Owen a blessing, but they had a baby a few days later! 10.6.14

Owen's final diagnoses was Transient Tachypnea, which can happen in babies born before 38 weeks. It's when a baby's lungs don't dispel all of the fluid when they're born, and the leftover fluid makes it really hard for them to breathe. Usually babies who have this start improving within 24-72 hours, but we found out later that Owen also had a collapsed lung, which exacerbated the problem. The doctor told us that basically anything that can go wrong with being born too early went wrong with Owen, but thankfully there aren't any long term effects.

Owen's first two weeks of life in the NICU

Skin to Skin 10.2.14

Our poor baby 10.3.14

Owen got progressively worse after his first day in the NICU so there was a while when we weren't allowed to hold him. All we were allowed to do was touch his head.

10.3.14

My favorite times in the NICU 10.5.14

Here's a video of Owen opening his eyes for the first time since he was born. They had been too swollen for him to open them for about 4 days after he was born.

10.5.14