11.24.2013

The Bump {16} - Owen's Birth Story

I never really expected little Owen to arrive as early as he did. I wished he would but honestly thought he'd arrive after Thanksgiving. He sure seemed cozy enough in there to me! I couldn't help but get overly excited thinking about him arriving and then having to tell myself that we still had a couple of weeks left.

When I came in to the week prior to his birth, I began to have a slight feeling that I needed to prepare my work space for me to potentially not come back to for awhile without notice. Not quite sure if I actually did that so one of these days, I should go back and make sure I didn't leave a dirty dish in my file cabinet! What I didn't prepare for was all the house/fun duties at home. I was always so tired after work so I typically left major chores and any fun projects for the weekends. I had such grand plans for the day he was born - cleaning the house, doing tons of laundry, blogging, etc. I'm not too bummed out that this didn't happen and luckily for me, Gary and I have both been really good about keeping up with our chores even during Owen's first few days at home. (I'm not sure our sleep deprivation has actually set in yet...) And besides, we had a baby that day instead! I'd say that we accomplished quite a lot! (It's also a little crazy that he arrived so close to the day I wished he'd come - November 17)

Owen's Birth Story
The night before Owen was born, Gary and I joined his mom and dad for dinner at Rubaiyat. I'm glad we got a lovely meal in before our baby was born but let me tell you - I am still not happy about not eating the leftovers! Gspice wouldn't let me eat the three-day old leftovers in the fridge. We arrived home at about 7:30 p.m. and I tried to keep my feet up as they were the size of elephants (yes, they had gotten even bigger than tree trunks!) By 10 pm I decided it was time to sleep. Not 18 minutes later I awoke to my first contraction. It was painful enough to wake me up and I had to breath through it a little bit. I immediately found a contraction timer app and started counting. After determining they were 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute each, I tried calling Gary. No answer. Reallllly?????? I got my huge pregnant self out of bed, stomped down the stairs only to find him asleep on the couch! Don't worry, I woke him up and said something like, "You should answer your phone! I am having contractions!" Probably scared the pants off him :-) I decided to take a shower in case this was the real thing while Gary called the OB department. I'm not quite sure what they suggested exactly but we took some time to clean up the house and finish packing the hospital bags (which, let me tell you, I BARELY OPENED during the entire stay at the hospital). We decided to head to the hospital at 1:15 a.m. after taking one last pregnancy photo:



At this point, I had been up since 6:15 a.m. Friday morning. After a long day at work, only because I felt so pregnant and got a little cranky, I was already exhausted. You can see it in my eyes! Little did I know that Owen would take sooooo long before he was ready to actually come out!

Luckily for us, we were the only patients in OB for the day. I got the nice big delivery room and lots of attention, which was so nice. I felt very well taken care of and monitored. Sadly, after an initial exam, I wasn't dilated one bit. I remember looking at Gary and freaking out that they'd send me home. How could they when I was having these contractions! I took the next few hours relatively well - I walked for about 20-30 minutes and then sat in a rocking chair for about 2.5 hours. I watched/listed to TV and Parenthood S4 while breathing through regular contractions. At about 4:30 am, I was examined again, only this time I was at 6cm! CRAZY! I really didn't think the contractions were that bad. Our doctor was called immediately while I got officially admitted. The only downside to this part was having to be stuck three times before the IV took. I really don't like needles... My nurse also talked to me a little bit about getting an epidural, which throughout my entire pregnancy I really wanted and only wavered on that for a moment before saying, YES PLEASE. My doctor also said the same thing to the nurse so I skipped the whirlpool and got the epidural at 5:30 am.

The next few hours went by in a nice sleepy slumber until I got to see my doctor for the first time at 8 am. I believe I was 8cm at this point and we all thought that by 10 am I'd be 10cm and would labor down for two hours and have this little bundle by noon. Wishful thinking. Got checked at 10 am and had moved to 9cm. Got checked again at noon and was still at 9cm. This continued despite receiving some pitocin for the next 4.5 hours. Let me tell you, laboring this long - I watched basically the whole entire season 4 of Parenthood. Good thing I bought that for this very occasion!

At 4:30pm, my doctor returned and gave me a quick but meaningful talk about how if things didn't progress we may have to consider another avenue. He didn't have to even say the words C-Section and my body went into overdrive. Within the hour I was fully dilated and he wanted me to labor down for at least an hour before pushing. This is when I got particularly nervous, shaking and all. Gary was a sweetheart and helped calm me. What really got me through the next hour or so were the contractions. Unfortunately, by the 4:30-5 pm mark, my epidural felt like it had completely stopped working. I endured the last two hours with what I would guess to be about 15-20% affect of the epidural (on the flip side, I didn't have to feel any contractions for a solid 11 hours). The contractions were relatively bad and my breathing got more intense during this time.

During the intense breathing, I kept thinking that I could certainly start pushing if they wanted me to but still felt like I could resist the urge. Turns out I should have spoken up sooner - my doctor said that if this had been my second baby, I'd probably already have a baby! Me and pain, who knew we were such good friends. I started to push just after 6 pm and without all the nitty gritty, little Owen arrived at 6:29 pm.

Owen James, born at 6:29 pm on Saturday, November 16. 7lbs 9oz and 20 1/4 inches long.

Easy peasy.

Welcome, Owen James! We are so lucky to call you our son!

11.21.2013

The Bump {15} - Recap: 36-39 weeks

Little Mr. arrived a day too soon! I had a slight suspicion that if he were to come to us early, it would be on Sunday, November 17. Clearly, that was not the case and so this post wasn't completed on the day I was hoping it would, Saturday, November 16. Until now!

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The last few weeks. The home stretch. Nearing the finish line.

It's truly hard to believe the time that's gone by. It goes by so slowly and so quickly all at the same time. This is probably the most difficult thing about pregnancy. You are always waiting with anxious anticipation yet hoping time would move more slowly at times too. It's been a struggle these past couple of weeks. My eager anticipation is shining more bright it seems but a part of me wishes that time would slow down too.

I have managed to get even bigger and even more uncomfortable in these last few weeks. I have consistent heartburn, swollen tree trunks and a super cranky attitude at home. Well, it's either cranky or super emotional. Sorry Gspice! He's been such an amazing partner through this whole experience. I really couldn't imagine going through this with anyone else. I remember one night where I must have gotten incredibly anxious. It was around 36 weeks so really, I'm surprised it hasn't happened since! I woke up one evening after having a super uncomfortable coughing fit (with you know, my favorite friend, Acid Reflux) which lasted for over 20 minutes. This lead to uncontrollable shaking and shivers. Not my idea of a fun thing to go through at 2:45 a.m. I basically cried out of misery and decided I didn't want to cry alone so woke up my sweet husband to console me. See, he's pretty cool :)

Here are two of the things that I have loved most about my pregnancy with Mini Mr:

The movement. 
There is something truly magical about feeling your little one moving and kicking. I can be having the worst day and this ALWAYS brings a smile to my face and lifts my spirits. I think, too, that going from one pregnancy with barely any movement to one with tons of movement - I really appreciate the reassurance it brings me. I also absolutely love when Gary can feel him kick and jab. The look of complete joy, excitement and wonder on his face are the same looks that made me fall in love him in the first place. It's so special to watch.

The time I took to do things I really enjoy.
I know that when Owen arrives that our lives are going to drastically change. I'm ready for the change but know that I may not spend as much time doing things I like to do. Really, when you have a cute baby, who cares about that? What I mean by this is that being pregnant gave me such an incredible sense of freedom. I took this pregnancy as a time to do things that I really wanted to do be doing. That just means we had less clean dishes or went a little longer without clean laundry...

Now with eager anticipation, we wait. Owen will arrive whenever he pleases and I sure hope we're ready!

I managed to take a few photos as well despite having zero motivation to look pretty!

11.02.2013

A Day at Pinter's!

On a sunny October day, the Camp and Wiest families went on a little field trip to Pinter's. Despite the wind, the trip was super fun and an awesome way to spend a lovely fall day. We all agreed this would be a great place to take little ones when they got a little older too. There were so many fun games for kids to play, animals to fond over and a few games that would trip the triggers of those adults that are still little kids at heart (aka, our husbands!)







Like I said, little kids at heart.


Staredown. Erin won.



Our bumps at 34w4d. I think Gspice is going to have a bigger baby than me...



Erin is such a little trouble maker!

And this is where it takes her! (and Gary!)




And perhaps the best part of it all? The BEST cupcake I've had in a very long time. Holy cow.