Decided I should have one pregnancy picture with our 4th child. This was about 8 mo pregnant.
Owen Joseph was born October 23rd at 5:30 p.m. I was measuring small (no surprise) and my doctor had me seeing a perinatologist. I went in for an appointment (that I almost canceled because I didn't think I needed it) for the second time that week. I had just been in on Monday to my doctor and we discussed being induced the following Monday due to baby measuring small. At the perinatology appointment on Thursday, they measured the amniotic fluid and it had dropped to 4.7 from 9 the week before. The nurse said, "hang tight here, I'm going to talk to the doctor". I told her I was scheduled to be induced in 4 days and she said, "Oh, I don't think they'll let you wait to be induced". At the time, I didn't understand what she was saying, so I texted Scott and told him what she had said and her findings. 20 mins later, she came back to me telling me I needed to go to the 5th floor to get checked in to have a baby today. WHAT?!?!?! I panicked a little because I had not washed my hair, I was going to go home and mow the lawn, my boys were at a new friends house and I told her I'd be home in 2 hours, and I didn't have anything packed, let alone a new car seat in the van. So, I attempted to call Scott; no answer. I tried my sister in law next; no answer. Then I tried my only close friend down here, Kerrie (friend from Colorado who happened to move in across the street one year earlier --thank goodness). She helped calm my anxieties of what I was going to do with the boys. She said she would go get Foster and Nate, take them to her house, then take Fos to school and if I couldn't get a hold of Scott, she would drive to his work to let him know. Just as we were talking, my sister in law, Holley called back. They live in Mapleton and she was scheduled to help with the kids on my "induction date". She was up in Park City mountain biking but said she would head down the mountain and get to our house and our needs as soon as possible. Right after I got off the phone with her, Scott called and I lost it. I started crying (for no reason) and explaining to him how I was not planning on this. He assured me it was how it always goes with our kids......they measure small and they come early. He said he would leave work, go get a bag of stuff for me, get the kids all squared away and be there as soon as he could. I told him to take his time because I had to get registered, checked in, lots of answering of health questions, etc.
I got upstairs just before noon. They started my I.V. around 12:30, Scott arrived shortly after, Pitocin was started around 1:30, doctor broke my water around 2:30 and there I went into labor. The pain was getting worse, but still not bad enough for an epidural. I wanted to have the liberty of walking around. Little did I know, because I was on Pitocin, I still couldn't walk around anywhere but my room but even then, I had to be closely monitored. A few times, they got concerned with the babies heart beat and I'd have to roll over. Then around 4 the pain was to the point of causing tears.......LOTS OF TEARS!!!! Scott had gone out to meet Holley to give her the car seats for the kids. He got back in at 4:30 and I didn't know if I was going to survive...hahahaha......I asked him to see if there was an anesthesiologist outside that could come give me an epidural. He checked with the nurses and they said he was helping another patient and that I was next. At 5 p.m., he FINALLY came in. He didn't bother waiting between contractions because there was no in between, it was pretty constant. He jabbed me with the needle, gave me a quick bolus (one time injection) then went out to get the rest of his stuff to hook up the actual pump. The nurse started slowly getting the room ready just in case. She checked me and I was only at a 4. I told her once I get to a 6, then I go pretty fast, but there wouldn't be any rush since I was only a 4. The anesthesiologist came back in at 5:15 and started going over the pump and how to use it before he hooked it up, at that point I said, there is a lot of pressure and pain down there and it feels like something just came out. He asked the nurse to check me again and she reluctantly did so and said, "she's complete!!!" and rushed around to finish the room and call the doc. The anesthesiologist said he wasn't going to hook up the pump because by the time he finished, the baby would be here. The doc came in, donned on her gear and half a push (because I held my breath) she told me start again and with the next push she told me to slow down, so as to not tear, and out came our little Owen. We didn't find out what he was, so as soon as Scott could see, He exclaimed,"It's a boy" and I said, "I'm done?" They hurried and put him against my skin while they cut the cord then rushed him over under the heater to get his vitals and scores. He struggled just a bit to breath but then soon figured it out and all was well. He was precious, God-sent and I was in love all over again. I told Scott I didn't know if I'd be able to stop having babies because I just fall in love so quickly and I love the delivery. (2 1/2 mo later as I write this, I've come to my senses). He weighed in at 5lbs 2.7 oz and was 17.5 in long. And he was perfect!!!! I love this part of having babies. Since I only had one injection of the epidural, I could feel my legs the whole time and was moving around in bed. After the first hour and them getting all their stuff done, I was moved to mom/baby floor and soon after Holley brought the kids down to see their new brother. They didn't know what he was so when they finally saw him, they were thrilled. We were a little worried about Molly since she was praying for a girl. But as soon as she saw him and held him, she too, was in love. It was so fun having our 4 kids there and so excited. Then Scott took the kids home and I was left with just Owen. We had a pretty good first night of eating and sleeping!
Right after getting all hooked up, but before the pain!
