Owen's Birth Story.

On May 7 I woke up at 5:15 am to get ready for my 6:30 induction. I was feeling super tired, since I had only gotten about 5 hours of sleep the night before. Despite getting to bed later than I wanted, I fell asleep easily and was able to put aside my anxieties about the next day's events.

My mom and Ben's mom were both in town, so they stayed at the house with Dylan while Ben and I left for the hospital at 6:15. We arrived at the hospital right on time and were able to get checked in pretty quickly. We asked if we could get the same delivery room that we had with Dylan, but it was already being used. 

Our day shift nurse Becky was a riot and made the morning a lot of fun. She had a lot of funny stories to tell and put both Ben and I at ease. I got started on pitocin at about 7:15 and then we were in business! I really didn't feel like anything was happening during the first hour or so- I wasn't feeling any contractions or discomfort at all. A little bit before 9 my doctor came in to say hello and to break my water. For some reason it hurt really bad when he went about breaking my water, which surprised me. I didn't feel any pain or discomfort when they did this with Dylan. Maybe it was because I was more dilated and effaced when I was induced Dylan. Either way, I felt a huge amount of pain for about 30 seconds, and then it was gone and my water had broken. 

After my water broke, my nurse encouraged me to get my epidural sooner rather than later, since labor really starts to pick up once the water breaks. Also, there were three others moms getting induced that morning and I didn't want to have to wait in line for my epidural. 

I had been plagued by one big fear throughout my entire pregnancy: What if my epidural doesn't work? I had heard one too many horror stories (including my sister's) of failed epidurals and I was terrified that it would happen to me. That, compounded with the difficulties in getting my epidural going with Dylan's delivery (it took them 4 tries to get it right) made me paranoid that I would have to have an unmedicated childbirth. Luckily, all that fear was for nothing- my epidural worked perfectly, and the nurse who administered the epidural got it right the first time- hallelujah! 

Once my epidural was in effect I got super sleepy, and spend the rest of the day dozing in and out of sleep. Seriously, I slept through the majority of my labor, or slept as much as I could despite being poked and prodded every 30 or 45 minutes. This was definitely not the case with Dylan- I was anxious and alert the entire day, and I didn't sleep a wink. This time I just felt relaxed and sleepy... and hungry. I think that I ate about six popsicles during the day. Ben watched Oceans 11, 12, and 13 to pass the time and my mom and mother in law came in to hang out with us too. Dylan spent a few hours at a babysitter's house so that everyone could be at the hospital for a little bit. 

Everyone had told me that childbirth the second time around goes by more quickly, but things just weren't progressing that fast with Owen. Around 2 pm I was starting to get a little irritated that things weren't moving along, since two of the other moms who were induced that morning had already had their babies. I think that I was only dialated to a 4 or 5 at this point. The night before, we all took bets on what time Owen would be born. Everyone was thinking sometime between noon and 3, but it was looking like that wouldn't be the case. I was ready to meet Owen and just wanted him to come. 

My mom left the hospital around 3:45 to pick Dylan up, and we promised to call her with updates as soon as Owen was born. Things finally started up pick up around 4- I was dilated to an 7 and it was looking like the baby was going to make his arrival sometime soon. 

I started to feel some major pressure around 5, and pretty soon after my doctor came in the room. I was a little confused, since he didn't come with Dylan until I had been pushing for about a half hour. I asked him if he was just stopping by to say hi or if it was go time. He said that it was time to push and that the baby was ready to come. 

I started pushing at 5:20, and at 5:25 Owen was here! It was so nice only having to do two sets of pushes- it was so much less tiring! I'm not sure how I can describe it, but I just felt so much more aware of things this time around- there was no sense of panic like I felt with Dylan. Keep in mind that I almost had an emergency c-section with Dylan since his heart rate kept dropping with every contraction. There was no drama with Owen's delivery and I felt like things were just progressing exactly how they should. 

After Owen came out the doctor held him up so I could see him and then passed him off to the nurses and respiratory people to check him out and clean him up. Owen cried for just a minute and then calmed down. About 2 minutes after being born he ended up scratching his cheek with his sharp little nails, but other than that he was perfect. 

As soon as I held him, Ben and I were amazed at how much he looked like his older brother. They had the same sweet, round faces and alert little eyes. He was so calm from the very beginning, and I felt really calm too.

All through my pregnancy I was a little concerned that there was no way I could love this baby as much as I love Dylan- how could it be possible? But wouldn't you know, my heart swelled three sizes that day and I amazingly, automatically fell right in love with little Owen.