On February 3, 2012 I awoke in a pool of sweat. I felt shaky and out of sorts. I felt similar to when you have an infection. This was the second night this had happened. It woke me from sleep and was accompanied by contractions that were semi regular. I knew it wasn't yet time to go in so I began cleaning the house up a bit (about 4am). At 5am I realized that daddy was going to be leaving for work soon so I told him I thought we better go in. For several days, weeks actually, I had been having contractions every 3 to 5 minutes apart for several hours and they would just stop. I felt as though you were not positioned properly and the lack of dilation of the cervix confirmed this idea. I was scared that if I did go to the hospital there was a chance we'd get sent home. Mom and Dad weren't quite sure when to expect you so in the very beginning of the pregnancy an ultrasound was done. A due date of February 12, 2012 was given. A second ultrasound gave the date of February 2, 2012. A few more ultrasounds were done along the way and they were ranged between these two dates... the 7th and 10th, I believe. So, of course Mommy went by the 2nd and the doctor went by the 12th. This caused some major impatience on my end near the end of the pregnancy.
We decided to call Grandma Dorothy to come sit with your sisters while we went to check everything out. As we got there my contractions were less regular, I was only dilated to a 3 and my water hadn't broken. The nurses observed you on the monitors for a while and you were doing great! Dr. Lewis came in about 7am and told us that you weren't positioned properly and that the crown of your head was not putting pressure on the cervix, thus labor was not progressing. He said that he felt it would be better for us to go home and wait it out and let nature take its course. I broke down. I did not want to go home. I'm sure my fear of the similarities of this situation in comparison to labor with Chloe were instilling a lot of fear in me, but I still just felt something wasn't right. I told Daddy and the Doc that I was certain if I went home I would just come right back and I didn't want to do that. I have never believed in scheduling inductions or interfering with nature. It is God's job to say "when." I do, however, believe in the Holy Ghost, intuition, and a mother's instinct. Usually I have been more clearly guided in these types of instances... I usually have an idea of what could be wrong or an idea of what to do to step in the right direction. In this instance though, I just felt like I needed to stay. Because of my beliefs about interfering, I felt at this moment, when I decided to stay and have the Doc start pitocin, selfish. I felt selfish, weak, and embarrassed, but... I stayed. The doctor told me that I was not in the most favorable position to be started. He warned me that labor would most likely be harder, more painful and longer. He told me he would run the pit for 1 hour and then we would reassess at that time. If I still hadn't progressed, we should probably not continue as a Csection would be more probable.
After one hour on pit, my contractions had picked up a bit but were still not very big. The nurse checked me... I still had not dilated further... I was about to break down. As the nurse went to the bathroom to dispose of her gloves... MY WATER BROKE! I yelled, "My water broke!" I looked down and the fluid looked yellowish-green. I covered myself back up embarrassingly... "I mean I peed." The fluid was still steadily flowing... I knew I hadn't peed. "I mean my water broke!!!" She came and checked. You had gone potty in utero (naughty boy). She said it was good that we came in and Dr. Lewis would certainly not be sending us home now. I was so relieved. Also, with Saydee and Chloe my water had to be broken both times so I was glad my body was somewhat doing things on it's own. We knew this would be the day that we would meet you!
After my water broke things went really fast! I went from 3 to complete in 3 hours. I pushed for 30 minutes and you were here! Your birth was the most pain I'd felt during delivery. I think my bladder was full and things went so quickly that I didn't have a catheter in. There was a lot of burning and pain. I thought at one point I honestly couldn't push anymore, but your daddy held my hand tightly and when he told me, "You can do this, Shell," I knew he meant it and I believed him.
You came out with a lot of white coating. The most I've seen yet. You were long and skinny. You had dark brown hair. You had a cute little cry... not too demanding... kind of sweet. You weighed 7lbs. 7.8oz and were 19 inches long. You were greeted by your daddy, big Sissy Saydee, Grandma Kim, Grandma Lynne, Papa Rick, Nanny Holly, Grampa Dave, and finally Mommy. When I started talking you looked at me with such sweet eyes. You looked as if you were thinking, "Oh my gosh!!! I know you! I remember you! I LOVE that sound!" You looked at me like you thought I was the most amazing thing you'd ever seen. You were so alert and so curious. Your fingers, hands, feet and toes were so long and skinny. You loved covering your face with your hands and you stretched your fingers all across your face. Soon Big Sissy Chloe, Grandma Dorothy, Aunt Jessica, and Brooke came to see you as well. Everyone was so in awe by your alertness and your dark hair.
Welcome baby Owen! We love you!
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