Delivery Day!! Tuesday, May 19, 2009

This will go down as the most exciting, longest, happiest days of our lives -- the day Collier Thomas Owen was born. A brief synopsis of the day: I had been having some trouble sleeping the previous few nights and this particular night I got up out of bed after my 4th trip to the bathroom and finally just decided to sleep on the couch. Around 3:30 a.m. I started feeling a little crampy but was still asleep and then felt a little pain in my side thinking it was just a gas pain ... so I tried to relieve the gas pain and I felt a little trickle -- I just thought, "oh great, now I'm resorting to peeing myself" .... ha .. no one tells you nor do any of these pregnancy books prepare you really for that part of pregnancy ;-) ... but the trickle led to a gush of water that just wouldn't stop ... so I rushed in to our room and flipped on the light and Glenn shot up and I said, "my water just broke" ... he went from a scowl to the biggest smile you've ever seen and he jumped in to action. He got up, got our bags, took the dog out, packed him a bag and I was still in our room trying to figure out how I was going to get dressed with my water STILL breaking ... very strange feeling I have to say. Finally I compromised and put some clothes on and we were out the door and at the hospital by 4:20 a.m. ... and that's where the loooooong day started. We called my Mom on the way to the hospital and she was able to change her already scheduled flight and she got on the early flight out of Corpus Christi and she was at the hospital by 1 pm -- I was so happy she could be there. Glenn's Mom got up and was at the hospital to be with us by 5:30 a.m. and she soldiered the long day with us too. We were so lucky to have both our Mom's there. I got my epidural at 6 a.m. and we sat and waited and labored until 7 pm that night when the doctors finally said it didn't look like he was going to drop far enough down and he had been trying to make it through the birth canal and in the process kept hitting his head on my pelvic bone causing an adema (sp??) -- a big fluid cone on his head -- they said we could wait a few more hours to see if I would dilate anymore (never dilated past 5 cm) but Glenn and I decided not to cause the baby any more distress ... so we decided at 7 pm to have c section and by 7:48 pm we were the proud parents of a happy, healthy baby boy -- our son Collier Thomas Owen. I can't even describe the emotions that just poured out of me when I heard that first little whimper and then the cry and then to see them whisk him over to the table to clean him up -- I just started balling ... and then they handed him to Glenn to hand to me. I never felt so happy in my life -- to be tehre with my two boys -- the start of our growing family. I just could not stop staring at him. After they let me hold him for about 5 minutes Glenn went with Collier to the nursery for the tests, weight and measured and his bath, etc while they finished with me and I went through recovery. So I didn't get to see him again until around 11:30 PM that night where I finally got to feed him around midnight ... what an amazing experience ... by that time I was soooo exhausted I could hardly keep my eyes open to feed him. I don't think I have ever been that tired. At that point we had been going for over 21 hours from the time my water broke to feeding him.

Here I am waiting for the front desk to register a couple before us .. you notice they gave me a "pad" to sit on ;-) ... can you tell how uncomfy I was and how bloated my face looked .. that should have been my first sign he was about to come.

The epidural is in and Mom and Dad Owen get settled in for a long day of laboring ... Glenn was amazing and such a rock for me this day .... he just took control and I didn't have to worry about a thing.

After we decided to do the c section -- here we are with my Mom before Glenn and I went down to the operating room

Glenn had to "gear up" to be in the room with me .... Glenn was able to watch the whole delivery .. and got some miraculous and amazing pictures of the birth (I spared you all those -- but we will always treasure them ... let me kow if you want to see them and I'll send them to you upon request)

I can't believe Glenn caught this moment -- this is right after they delivered him and they were wiping him off ... and I was just so emotional and crying I was so happy ... I have never had a moment like that where it just poured out of me when I heard that cry.

The nurses hand Collier to Glenn to hand to me ... Glenn really wanted to cut the cord but they wouldn't let him bc of it being a "surgical procedure" ... so they him do the honor of handing his son to his Mom

Me and my little boy

One of my favorite pics -- our first official family picture

Final Weeks of Pregnancy - 35 weeks and 37.5 weeks

I obviously got a little behind on the posts but things got a little wild toward the end of the pregnancy trying to get things in order at home and at work ... and good thing we were on a roll of getting everything as done as possible bc as you know by now he arrived two weeks early. And what a blessing he has been so far. I wanted to post our last two sets of belly pictures -- these last weeks I really just expanded and was down to about 3 pair of pants that were even fairly comfortable (at least to be sitting at my desk at work in) ... Here is me and Collier at 35 weeks (April 28) and 37.5 weeks pregnant (May 13) .. and then he made his appearance to the world on May 19 ....

Here I am at 35 weeks pregnant (April 28) .. can you tell how much my tummy has expanded? Just you wait and see what how he grows in the next week and half!

35 weeks pregnant -- ON April 28

And just in about 2 1/2 weeks he's stilllll growing -- this is May 13 -- just 6 short days before Mr. Collier arrives.... good thing bc I'm not sure my skin would have stretched anymore ;-)

May 13 -- 37.5 weeks pregnant .... I was down to about 3 outfits that I could wear comfortably ;-)

Transformation of the Basement to the Office

You've seen the nursery ... and here is where we put all that cluttery office stuff ... in our brand new basement office. Glenn worked so so hard for a solid 2 months on this. He originally thought he would get it done "oh, in about two full weekends" ... ha. It required a lot more detail work than he was anticipating. Needless to say he was glad to finish this project. The nursery was a sinch. I was so ready for him to get to the nursery so I could start decorating and putting things away and organizing everything to get ready for the arrival of Baby Boy O. Here you go -- I think it looks amazing. I'll spare you all the "in between/ work in progress" photos -- but here are the Before and After.

The handy man himself! Hard at work.

Before picture

Before Picture

Before picture

Final results

Final results

Final results

Wallah! Final results!

Photos! Nursery and the ever growing Baby O belly ;-)

I can't believe how fast time has flown by bc I didn't realize it has been over a month since I last posted. The last belly pics I posted were at 29 1/2 weeks -- well, here are some more -- you can see Baby O is having a bit of a growth spurt. And I've also posted some of our basement and nursery transformations.

Here is the old office -- which is what soon you'll see becomes Baby O's nursery after a ton of hard work from Glenn

We've taken everything out and put in to our NEW downstairs basement office - and here is the interim work in progress

Ta Da .. all decorated and ready for Baby O to come home ... his bed is made and ready ... the theme is dogs/puppies. We love it

A lot more spacious and open than the cluttery office, huh?

The following pics are a bit backwards -- most recent belly pics first -- but you can still see the growth of Baby O

Wowza!! Here I am on 4/21/09-- at 34 weeks - just about 5 1/2 weeks to go

I am really starting to feel pregnant as you can tell -- this past week I have reallllly felt pregnant -- but overall still feeling great. I have been sooo lucky. This is same 4/21 (at 34 weeks)

My how fast 3 weeks has gone -- and how I've grown so fast in that 3 weeks -- this is on 3/28/09 at 31 weeks ... Mom was here this weekend for my baby shower so Glenn and I actually got to take a photo together (our first family photo ;-)) ...

Backwards -- AGAIN

this blogging thing confuses me -- my photos were supposed to come AFTER the story but you get it backwards ... so make sure to scroll down after all the photos bc the story for all the pics is below that ;-)

PHOTOS!! Preparations, Belly and 4D Ultrasound

Here is my very favorite photo -- Baby "O" was smiling -- hopefully this means he's going to be a happy baby. We had just said his name out loud and we think he liked it ;-)

He was feeling just like his mommy was -- tired and yawning!

He kept putting his hands up by his face like this. So cute. He was a fidgety little guy. But these 4D ultrasounds were just amazing.

Here's my cute and handsome handy man ... he just built a little shelf on the window down in the soon to be basement office

He was finally letting me take pictures of him working -- I told him we needed to have proof to show Baby O how hard he had to work to get ready for him ... he was putting trim up around the window

This is when he was NOT wanting me to take pictures. He had been working in the basement ALLLL day and he came upstairs and was about to put the stroller together .. this was all I got "fired" off before I was told to "stop"

Belly pics -- Feb 22 -- 26 weeks!

Yep, there's definitely a baby in there -- 26 weeks

March 18 -- 29 1/2 weeks -- oh shut up! Glenn was feeling left out on the belly pics --I think he's LOSING weight and trimming up as I balloon. He definitely is not gaining any sympathy weight.

March 18 - 29 1/2 weeks -- Belly pic #2 -- he gets no more pics after this -- you'll see why below.

March 19 - 29 1/2 weeks -- just tonight -- this is me -- this is one of the times when I didn't realize just how big my belly is getting until I saw these pics

We were about to go out to dinner with some friends -- and Glenn took these of me -- then we took his belly pics -- can I say I didn't really feel like eating much at dinner after seeing my belly against HIS belly - ha ha... but I am honestly really enjoying pregnancy so far. Aside from starting to have some hip pain and stiffness I've been feeling great.

29 1/2 weeks ... Busy, Busy, Busy Preparing ....

Here we are now just 10 1/2 weeks away from Baby "O" joining us. We can't wait. However, we are using every last day to get things ready. Glenn has been holed up in our basement almost every night after work and on the weekends -- the job was a little more intensive than his originally "oh, I can get it done in a couple weekends" plan: Framing out the walls, getting drywall put up, cleaning up the mess that the drywall installation created (not fun), painting, putting up trimwork, building shelves, painting, covering holes, putting up doors, more painting.. he has been working really hard. Hopefully in a couple more weeks he'll have it completed -- then he just has to move upstairs to start the nursery (but all we have to do is paint the room) and I'll get to decorate.

I've met with 2 pediatricians and really like both of them -- we just have to decide which one we want to pick. We THINK we have a day care lined up -- one with an opening at end of August/early September (bc my plan is to take 12 weeks of maternity leave). We've registered. I've been "nesting" -- as Glenn is insisting that is what I'm doing. However, I am just really doing some spring cleaning -- not sure it's nesting.

We've had a pretty crazy few weeks here with being a little halted by "unexpected" expenses and your every day life challenges that happen -- for us they seem to have happened all in one week. Bud ruptured his ACL in his hind leg and it got too bad to put off his surgery -- so in that same week of his surgery, we had to replace our heating/air conditioner unit, Glenn had a small wreck and smashed in the hood/headlight of his truck so we had to have that replaced, the heater went out in our rental house and the day Glenn went to pick up his truck from the body shop his old roommate Todd called and said the freezer/refrigerator went out (also in the rental house) so we had to buy a new fridge... yes, that was all in one week. All the while Glenn is trying to get our basement office finished -- I really did feel bad for him. But we just trudged forward and luckily planned far enough for ahead for all of it -- I guess good training for all the little "unexpected" expenses that come up with a child ;-) .. so we feel we're getting pretty good practice on that part of it.

For my birthday Glenn bought me a 4D Ultrasound package which we finally did yesterday at 29 1/2 weeks along ... we were amazed at the detail in the pics. We got to see him smile (when we told the technician what his name was). We think Baby O likes his name ;-) .. he yawned.. I just sat there totally in awe looking at the screen.

And to my belly --- it is definitely growing. I don't think I look all that different until Glenn takes the picture of me and then I see the photo -- yes, I'm definitely widening out and have the ever growing belly -- ha ha. (see pics below of the belly).... Baby O is really moving around a lot and we can see my tummy do little jumps every once in a while.

I think that's about all the updates I have for now -- we'll keep you posted!