Owen Michael

Owen Michael was born today at 8:19 p.m. and is 5 lbs 6 oz, 18 inches long. He is adorable! *stop here if you don't want the whole unedited story. Yesterday I went in for my 37 week Dr. appointment. The doctor and I started talking about how he would be willing to induce me on Monday February 8th if I was dilated and effaced enough. He checked me and said I was at a little over 3 cm and 80%. I asked him if he could set up the induction date and he said I wasn't quite ready yet but he could strip my membranes so that at my 38 week appointment he would be able to. So he stripped my membranes and told me he would plan to strip them again at 38 weeks and induce me and 39.5. He told me I would start to feel "crampy" as the night went on and to not worry; it is normal and will go away.

My mom was throwing me a shower today so instead of driving up to Farmington early tomorrow morning I figured I would just head up after my Dr. appointment and spend the night. So as the night wore on I started to feel "crampy" and then REALLY "crampy" a few times in the night. I woke up around 8:30 this morning and had breakfast. As I was eating I told my mom I wasn't feeling all that well and thought I may be having some contractions. As we talked we decided they would most definitely go away as the morning wore on. I went and took a shower and continued through the morning and around 10:30 I told my mom they hadn't gone away and were starting to get stronger. They didn't hurt at all though and were about 15 minutes apart. I thought they would still soon disappear. The shower was from 2-4 so I figured I would be just fine and if they got bad enough I just wouldn't linger and would head home.

Time passed and the contractions became closer. A little after noon I could no longer talk through the contractions and decided I better have Ryan come to my moms as a precaution. (I still didn't really think I was in labor). My cousin Kathy was kind enough to bring Ryan up since she was coming to the shower anyways. That way we wouldn't be stuck with 2 cars at my parents. As the shower began the contractions were about five to seven minutes apart and more painful. We ate some food and joked about the possibility of me having my baby today. Then we started opening presents. As I opened presents I started to notice it was getting very difficult to keep smiling and say thank you through the contractions and also they were getting much stronger. After I opened all the presents I went downstairs and told Ry to start the car and "it is time".

Upon returning upstairs more guests arrived: all the Orem Wellings. I told them "thank you for coming and I am sorry but I have to leave because I am having contractions and I think it is time to go to the hospital". After a good laugh they realized I wasn't joking. I opened their presents and was out the door by 3:30.

The drive to the hospital took a little less than an hour but felt like a lifetime. I was doing ok and breathing through the contractions until we got to Salt Lake. After that every time I contracted I also clenched the seat and whined in pain. Ryan would speed up to 90+ as my contractions hit thier peak and then would slow back down as the contractions came down. After a while I told him to just keep speeding and if we got pulled over I didn't care!

When we made it to American Fork Hospital I told the nurse "if this is for real and I am having my baby tonight I want the epidural now". After checking me the nurse said I was a little over 6 cm and 100%; I was having this baby tonight! It felt like forever before getting the epidural; all I could keep thinking as I was contracting was that another one was on it's way and I still didn't have any pain relief. By now the contractions were in my back, front, and running down my legs. I was not a happy camper and kept telling Ryan that "I really can't do this and I need the epidural now!"

They had me move to the delivery room from the triage room and got me set up on some fluids. They didn't wait until I had gotten as much as they wanted before giving me the epidural. The epidural went in smoothly and kicked in after just a few minutes with the full effect taking about 20. The nurse came in and told me I was having a huge contraction and asked if I could feel it. I am pretty sure I gave her a really funny look because I couldn't feel a thing! I was so happy that I could finally start enjoying the experience and get excited to meet my little boy!

As soon as the epidural was fully kicked in Dr. Smith came in to check me. I was a little over 9 cm so she told me it was time to break my water and then she would come back and check me to push in about a half hour. As soon as she broke my water she said I immediately dialated to a 10 and it was time to push.

As I pushed the head would become visable and then slip back behind the bones. For a minute they put me on oxygen because the baby was in distress. The nurse and doctor kept commenting on what a great pusher I was. *I just kept thinking "then why can't he get past the bones and stay past? He finally stayed past and was out within the next push. Unfortunately I started to tear so the Dr. performed an apesiotomy which I was terrified of; but ended up not even feeling. Again, praises to the epidural! They had Ryan cut the cord and then placed my baby on my chest. It was the best moment of my entire life! We named him Owen right away.

Then they took him to be weighed, cleaned up and evaluated. He began to have really contracted breathing and his chest was sinking in a lot with each breath. They took him to the nursery and put him on C-Pap for about an hour. He was then able to breath on his own. While Ry went to tend to Owen I sat in the delivery room by myself as the epidural wore off. I felt so many emotions from pure joy to exhaustion to worry about Owen and not hearing anything about how he was doing. After what felt like and eternity Ryan came back and so did the nurses. They got me in a wheel chair and took me to the nursery to see Owen. As we sat there the nurse said Owen was ready to go to our room with us. They took me in and got me settled then brought him in to me. My family came into the room and met Owen and then Ryans parents came in too.
Owen is our little sweetheart!