Owen Update

Growth Chart:

Zero Months
I outgrew my first outfit
One Month

The past five and a half weeks have been some of the best weeks of my life! Here are some of the things I have been up to. *In no particular order.

1: Having my heart grow 100 fold-My heart grows for Owen with each look, touch and thought. My heart has also grown for Ryan as I watch him be the most amazing dad I could have ever imagined! He is so patient, kind and gentle with Owen. And, he is home a lot more often than he used to be. He can't wait to come home and be with his little guy.

2:Visitors-I have had tons of visitors and am loving it! I also love when they all tell me how dang cute my baby is.

3:Diapers-Wow I never knew you could change so many diapers in a day! Really I get done changing one and he decides to poop again. I swear he might plan it out that way. I have also changed his clothes and mine and wiped the couch clean of his pee. Yes, he can pee everywhere. Thanks to my good friend Amanda for making me some "pee teepees"; they cover him so he only pees in that and saves me a lot of time cleaning up.

4:Baths-He hated his baths at first but seems to be liking them now. He lays calmly as I pour water over him and only cries when he gets cold, or before he spits up, which he has done every single time I have given him a bath.

5:Feeding-I feel like a milk cow sometimes with feeding him every 2.5 to 3 hours. But, luckily I don't have to deal with engorgement anymore and he has begun to sleep a little longer at night.

6:Sleeping less-I think I will never sleep the same again. But, I am so happy to be up with a baby now instead of pregnancy woes.

7:Enjoying cuddles, smiles, and all the little moments with Owen-I love when he falls asleep on my chest. I love watching him grow and start to focus on every little thing. I love that he looks towards us when he hears our voices. I stand in amazement that a few days ago he rolled over all on his own! I love everything about my baby.

8:Meeting my cousin Amy's baby. Kayden Michael-He is very cute and was born 3 weeks early too. He is a few weeks younger than Owen but is already bigger. I can't wait for them to become great friends
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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!

Blood, Sweat, and Tears!

This past weekend we went up to Logan to visit Ryan's brother and sister in law. The boys all went pheasant hunting with Tyler while the girls and kids stayed with Lacey and chit chatted. I have really missed Logan and the fall weather was just perfect! Us girls sat out on the porch and enjoyed the nice fall air. I was perfect with just a short sleeved shirt on when the sun was out and a light jacket when the sun decided to hide behind the clouds. I think the "perfect" weather idea was only mine though because my mother in law started to get chattering teeth and was all wrapped up in a blanket inside for a while to warm back up. When the guys got back Ry and I ate at one of my favorite Logan eateries, the Pita Pit, before heading for home.
**sorry no pics of Logan; I am lame and even though I had my camera didn't take any pictures while we were up there.

On Monday Ryan had time to "dress" the pheasant he got and the ones his dad gave him. Dressing the bird just means he was cutting out the breasts so he could have me cook him up one of his favorite dishes. He sharpened one of our knives and got to work. Everything was great (except for when I tried to watch..gross) and he even became ambitious and decided to cut the legs off too so we could fry those up. He got to the last bird when the knife slipped off the tendon on the leg and went straight into his finger!

I was doing some dishes when he came over to the sink all bloody. I thought he was just getting done and coming to wash off all that gross pheasant blood. Then I saw his face, then I looked at him holding his finger very tightly, then I saw blood gushing from his finger. I helped him wash off his hands and then we moved the operation to the bathroom where we tried to see how deep the cut was. After no luck due to way too much blood coming from the tip of his finger we put a gauze pad over it and then wrapped it up tight with some athletic tape.

I drove Ry to the Insta-Care since it was a little after 8 p.m. where after looking at Ryan's finger the doctor decided he definitely needed some stitches. He grabbed a needle and numbed up Ry's finger clear up by the big knuckle. The doc was NOT the most gentle doctor. As he was numbing the finger he kept jamming it in at weird angles and in Ry's words "digging around in there". After a few minutes the nurse came in and caused some more pain by spraying water right into the cut to clean it off. I could tell there was something wrong when Ryan started going red and was clenching his jaw so tight the muscle was twitching. Well, the doctor started stitching Ryan up and I could see in Ry's face that although he was a bit numb he could feel the bulk of the stitching. As he was sweating back the pain my heart was breaking for him and I was crying for him on the inside.

*so there you have it..the "blood(cut), Sweat(Ry in utter pain), and tears(ME!)"

Here is a picture of the battle wound after a day and a half of healing.

And here is the yummy dish that I made tonight for Ry. At least he was on his last bird so he could enjoy his bird.

Prego Pics.

Here are some pics for all of you who have been asking and even for those who haven't. I don't love them..but, who really loves pics of themselves when they have a sudden 'mongo expansion out their front...and in my case out the back!?! I got my hair done today and I am feeling somewhat pretty for the first time in a while so here they are! :) Oh, they are from 23 weeks along.
Here is a side view
...and here is a front view...
...this is better with the hands you can see a little more curve..
..and I CANNOT believe I am posting this one..but, it shows you what I mean about growing out the back..


**OK so I realize I sounded a bit dramatic up above. I just want to let you know I am doing well..it's just a big adjustment is all.

Baby Faddis!!

We went in for our ultrasound and baby Faddis is healthy and strong. The ultrasound tech went through all the important stuff and then showed us the little bum and legs and asked us if we could tell what we were having. Ry said YES! in an excited tone so I waited for him to answer; when he didn't I looked over to him grinning ear to ear! He was soooo excited to find out we are having a little boy!! I think this video (from our little guy) shows just how Ryan feels.

well it won't let me upload it for some reason. But, it was our little guy doing a backflip!

Let us know what you think! We will find out this Friday..the ultra sound was moved up. YAY!

The Poll is on the right side of the page.

Pregnancy Update

Thanks everyone for the congrats! So to answer some questions: I am 16 weeks pregnant and due February 13th. We find out if we are having a girl or a boy on September 24th and I can't wait! I don't have any special feelings on what the little one is. I am glad to be in the second trimester as I was pretty sick the first trimester. I got to hear the heartbeat today and it was at 150. I will try to post in another few weeks to get a poll as to what all you think Ry and I are having.