Owen's Birth

Well, here is the story of Owen Cole's birth.  We were scheduled for an induction at 6:00 in the morning on Wednesday, November the 17th, but ended up going in at 4:00ish.  It seems nature had already decided it was time for Owen to arrive.  We started feeling out all the fun paperwork and got our bracelets.  (Turns out that two of my nurses were my sister's former students.  My sister reassured me that they were good nursing students. :) They hooked Owen up to the monitor and his heart rate dropped below where they like it, so they gave me an oxygen mask to bring up his heartbeat.  Then we waited for Dr. McGuinn.  She came and said his heart rate was looking better and she broke my water.  Then, an hour later we started the pitocin.  The contractions were bad, but not horrible yet.  I labored for a few hours and then the nurse came in and said that his heart rate was dropping after the contractions and they didn't like to see that so Dr. McGuinn came in and talked to me about a c-section.  We had already talked a lot about a c-section because of his projected large size and that he was facing head up, so we were not shocked to be going down this road.  Agreeing that we wanted Owen to be safe and not take risks, we agreed to the c-section.  The nurse assured me that he was not in immediate danger and that if he was they would have him out in 2 minutes.  I thought she was kidding, but now I know she was serious. Those people move fast, even when it's not an emergency! :)  All at once, four or five people were in my room all doing something.  When the lady who was going to do my spinal,  told me what she would do once we got to the OR, she told me that there would be a time where it might feel like I couldn't breathe, but to NOT panic, it would just make things worse.  Well, that's when I started to panic! :)  I mean, I did not want to have this surgery, but how was I going to get this baby out?  It was a scary few minutes.  All these people are working around me and on me, and finally I say, "I'm scared."  Everyone keeps working, so I say it again... "I'm scared."  I don't know how many times I said it before some sweet nurse leaned down in my face and reassured me that everything was going to be fine.  I didn't feel that way, but I knew I had to be strong for Owen, so I prayed.  And like always, God provided.  He answered.  I was scared to death ... I mean anyone who knows me knows I pass out just talking about blood, how was I going to do this surgery?  But the Lord is SO MUCH bigger than our fears and once I got to the OR room He provided such peace.  I can't praise Him enough for the safe arrival of Owen and my good recovery.  I can't thank Him enough for the AMAZING nurses, doctors, techs, etc. that were SO good to me during the entire hospital stay.  I can't imagine doing their job and yet they handled themselves with such sweetness and kindness.  At 10:00 AM our sweet Owen was born.  It was so amazing and reassuring to hear his cry.  He did well on his Apgar ( 8 and 9) and we were surprised to see his weight was 8 pounds and 14 ounces.  He was 19.5 inches long.  They did their routine with him and then gave him to Jim.  Jim was amazing during the whole process.  We were in the OR for a while and then recovery for two hours and Jim took care of him the whole time.  We were then wheeled up to a room where he was showered with love and visitors.  It's all still kinda a blur, but I'm just so thankful! 

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

2 Timothy 1:7

"For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him."

1 Samuel 1:27

                                                          Owen and sweet Dr. McGuinn

                                                                

                                                                 Our first family photo