My Kiddos, Part Three: Owen Joshua

At long last! I finally finished it. ;-) 

Owen is my third born child.  He was my biggest baby.  You're gonna laugh because he was only 7 pounds 4 ounces, but he was almost 23" long and had a head on him like Stewie.

He was my 3rd child, 5th pregnancy in 2.5 years.  I'd had 2 miscarriages in that time.  I know it seems crazy and impossible, but it's true.

Side note: Kate just came up and saw that picture and said, "Is that supposed to be Owen?"  Proof I'm not exaggerating.  End Side Note.

I saw the doctor the day before my due date, in tears, BEGGING him to induce me.  I was in so much pain.  You see, for some reason my stomach doesn't stretch that far out; I have a short torso and my babies are jammed all up in my ribs.  And him being the biggest and longest, well it was just torture.  At one point I even took Vicodin for the pain. (!!)  Remember, I have two other little kids to take care of--changing diapers, getting them in and out of the crib, playing with them, etc...  One day I got on the floor to play with them and literally got stuck.  My back was so bad I couldn't get up.  Josh already had to help me out of bed in the mornings, because my back was so weak that I just couldn't do it.  Anyway, I called my friend and she came and helped me get up off the floor.  Wow, I went off on a tangent there, didn't I??

So I'm begging the doctor to induce, but despite my tears he simply said, "We don't induce due to maternal discomfort."  I cried all the way home from the appointment, sure I was going to be pregnant and in pain forever.  Just as we were walking into our apartment, my phone rang and it was my OB.  He said the doctor on call had agreed to induce me on Sunday (this was Friday) and I was SO SO relieved.  Well, apparently that's all it took because I went into labor on my own that night.  The contractions woke me up throughout the night, but I was able to sleep through most of them.  Around 5a.m. they were coming 5 minutes apart, but still weren't unbearable.  I wasn't sure if I should go to the hospital since it wasn't that painful, but they were coming closer and closer together.  So I called my sister to come over and we headed to the hospital.

I thought they were going to turn me away, because they really didn't hurt that bad!  But when I got checked in I was already dilated to 4cm.  Now, you have to understand something.  My body does NO dilating beforehand.  Not even 1/2 a centimeter.  Once labor starts, I efface but don't dilate.  Once I'm 100% effaced, I dilate crazy fast and have the baby.  So to already be at 4 and in relatively little pain was awesome!  I walked around, then got my epidural.  Unfortunately, Owen came so fast that the epidural didn't have a chance to take effect.  It numbed my stomach but nothing else.  And did I mention he had a HUGE head?  Yeah.  THAT part was painful.

I just remember that I had to push out every last inch of him.  And the doctor was tugging on him the whole time too.  He was big.  And chubby.  And it seemed like it took FOREVER for him to be fully born, but I know in reality it wasn't.  It went really fast, actually.

And then I had my sweet, huge-headed, pug-nosed baby boy.

Look how tiny Kate and Christian are!! And Josh had hair, and is clearly cracking up in this picture. ;-)

 

My Boys. AWWWWW!!!!

The girls, with the newest little guy.

BEFORE

 

AFTER

 

Sorry for the blurry photo.  I must say, the "after" is so much better than the "before".  :-D

 Such a proud big sister!

When Owen was only 6 weeks old, he got RSV and had to be hospitalized.  It was such a horrible experience.  We took him in late at night because he was having trouble breathing.  We'd already been using the nebulizer on him because he had bronchitis.  But it was just getting worse, so off to the ER we went.  They got us right in, and then the nightmare started.  The "nurse" had to give him an IV.  I had to leave the room, because I just couldn't watch.  Josh stayed with him and I sat outside bawling my eyes out.  When I came back in there was blood EVERYWHERE!!!

They had covered his carseat in a white sheet and apparently the "nurse" was in training and had to poke him several time.  Oh my goodness, my blood was boiling!!!!! My poor, poor baby!!!!!!!!  Here he is after the ordeal and with a clean white sheet under him.

From there we were admitted to the hospital where he received oxygen and antibiotics for a couple of days.  I can't remember exactly, but I think we were there for 3 days.  And through it all my precious little boy just smiled and cooed and giggled.  All the nurses fawned over him. =)

 

He had the IV in his hand, and at one point pulled it out.  I almost fainted right then and there, but luckily the doctors and nurses forced me to sit in a chair while they stopped the bleeding. Ugh.  They talked about putting the IV in his HEAD.  But they ended up using his foot instead.

And through it all, through all the pokes and prods, through all the vacuum/nasal suckings, through all the alarms constantly going off because his oxygen was too low, through all the awkward nursing sessions with wires and monitors hampering us,  he smiled.

My sister came to visit while I was there, and they made her dress up like this:

See that little teddy bear?  We were in the hospital a few weeks before Christmas and they gave Owen this little bear.  We still have it. 

I'll never forget my best friend Jen came to visit me and brought a HUGE bag of goodies.  Snacks and puzzles and movies and chocolate.  It was SO SO nice, and Jen, if I've never thanked you, I apologize.  And I'd like to say THANK YOU.  From the bottom of heart. (Also, we both are lucky enough to be smaller than this now.) ;-) (Also, also.  We were lucky enough to be pregnant together for all of my pregnancies.  To say we are close would be a major understatement.)

Happily, after those days in the hospital he was A-OK and returned home with us, the same happy baby.  He was seriously SO happy.  I joke that I used up all the anger genes while I was pregnant with him, so he got left with only happy ones. ;-)

 

 

This boy is so special to me, for a couple reasons.  While I was pregnant with him, I wanted a girl sooooooo badly.  But deep down, I just knew it was a boy.  As soon as the ultrasound tech told us we were having a boy, Josh and I both somehow just *knew* his name should be Owen.  It wasn't even on the list of names we were considering with Christian.  It means "well born" or "desire born" and also "young".  Joshua is after his dad and means "God is salvation".  It seems like when I was looking it up in the baby name book it meant young warrior or something.  Anyway, even though I had wanted a girl so badly, God knew I needed Owen.

After I had him I suffered from severe postpartum depression for months.  It went 7 months untreated, because I didn't know what it was.  And the only thing keeping me sane was this little baby, who smiled and laughed and cooed and giggled and was just such a joy.  He has been SUCH a blessing and even though he's 3 now and totally into throwing epic tantrums :-P we love him just as much and are so glad he's part of our family!

Owen, we love you heaps and bunches!