Welcome Baby Owen!!!

He has arrived!!!! Woo-hooo!!!! We couldn't be happier!

Owen Isaac Wood was born on May 2, 2010 at 8:25pm (Sunday).

Labor Story: On that previous Friday I had my membranes scraped to see if that would help start labor. I have been having regular contractions for weeks and have had to go into the hospital twice to get shots to stop labor (prior to 37 weeks). But since I was at 38 weeks the doctor thought it would be okay to see if the baby wanted to come out now. I was having contractions all weekend but as soon as I would think I would maybe need to get checked out at the hospital they went away. By Sunday at about noon the contractions started up again. By about 3:00pm I thought we should go into the hospital to check everything out and make sure Owen is alright. When the nurse checked me I was dialetd to 4cm and she said I had a "bulging bag of water" and she "didn't feel comfortable" discharging me because she was "surprised my water hadn't already broken." She called the doctor and my doctor said to go ahead and break my water because we are having the baby today! A flood of emotion washed over me--so excited but couldn't believe that it would actually happen after so many false alarms. By 5:30 a doctor broke my water. By about 6:30 they had me up and walking around to see if that would dialate me more. I made it (barely) one lap around the floor and said--"I am ready for the epidural now." I felt pain for sure--wowzers--but after the epidural kicked in at about 7:00pm all was good. My nurse said she would see what progress I had made by 9:00pm but to call her if I felt any changes. By about 8:00pm I felt something change, maybe his head dropping I thought, so I had John go get the nurse. When the nurse checked me she said, "You are at a 10cm and 100% effaced!" John said, "Seriously?!" Yeah--he thought she was joking! :) She went to call the doctor and the doctor said don't start pushing until she got there. She came in the room at about 8:10pm. I felt really good--still able to hold a coversation and felt really calm. I pushed though 2 sets of contractions and my doctor said, after the next contraction we would have a baby! One more contraction and out he came! (6 total minutes of pushing). I felt so lucky to be able to be aware of the process, aware that he was on my tummy and taking it all in! John cut the cord--what a proud Dad!

Our first family moment alone we sang Happy Birthday to Owen and gave him lots of hugs and loves! Wow! What a miracle! What a healthy little boy! What a blessing!