At home with my Owen

My little Owen is now 2 months old. He is getting so big, now at 5lb 4oz. I know that seems small to some people but he was only 3lb 2oz at birth. Here are a few things about him.

• He is getting little chubby cheeks and starting to fill out his preemie outfits. He has even outgrown 2 of his jammies. 
• He is really strong too. We do his exercises everyday. He can lift his head off the ground for 3 sec and he can grab my hands and pull his body up. 
• He sleeps a lot and eats every three hours. When he eats he puts his hand on his head like he is thinking. He gets 2 extra calorie bottles a day and loves daddy to feed him. 

 

• He is almost at his due date. Next week he will be 40 weeks on Wednesday. 
• We haven't gone many places yet. We avoid places with kids, and crowds. He had his first walk on the river trail, he loved it. He fell asleep pretty quickly. 

•  He has learned how to suck his thumb and sometimes snores when he sleeps.

• He likes to be up at night most of the time, and when he sleeps he likes to sleep next to his mamma.
• He still has frequent doctor appointments. Two next week.   
• His hair is red and it is fuzzy like his uncle Rileys

We love him so much. We are so happy that he is finally home. We pray everyday for him and are glad that he is growing and getting so strong.

My delivery story

Friday August 31 I went to have an NST at 10:20 am. I was able to go right on back and got comfortable on the recliner. Owens heart sounded really good, in the 140's and 150's. About 15 min later his heart went down to the 90's. I tried to find his heart but it was difficult, it came right back up, but mom knew something was wrong. I almost called for some help but his heart rate went back up after 1 min or so. I told Dr. Ott and he said that it was my heartbeat and that sometimes it picks up the maternal heart rate. I knew in my heart that it wasn't mine and it was his. I called Timmy and he told me very calmly to listen to his heartbeat with the doppler throughout the day. I went to Wal-mart to get my mind off of things, and bought things  for delivery that I wouldn't be having for at least a few weeks and then went home. I listened to him a couple of times, on and off and he sounded really good. I called Lena to talk and ate some pizza for lunch. Throughout the pregnancy I had been watching Private Practice so I sat down to watch an episode. I listened to him for almost the whole episode and once again he went down into the 90's. I called Timmy in a panic he told me to call the office but I didn't know what to say so I got in the car to drive there. The panic that was going through my mind was too much, what if by the time I got there and they sent me to Labor and Delivery it was too late? I decided then that I would go strait to Labor and Delivery especially because I was worried that they would send me home.

I was a mess. I started crying right when I walked in, they asked me what was wrong; was I hurting, and if I had felt him move. We went into a room and they hooked me up. Venice was my  nurse, we were there for about an hour and a half and everything looked really good she went to go get the discharge paperwork but I asked if I could stay for a bit longer. She came in to tell us we were just about ready to go, and he did it again. Luckily she was in the room and watched him. She said that it could have been picking up my heart rate, but it also could have been him. She said she would call Dr. Ott. He wanted us to stay for the weekend and Dr. Chalmers would be back on Monday to decide what to do with me.

That night he had 4 decelerations, the longest was in the 40's for about 5 min. I was so scared and cried a lot. Dr. Eggert the Neonatologist came in and talked to us about how I was only 29.4 weeks along and what we could expect if our baby was born this weekend. He suggested that I take 2 doses of the betamethesone shots, but it would take 48 hours for the full effects to kick in. He also wanted me to start taking prophilactic magnesium sulfate. The betamethasone is a steroid that helps lungs develop quickly, and the magnesium is to prevent brain bleeds. The shots were the worst, they hurt more than any other shots I had at the beginning of  my pregnancy. Timmy would rub my hip where the shot was given to make it feel better. The Magnesium ran in for 12 hours and made me feel a little woosy, and burned going in. I kind of liked the feeling though because it made me calm. I tried to sleep but about every 3 hours he would have a deceleration so I would end up just starring at his strip.

Each shift I had a new doctor watching me and my strip. The first night Dr. Ott and Dr. Wong the second night it was Dr. Fagnant. At first he made me feel comfortable by answering all my questions. By the end of the night all of his statistics and studies were confusing me, he was still even mentioning the possibility of sending me home, and he wasn't making any decisions. That night when I would have a decel no one would come in and once again I was watching my strip constantly. Sunday morning I finally got a few hours of sleep . Dr. Strubble was my doctor that day, and I was so grateful.  When he came on he said he was going to call Perinatology in Salt Lake and ask them three questions. 1. When they should deliver me. 2. If they should deliver me and 3. If they should stop my contractions. When I got up to use the bathroom I felt like I was having gas and felt a little pop. I called out to my nurse Kristen and said that I thought my water had broke. Corbin decided that because no one was going to make a decision he was going to break his water. Dr. Strubble called the Perinatologists again and they said they would do my C-section if one of three things happened. 1. Owen was showing signs of infection. 2. I got a temperature or 3. If I went into labor. Almost immediately I started having stronger contractions. I had about 5 contractions and they were getting pretty uncomfortable. The one I had right before they checked me I started to cry. I was 5.5 cm, at that time they started getting me ready for surgery. Everything went really fast.

They wheeled me back and Dr. Nelson put in my spinal I will truly always be so grateful that I was able to be awake during my labor experience. He went really fast and then they layed me down. Timmy came and they started to cut. It was the weirdest feeling, it was almost hurting but it was just the tugging that felt so weird. When they pulled Owen out it seemed like forever before I heard his sweet litttle cry. I was a mom. He was actually crying. Throughout the past two days I was in fear for his life, his heart rate went down numerous times and I wasn't sure if he was going to survive or if they were going to tell me something that I had already heard once before. They let me see him only for a second and they they took my sweet little boy to the NICU, luckily daddy got to follow. A  couple minutes later they were done with the c-section and I was wheeled back to the recovery room. My mom and Dad and Tyler were there to greet me.

A little bit later I got to meet our other sweet little boy. He was perfect. I can't express the feelings I had that day. There was a spirit in the room and I knew he was there watching out for his brother. If his water wouldn't have broke that day, I don't know if Owen would have made it much longer. He passed away so his brother could grow big and strong and his water broke so that his brother could survive. I will always be grateful for that little boy. Labor and Delivery techs were able to get hand prints and foot prints, and perfect hand and foot molds. We decided to name him Corbin Russell.

A few hours later my legs were finally un-numb. Lisa came down and got me in a wheel chair so I could see my precious new baby. I am so glad that she was able to take me to see him right away. I really don't remember much but that he had his cpap, and his uvc. I wasn't really that worried about him now that I could see him breathing. Timmy and I were so happy.

The next few days are kind of a blur. We went to the NICU frequently to hold him and we learned a lot. We got to hold him every 7-10-1-4 o' clock hour. Timmy decided that he would hold him at 7 every night, that way he would get used to him putting him to bed when he got home from work. I started holding him every 10 o'clock in the morning and evening. That later changed because I started to feel disconnected from Timmy and I was starting to lose a lot of sleep. The first 10 days were really hard, I was emotionally drained from everything we went through and physically drained from having no sleep. The nurses and Timmy finally convinced me to sleep in the thurs before Corbins burial.

Now that it has been almost 2 weeks things are starting to fall into a routine. Unfortunately the house is a wreck and the time really seems to fly by. Timmy goes to see him before work. I wake up around 8 pump and shower and go to the hospital for rounds I stay until 11:30. I go home eat and pump and take an hour nap and try to organize a few things or run errands. Then I go back to the hospital at 4 until 5:50 and Timmy meets me there. Then we eat dinner and go back at 7 until 8:30 and try to sleep. Then mimi goes to visit at 10.