Owens Birth

Owen David Miller born November 9, 2011

RAF Lakenheath Hospital, United Kingdom

November 8, 2011 @ 41 weeks pregnant

I had a foley bulb placed between my cervix and uterus on Tuesday Nov 8, which unfortunately fell out around 8pm while bending over to pick up a dog toy. When a foley bulb falls out you are supposed to be around 4cm dilated (an inflated bulb is the size of a golf ball) so I called the hospital and told them what happened and that I was experiencing no contractions. They told me women who have had children before often have more elastic cervixes and could lose the bulb more easily. I went to bed with high hopes that labor would start naturally, but instead slept soundly. We called the hospital at 4am and were told 2 women had walked into L+D during the night so there was no rush. I finished packing my bag, curled my hair, ate breakfast and lightly organized the house (still experiencing no contractions.)

We were admitted to L+D at 5:30am and I was measuring 4cm

At 6:00am I was administered Pitocin through IV at a rate of 4

David and I played cards comfortably for 15 minutes when they bumped up the Pitocin rate to 10

We watched a movie as I felt contractions consistently until 10am when they broke my water, I was at 5cm

LET THE PAIN BEGIN! It was intense and steady for 2 hours. I walked around the room, braced myself on Dave, and got on/off the bed several times. The monitors were weak and kept loosing Owens vitals so for those 2 hours either the nurse or I held it secure. The blood pressure arm band was unbelievably tight and couldn't get proper readings when I was going through contractions. It would finish the first reading and start immediately on the second, there was no relief. It felt like my arm was going to fall off from loss of blood. I was so frustrated and asked a few times to just take them all off, but was not allowed.

Check out how much arm fat is being squeezed! I had broken blood vessels after they finally took it off.

I began to cry from the pain knowing that another more painful contraction was coming in less than 2 minutes, so I asked for an epidural. I was now at 8cm dilated. I tried to hold off on getting an epidural for as long as possible. I know that they can slow things down and after having a 23 hour labor with Ava, I didn’t want to lose momentum. Dave heard the nurses say “stall her; the anesthesiologist is busy down the hall.” Being the good husband that he is he didn’t tell me what he had heard and tried to keep me calm.

When the anesthesiologist finally came he had a high school student with him who was “on the job learning.” I thought it was a little strange but I didn’t care if she watched. At 1pm I was given a spinal to help me with immediate relief so I could push. There wasn’t enough time for an epidural. Then they asked if I would allow 2 students to watch me give birth. I hesitated but after they told me it was the same girl who came in before, I agreed. It wasn’t until after they both walked in that I recognized one of the kids, he was a young man who went to church with us named Shawn Pontius. I quickly said to him “if this is ok with you, and you don’t think of me any different, then it’s ok with me.”

By 2pm I was fully dilated and pushing. Everything was light hearted this time around, I joked and pushed and laughed. I went from the worst pain I have ever felt (including the birth of Ava) to NOTHING! Then Owen began to crown and yeah I could feel that. My words were “gosh this feels like pushing a Dura flame log out! He felt round and solid and it was painful but I knew second time around that it’s all downhill once the head it out, so I gave it all I had.

Owen arrived at 3:06pm weighing 8lbs 3oz, and was 21 inches long. I couldn't believe it, the baby that was measuring between 9 and 30% in growth ended up being huge! The preemie clothes we had brought were never going to fit. He was beautiful and perfect. The nurses put him directly onto my chest and it was love. They ended up giving him 2 seconds of oxygen but everything seemed perfect.

We brought Ava in to see her brother, she was excited. I had told her many times that “mommy was going into the hospital to push out baby Owen.” She had watched a few birth videos and knew how babies came out of mommies and that they were bloody so they needed a bath to get clean. The nurse let Ava watch as Owen had his first bath.

At first Ava was scared to touch him but soon she warmed up and wanted to hold him and take him for walks.

To help with acceptance we held a Birthday Party for Owen complete with cake and “fancy” drink. Ava gave Owen a blue stuffed doggy as a present and there were balloons all around the room.

The next day we were waiting and waiting for Owen to pee before he could be circumcised. I asked Dr Kehl a ton of questions and after she assured me that she was very good at her job I sent Dave with Owen. I couldn't bear the thought of him being by himself, I needed Dave to tell me the truth of how it all went. Dave said he didn't cry a bit. They numbed him and then Owen sucked his finger through the whole ordeal. After the circumcision was over they drew blood to check his bilirubin count. It was high, really high. After a number of hours and multiple tests they decided to put him under the blue light. I was heartbroken, it’s hard to think that your new born baby is being stuck in the foot dozens of times and each time his count keeps rising higher and higher. Owen had to stay under the blue light for 12 hours, naked with a mask over his eyes. I could only take him out for 30 minutes at a time to feed him, and even then I had to keep a blue light pad under his back. It was awkward and hard but I wanted my boy to get better.

The next day (Saturday Nov 12) his blood test showed improvement and we were allowed to be discharged. Going home was a long awaited event; we had been in hospital for 4 days.