Owen's first week!

Owen Thomas Pynn arrived on Saturday, July 25th. If you are interested in the story, continue reading... otherwise, feel free to scroll down and just admire the pictures. :)

After a looonnng 9 weeks of bedrest, we were all excited for this day to come! Ironically, I had been on bedrest because the doctors were positive that he was going to come any minute. So, once we reached 37 weeks and they felt he would be developed enough, they strongly recommended that we should induce labor and make him come early. Otherwise, they thought that if my water broke at home, I would never make it to the hospital in time. My doctor said I would probably have him within the hour after the contractions began. Little did we realize, his birth would be just like the rest of the pregnancy - completely unpredictable.

After being told that we would be induced on Thursday, we waited around all day calling the hospital. They were too full and couldn't find room for us. Eventually they called and told us that we wouldn't be able to get in until Saturday. We checked in at 12:30 in the afternoon on the 25th. They broke my water at 1:30, and we thought it would only be an hour or two. At 3:00, I still wasn't having any contractions so they began the pitocin. They kept turning it up every 30 minutes or so, but I wasn't having any "worthwhile" contractions, so they made me get up and walk. I kept reminding my nurse that I wanted an epidural before it got too late. :) They kept telling me that I "was still smiling and chatting" so I couldn't be in real labor yet. It wasn't until almost 6:30 in the evening that my contractions were strong enough that they deemed me in "real labor" and administered the epidural. I love how quickly those drugs can make you comfortable! It wasn't until about 9:45PM that I finally started feeling pressure, and when I mentioned it to the nurse she announced that we needed to call the doctor right away. After less than an hour of pushing, Owen finally made his appearance at 10:51 PM. Not a really hard labor, but the 11 hours was quite the surprise when we were prepared for only an hour or two.

Owen is doing really well. He weighed 5 pounds, 11 ounces at birth and has only dropped about 7 ounces from that. Because of the fact that he was born 1 hour and 9 minutes shy of the official "37 weeks = full term", the NICU had to take him and administer about 6 hours of testing to make sure he was functioning correctly. Everything checked out perfectly, and they released him to us by 5 AM the following morning. We got to come home on Monday morning. They have been watching his jaundice levels very closely, so we have had to return to the hospital for multiple blood draws. He had to be on the lights for a few days to reduce the bilirubin count, but he was just cleared yesterday and can now sleep in his own cradle again. He is such a sweet little baby. He loves to cuddle and sleeps all the time. Owen has that little newborn cry which we missed out on the first time around.

Avery absolutely loves Owen. She didn't want to leave him the first night at the hospital, and she wanted him to come home right away. "But I will miss him. He is my best friend." Every time he cries she immediately runs to him and tries to softly hug him. "It's okay Baby Owen. Don't cry. I am here." It is incredibly sweet to see her concern for him. We will see how long it lasts for. She has found a renewed interest in her baby dolls as well. She takes them for walks and picnics at the "park".

We are doing great. It is wonderful to be able to get up off the couch and get my own drink of water (I'm sure Jason thinks so too!). My ankles have become VERY swollen, so it does hurt to walk still. Maybe that is a good thing - otherwise I would be out there rollerblading and making up for lost time. :) Everytime I hold Owen or just watch him sleeping, I know it was all worth it. We love having him join our family!

And now, the interesting part: pictures!