I’m ready for my close-up now, Mr. De Mille

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, So to recap– on Tuesday July 18, 2006 I’d had a Dr’s appointment that wasn’t too promising. Any more promising than the week before anyway. All dear husband and I heard was that this baby would be born ’soon’, which is such a relative term. The Dr. did the magical cervical swipe in hopes of starting something and then we left the appointment and went to Target where I started to have some really great contractions that made me rethink being in Target. Later, my mother-in-law came over and we all went a few places and walked and walked and I began to feel even more not so great. After my mother-in-law left, my dear husband and I spent the evening pretty quietly–he watching something on PBS, me catching up on a few things on the computer. We were both pretty tired, so we turned in around 11:30ish. At about midnight, I started having pretty regular contractions again, so we started to time them and they were coming about 7 minutes apart. Then they started to come about 4 minutes apart (I was getting excited–this could be IT. Then…well, those filthy contractions stopped alltogether.

By this point, my already thinly stretched patience was about ready to snap. It was late, I didn’t feel good, I was tired and I wanted some sleep and I wanted it now. If those stinky contractions didn’t want to do anything or go anywhere…well, they could just go and bother some other pregnant lady in the middle of the night. I finally was able to get comfortable enough to be able to really go to sleep at about 2:40am. Which was when the first really real contraction hit. Right across my back with the force of a two by four (or at least that’s what it felt like anyway). I was wide awake and about half-way out of bed before the contraction had even ended. I knew that this was really it–we were going to the hospital and I was finally going to have this baby! As dear husband (who kept asking, “Are you sure this is really it?” like this was a drill and I was just testing for his response time) and I hurried around the house packing last minute items, the contractions kept coming strongly right across my back and right about 5 minutes apart. When one would hit, it was like time stopped for just a minute and it was all I could do to breathe through the sixty seconds until it was over. I couldn’t talk, couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything for that one minute. Finally, we had everything together and packed in the car and were on our way to the hospital.

Join us tomorrow as we hear the gory details of the actual labor and delivery. Same you,me,and,a baby time, same you,me,and,a baby place

Hey there…my mom thinks I’m pretty cute

I know…I promise pictures and a birth story and then I just disappear for a few days. It turns out this mothering thing takes up an awful lot of time. And that most of that time involves hefting someone else around in some form or fashion, which is not exactly conducive to say…typing. Typing one handed is a bit overrated as well.
I actually only have time for a picture today–the birth story will have to wait until tomorrow as it is already 11:30pm and I am so overdue for bed, since I know that I have a 3am standing appointment with a certain handsome young man involving a Boppy pillow and a breast and I find it best to at least try to have a few hours of sleep under my belt before that time rolls around (Otherwise I might try to feed and burp the Boppy and wedge my arm on the boy)so I can make a stab at trying to be coherent. I will say that being sleep deprived has made the actual sleep I get all the better–I basically fall into a coma anytime I have an extra 10 minutes. However, I keep waking up being surprised that I have teeth–what is that about?

I’m somebody’s Mom now! The concept is still really surreal, although you would think that after being the one to actually labor to bring the child into the world it would be sharply clear every time I sit in a chair without a pillow underneath me.
Owen Dee, named after both of his great-grandpas) was born at 6:50pm on Wednesday July 19th, 2006 (after only 45 minutes of pushing–not too shabby for a first-timer). He weighed 7lbs 3.25 oz and was 20.25 inches long. He has TONS of thick dark brown hair (you can put a noticeable part into it…we’ve already given him a combover…very nice)and looks alot like his dad did when he was a baby. We are so in love and just can’t quite believe that he’s actually ours to keep. Sleep is fleeting at the moment, so when I have a few more minutes, I’ll try to post some pictures (oh come on, who doesn’t like new baby pictures?!!!).