Saturday, April 18, 2009

Owen Alexander Shirley - April 15 2009



Our little bundle arrived at 2:04am Wednesday morning. Owen weighed 8lbs. 3oz. and measured 19.5in. long. His hair has a reddish tinge, it looks about the same color as his daddy's right now we'll have to see what it changes into. But we might possibly have a little red head.

Liam came with Chris to the hospital to visit. When he saw Owen, his face lit up, "Beebee!" He softly stroked Owen's head and tweaked his little ear. It was nice to see that he was excited about his new little brother. We brought baby Owen home Friday afternoon. When we put him in his basket Liam started setting his favorite toys (cars) in the basket next to Owen. Next Liam started pulling letters off of his wooden alphabet puzzle and held them one at a time a few inches from Owen's sleeping face and told him what each of the letters were (at least the ones that he knew). It was precious! Today Liam has been laying down next to Owen while he sleeps on the Boppy pillow. Most of the time he is pretty gentle but we have to remind him occasionally.

Here is the nitty gritty (but not too graphic) on Owen's arrival for those who are interested:

On Tuesday after my visit to the doctor it was decided they would induce labor because the placenta was showing signs of being tired (I was 2 days past my due date...). They had us go straight to the hospital. So Chris picked up Liam at the hospital and I was started on pitocin at 6pm Tuesday night. I decided to have an epidural this time. I didn't feel any pain just some pressure during the last hour before he came, which was nice. I did get the shakes which was weird since I couldn't feel any pain or how hard my body was working. I didn't even push, he just came out. I didn't even know he was half-way out until I heard him making sounds. He was having trouble breathing because he had some fluid in his lungs so I only got to hold him for a minute before they took him to the nursery and put him on some kind of a respirator for a little while, then he just had oxygen tubes to his nose for a day. Later, they found that his white blood cell count was high (and some other test I can't remember), that made them think he was fighting off an infection. So, they wanted to put him on a 48 hour round of antibiotics. They had trouble getting the IV in him, the poor little guy had bruises and poke marks all over his arms, head, and feet. Finally, a nurse was able to get the needle in near his ankle with the help of 4 other nurses to hold him still. So our little Owen was tethered to the nursery and I had to visit him there to hold him and breastfeed him. They later told me they wanted to give antibiotics for 72 hours, so he was going to have to stay longer. I was reluctant to leave without my baby, but it couldn't be helped. I stayed at the hospital until Thursday night so I could be there to feed him as long as possible. When I came back on Friday to feed him, the pediatrician told me that I could take him home with me! So I hurried back to the house to grab the car seat (and Nathan and Liam). So Owen is home with us now and we are so grateful that he is healthy and here with us.



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