OWEN IS HERE!!!

OWEN DANIEL PRINCE

July 1, 2011
7:48 PM

6 Pounds 12 Ounces

19.25 Inches

That's right - Owen was born exactly two weeks early! Friday morning (July 1st), I woke up at 1:30AM with contractions but they stopped around 4:30AM, so I fell back asleep until Ethan came in waking me up around 6:30. We then started our day just like any other... Went to swim team practice (where the other moms and I joked that I might not be there on Monday), went and got my hair cut (6 inches off!), and then Ethan and I went to my friend Kim's house. Kim helped me finish Owen's blessing blanket while Ethan played with her kids. Mom and Dave came and picked Ethan up from Kim's since they had been planning on having him Friday night for a sleep over. While at Kim's, I was having contractions, but wasn't really paying attention to them since I had been having braxton hicks contractions for the past week.

I came home and laid down and a couple of minutes later, (at 3:53) I started timing the contractions. They seemed to be coming more regular and getting a little stronger... Sean came home from the grocery store and I asked him if we could walk around the neighborhood since I have heard that walking sometimes stopped braxon hicks contractions. We walked around the neighborhood, but the contractions didn't stop. When we came inside, I decided to just finish packing my hospital bag 'just in case.' Since we had been planning on having one last Date Night before Baby was born, Sean was asking where I wanted to go to dinner... I told him I didn't think I could sit through a meal, and that maybe we should call my doctor. I left a message for my doctor and was cleaning the kitchen counter when the contractions were getting even stronger and I told Sean we should start heading to the hospital while we wait for the doctor to call back.

In the car the contractions got even worse... that was when we both realized that this was probably the real thing. Boy, during contractions I could feel every single bump in the road and I remember asking Sean to please hurry! We got to the hospital around 6:15PM. Once we got to there they took me to a room, told me the hospital gown was in the bathroom, and they took Sean to register me in. I was standing there, having contractions and couldn't figure the silly gown out! It was all unsnapped and for the life of me I couldn't figure out where each snap 'mate' was. The nurse thankfully came in and helped. She then checked me - I was already 7 CM dialated and 90% effaced! She told me I needed to call Sean and tell him to come up NOW and that he can finish registering me in my room. Thankfully when I called Sean, he was on his way to my room. I called my parents to tell them that we were at the hospital... Dave answered and when I told him where we were, he got all flustered and gave Mom the phone. Mom came shortly after with a book, ready for a long labor like Ethan's. She quickly realized that this was going to be much faster!

When I first got there, the nurse asked if I wanted to have an epidural or not, I told her I would like to try natural (I read a book "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth" and was really inspired by it). I lasted a little bit longer and then begged for an epidural - the contractions were getting really, really strong and much closer together. They hurt so bad I was shaking and almost to the point of tears. The Anethesiologist came quickly and gave me much needed relief. Unlike with Ethan, I could still feel the pressure, but the intense pain of the contractions was gone.

Since my doctor was on vacation, and her back-up doctor had a family emergency, I had Doctor Gonzalez. He drove from Lorton to Reston once he heard that I was about to deliver. Considering that he was coming from Lorton during rush hour traffic, he made goodtime but to me it felt like forever.  I had the urge to push before he came but the nurses wouldn't let me (they wouldn't even check me because they said that if they did, everything would happen really fast).  Finally the doctor came and Owen was born after a couple of rounds of pushing, Owen Daniel Prince was born at 7:48PM - just about an hour and a half after we got to the hospital (much better than the 19 hour labor I had with Ethan!) He was immediately put on my chest and was so alert!  Owen is absolutely perfect!

Name Game.  While pregnant, I went through two baby name books and made a list of the names I liked.  Sean would occasionally look at the list and knock out the names he absolutely did not like.  We narrowed it down to a couple of names, with Aidan and Owen being the top two names we were deciding between.  I really liked the idea of having the name be somewhat similar to Ethan's... in that they both start with vowels and end in "n."  Sean wanted to wait until Baby was born to decide on which name, and in hindsight, I'm glad we did. 

For Owen's middle name, we were originally thinking about using a family name.  Then, one time I went to the temple I was thinking about Baby and praying that he was going to be healthy and went to put his name on the Prayer Roll... but I didn't know what to put since we didn't have a name picked out for him.  I picked up the Bible to continue to wait for my friend to join me and I saw Daniel and thought that it was a nice name.  A couple of minutes later, I was walking through the temple halls and the name Daniel came into my mind again.  When I came home, I told Sean about my experience and we learned that in the Bible, Daniel remained righteous his entire life.  We both liked the name and added it to our list.

Pictures coming soon - I need to find the cord to connect the camera to the computer!!!