Misiego Family: April 2012

Owen's first week at home was pretty relaxed and uneventful. He nursed a LOT, slept and pooped, typical of most newborns. The great thing was he never developed a bad case of jaundice, which I'd been dreading, so we didn't have to do the lights or get him tested numerous times, like we'd had to with Ariana. We had a few visitors - Heather and Allison came over, and different friends from the ward dropped by - but for the most part he and I just hung out at home and nursed. :) I think I left the house just twice all week long! David's schedule allowed him to be pretty flexible, which was nice. I'm grateful he was able to get up with the kids and get them ready for school so I could sleep in and feel rested after not sleeping much at night. Thankfully, though, Owen's been great about going back to sleep after nursing at night, so I really can't complain about too much missed sleep.

It's so fun to see how babies change on what seems a day-to-day basis when they're so young! Little by little we're starting to see what Owen's going to look like. I still think he looks a lot like David's dad and Bryan, when Bryan was a newborn. Except Owen is much smaller, which I love. Just look at this teensy face! Even with such a small head he has to try so hard to hold it up. :)

Matthew finally agreed to hold him. He's proved to be a great big brother, and loves finding toys and stuffed animals to give to Owen to keep him entertained (although I try to tell him he's not quite big enough for that just yet...) I love Matty's smile in these pics.

Thank goodness for swaddling blankets! I don't give him any wiggle room, and it calms him right down! That and the white noise app on our phones puts him right to sleep every time.

For some reason, he often only opens his right eye - reminds me of a little pirate.

You can't have too many sleeping baby pics. He always looks so peaceful.

But bright-eyed baby pictures are my favorite. It was hard to catch him with his eyes open for very long the first week, so every time we did it was a treat!

His first bath started off well - he loves being in the sun - but as soon as we got his belly wet he didn't like it so much.

He was glad to be all done.

Here we are trying out the sling for the first time. He didn't protest one bit and seemed quite cozy. I didn't keep him in for very long, but it was good to know he likes it since I'm sure I'll use it plenty in the coming weeks.

One of my favorite things about the early weeks is seeing babies smile as they fall asleep. I caught this one with my phone camera and love how goofy he looks. :)

This was a sweet little moment. Ariana had gotten a book to read to Owen while I cleaned the bathroom and Matthew was soothing him by stroking his head. I was a little surprised, since Ari didn't show much interest in Owen those first few days, but more and more she's warming up to him and likes to talk about the things they'll do together when he's bigger.

Here's Owen with the stuffed monkey I got for him months ago - I've had a little thing for monkeys this time around - and I've decided I'll take his picture with it every few weeks to see how he grows. He looks so tiny next to it right here! Sadly, I know he won't stay this way for long...

We sure love our tiny guy! David was holding him up and calling him "Buddha baby," but he doesn't have much of a belly on him just yet. Still, he makes such a cute little bundle, even with a sad face.

Happy 1-week birthday, Baby Boy!

He's arrived! Our little guy is finally here. Owen Jose made his big debut last Thursday, April 19th, at 12:18 pm. He's a tiny little thing, weighing in at only 6 lbs 13 oz - my smallest baby yet! He was 19 1/2 inches long, though, so he's rather tall and skinny, but I was still surprised that he wasn't a chunker like the other boys. He was perfectly healthy, though, so we feel extremely blessed.

I woke up that morning with painful contractions around 4:30 am. I lay in bed counting how close they were and they were coming consistently seven minutes apart. After days of increasingly painful Braxton Hicks, I thought that this was finally the real thing. I looked at my ipod touch to pass the time between contractions and clicked on the Latter-Day Words of Wisdom app that has quotes from General Authorities. Coincidentally, this was the first quote that came up: "It is a crowning privilege of a husband and wife who are able to bear children to provide mortal bodies for these spirit children of God. We believe in families, and we believe in children" (Neil Anderson). I was amazed, and sure it was a sign that this really was the day. Could there have been a more fitting quote?!

After a time, I decided to get up, shower, and get something quick to eat. The contractions were coming closer together, more like three minutes apart. I was nervous that I'd take too long to get to the hospital and not be able to get an epidural (wussy, I know), so I woke up David and called Nathan and Allison to have one of them come stay with the kids. When Allison came, it was about 6:30. I noticed as I was talking with her that I wasn't doubled over in pain with the contractions, and I started to doubt if I was really in labor or if I'd just tricked myself into thinking I was. We left to the hospital anyway, but the contractions weren't coming as close together as they had been before. I even walked around the hospital once when we got there to time them and see if they were getting any worse, but they'd gone back to about five minutes apart, and they weren't as painful as they'd been before. I was discouraged, to say the least, and embarrassed at the thought of having to go back home.

David convinced me to at least go in to have them check me, so we did. As they were leading us to a room we passed my doctor, Dr. Nance, who'd wanted to induce me earlier in the week. He was happy to see us there, since Thursday is his designated hospital day, and assured me that if I needed it, he could certainly do things to help move things along. :/ Sure enough, when they got me hooked up to everything, my contractions, though painful, were rather sporadic, and I wasn't dilated any more than I'd been at my check-up Monday morning. I was surprised, and really discouraged, by this point. Still, they admitted me, since I was dilated to three centimeters, gave me some pitocin, and after a little while Dr. Nance came and broke my water. Things certainly picked up after that, but I was disappointed that things hadn't gone as I'd hoped. Even though I really thought I was in labor, I was essentially induced, which is what I'd wanted to avoid. I was worried that we were bringing the baby here before he was ready, and I was mad at myself for misreading the signs of labor. So as excited as I was to finally meet our baby, I was frustrated with myself and the situation as a whole. At that point, though, there was no going back, and I tried my best to remain optimistic.

The anesthesiologist came after I'd been having really painful contractions for quite some time, so I was more than relieved to see him. Unfortunately, despite his assurances that everything would be fine, the pain relief never really kicked in. The baby decided that he wanted to come very quickly and before we knew it, I'd gone from a seven to a ten. I was in extreme pain, even though I upped the meds several times to see if it would work, but it never really did. To make things worse, the baby's heartbeat started dropping to scary low levels, and the nurse started to freak out a little, calling all sorts of people in and urging Dr. Nance to come as quickly as he could. He'd gone home, expecting me to take much longer, so he had to drive back to the hospital. They put me on oxygen, which seemed to help, but I was still really worried. As soon as Dr. Nance arrived, I was more than ready to push. When the next contraction rolled around, I pushed and little Owen came right out! I was amazed, and so relieved that he was okay. David was a champ - didn't get dizzy or anything :) - and gladly cut the cord, which he hadn't done since Bryan was born. He was really emotional as well. It seemed like a really long time before they brought me the baby and let me see him, but when they did, everyone left and David and I had a good hour or so to just enjoy being with Owen, look him over, and let him try to nurse, which thankfully, he did. He looked like a smaller version of Bryan, when Bryan was born, and just seemed perfect in every way.

Not so happy with his new surroundings...

I was smitten, and sad that I couldn't go with him when they whisked him away to be cleaned. I was still really numb, though, especially my left leg, and they told me to stay put until I could move it. But even hours later, I still couldn't feel or move it! In fact, feeling didn't come back until fifteen or so hours later. They eventually moved me to my postpartum room anyway, and I just stayed in bed there the rest of the day. It made taking care of the baby a little tricky, but David and the nurses were a great help.

That evening, Bree and Cassity brought the kids to meet the baby. Bryan was so excited and affectionate with him, Matthew thought he was cute but didn't want to touch him, and Ari didn't want much to do with him whatsoever - one extreme to the other. :) Heather and her family also came to visit, as did Sara and Ben. It was fun to show him off to everyone, and he did great.

Such a sweet face.

The next couple days were a blur of doctors and nurses coming in and out, check-ups, and feedings. There was a bed for David in the room, so he stayed the first night, which was really nice. The second night he had to be home with the kids, but Owen and I did okay on our own (thanks in part to the lovely nurses in the nursery). I loved taking pictures of our little guy, especially when I could catch him with his eyes open.

The first of many naps with Daddy...

I don't usually like the clothes they give them at the hospital, but I thought this was a sweet little shirt.

Love this half-smile. :)

Ari spent the day on Friday up at Heather's house, but Matt and Bryan came for a visit, and then they all came Saturday to bring Owen home. Matt decided he'd wait until we were home to hold him, but he still liked checking him out.

Bryan was actually a little troubled by the fact that he thought he loved Owen more than Matthew. :) He shared that with both Bree and I on different occasions. We assured him that he could love them both just as much, and that he was an awesome big brother!