and owen makes four ... or seven ...

february 1st, 2010 was a wonderful day!

my water broke at 4:38am Monday morning. those that know me well know that the number 38 is a good number for me (38 was my number on any sports team I played on in Jr.High/High School), so this was an auspicious beginning to the day of Owen's arrival (chuckle). my contractions were only 5-7 minutes apart for the next couple of hours (and keep in mind I'd been having contractions closer than 10 min apart for several weeks at this point), so I didn't figure there was a real rush to get to the hospital. when gary woke up around 6am, I grinned and told him, "I don't think you are going to work today!" we proceeded to excitedly pack the car and get things ready to be gone for a few days.

last photo as a family of three (humans) and six (including the doggies).

the photo with the dogs was pandemonium.
we got settled into our labor and delivery room around 9am, excited that nature had, in fact, taken its course and at this point we did not have to make any decisions about induction, c-section etc. we prayed the rest of the day would follow suit.

Owen's Birth Story: Gary and I had decided when pregnant with Henry that we wanted to pursue an anesthesia free and natural childbirth for a couple of reasons ... first, anesthesia scares me to death, and second, my mother had me naturally and has always talked about how it was the best of her four birthing experiences. The Bradley Method seemed like the best choice for us; however, both pregnancies we were not able to make the actual class itself due to work/schedule conflicts. So we just read and practiced on our own and hoped for the best. Henry didn't cooperate with those plans as he was breech and a c-section delivery was necessary. We thought we'd give it another shot with Owen if a VBAC delivery was going to be an option ... and so it went.

A few of the key principles of the Bradley method we were unable to use ... laboring for as long as we could at home (since my water broke and having had a previous c-section, they wanted to me to come in to the hospital that morning rather than labor some at home), being continuously, rather than intermittently, hooked up to the fetal monitors (could not walk the hallways, get in the shower, etc.; I could only move around as far as the cords from the monitors would reach, which was not very far). So sitting on my exercise ball, standing next to the bed, or sitting in a rocking chair were my only non-bed options. Everything went pretty well overall ... I thought I was going to get "stuck" twice because I progessed really slowly from 3 to 5cm and from 8 to 10cm. Thankfully, I did progress though, and we never had to talk about pitocin, etc.

Anyway, to sum up, my water broke at 4:38, I was at 8cm by 3:30, had a dose of stadol around 9cm to take the edgy-ness away, pushed for an hour, and Owen was born at 6:56pm. He was born at 37 weeks 2 days and was a whopping 8 pounds. Thank goodness he was sweet to his mother and came early. When he was born he didn't even cry until they started poking and prodding him-it was the wildest thing! As far as having him naturally goes, I'm certainly glad it worked out. I felt wonderful after and since delivery. I remember everything. No grogginess or loopiness. God is good!

I will say two very important things though:

1.) it is not for everyone and I would never think anything negative towards someone who did not pursue that route ... it was quite painful; and

2.) I could NEVER have done it without Gary. He was my rock. He kept encouraging me through the whole long and trying experience. He was an awesome coach and I will never forget the love and devotion he displayed as we practiced, and especially during labor and delivery.

He was truly incredible!

Vaughan family of four! Henry meets Owen. He's been so sweet with Owen. It has been very touching to see the two interact.

The Vaughan Boys - how I love them so!

Daddy Jim with H & O

Grandmother with tiny Owen

Papa and Owen

handsome Owen! going home photo.

gary ... he was loaded up from head to toe, poor guy!

at home - Henry giving Owen a kiss

first outing-weight check at the hospital

auntie allison came to visit this past weekend-yea!

Ya Ya and her two Vaughan grandbabies. My Mom came Wednesday night and stayed with us until Saturday. She was a tremendous help and we miss her! Thank you again, Mom!

We are settling in here at home. And we are ever thankful for the Lord's goodness.

Sincere thanks to all for the cards, emails, messages, and other gestures of love and concern!