Owen Alexander Reagin

Our sweet, serene boy - Owen Alexander Reagin - decided to join us on Sunday, July 3rd at 5:57am. He weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and was 20 in long. He has blond peach fuzz for hair as well as blond eyelashes and

eyebrows. He has his sister's blue eyes and his Mommy's button nose. All the rest of his facial features are his Daddy's.

The Long Story, Short

My contractions started around midnight and were five minutes apart and one minute long for over a half-hour by 1:30. We were in triage at the hospital by 3:00ish and spent an hour there - already at 7 cm - before moving into our Labor and Delivery Room.

I was most disappointed to find that I had to wait for the tub to fill once I arrived there, as I'd already requested that it be filled an hour before, so that was a bit trying to say the least (no meds, people). :)

My nurse wasn't comfortable with "catching" a water birth baby alone anyway, so I guess I didn't have a choice, seeing as how we were still waiting for my midwife to arrive. (She ended up delivering 14 babies between Thursday and Monday.)

Meanwhile, I opted out of having my IV put in since both my doula and I weren't sure Owen would wait for Margaret to get there or the tub to fill (no sense in leaving 'laborland' for the antibiotics to have no time to get into my body). Instead, my doula had me get on my hands and knees on the bed, which ended up being a good thing when you consider how Owen was born (to be explained later). 

FINALLY, I was able to get into the water, and my labor happened to slow long enough that Margaret convinced me to get the antibiotics (I was positive for Group B Strep, which can be dangerous for the baby), stating that some were better than none. 

All in all, I was in the water for about an hour. It felt like a lot longer to me though, I must admit. At some point, I decided that I needed to get the show on the road and started 'trial pushing.' It was at this point that I broke my water.

Within 15 minutes, Owen was born... during one contraction... in three pushes.

Oh, and he was born with his hand up at his face. (Which is why my doula having me get on my hands and knees was such a good thing, because with his positioning, it was probably really helpful for getting him to move down.)

Anyhow, by the time we moved down to postpartum, we were only there for a couple hours before Owen was taken to the nursery to be checked for accelerated breathing (tachypnea). And as this is sometimes a symptom of Group B Strep problems (and the antibiotics I had were only in my system for 30 minutes as opposed to the standard 4 hours), the family pediatricians were insistent on having Owen admitted to the NICU immediately for antibiotics and monitoring. And so it was.

He ended up being there from Sunday til Thursday, until all his tests came back normalized. I was discharged on Tuesday night at midnight, which left us sleeping on a small couch and chair in a waiting room that night. We did go to a friend's house and sleep in their guest bed for a little over an hour, too. The next night, I'd pumped enough that we were able to leave for a four hour stretch, which was really refreshing to me.

Ultimately, his infection didn't end up being Group B, however, we'll never know what it was. We're just grateful that he was okay.

We had a lot of great support, in family taking turns hosting Avery. Thank you to our parents for that. And thanks to Shelly and KP for their house key and guest bed at any and all hours as well. We really appreciated that.

Here are a few pics from the first hours. I have tons more to edit, and once I've done that, I'll post more and add some more commentary about our week. Until then, enjoy these and keep checking back for more.

PS - If you want all the details, I am happy to share them!