Special Delivery

Note:  I started this post about 2 weeks ago... and I really didn't add too much to it, so I'm not really sure why I didn't publish it then. 

Guess who couldn't wait to join the Simons family party?  

Owen Blaine Simons

On Jan 9 at about 1:45 am I thought I was wetting the bed.  I got up and before I made it to the potty, my water was breaking all over the place.  I was FREAKING OUT.  I wasn't ready to have a baby.  The nursery wasn't (still isn't) done, we didn't have a car seat, I hadn't packed the perfect hospital bag, and I was only 36 weeks and 1 day pregnant! So I cleaned up the mess I had made and went downstairs to check the paper of labor signs and what to do that my doctor had just given me at my last appointment.  I read through the part about water breaking, and for some reason decided to go back upstairs and try to go back to sleep.  I went to get into bed, realized that it was kind of wet, and decided to wake up Sam.  Lucky for me he was off work and I wasn't at home alone.  I told him my water had broke and he jumped out of bed and started running around getting ready to leave, while I said, "I'm not ready to go, I don't want to go!"  I just want to clarify how much I was freaking out right then.  I was NOT ready to have a baby.  I was afraid that we would get to the hospital and they would tell me I wasn't really in labor and send me home. I didn't want to go.  Sam told me to call my parents - I didn't want to because they would probably tell me to go to the hospital and I didn't want to go.  I decided to call my mom's phone because I figured she was less likely to answer her phone at 2 am.  I was wrong.  She answered, and after telling her my water broke, I started to cry and told her I wasn't ready.  Then more fluid came out and I cried even more.  I think she might have laughed at me, but I can't say for sure because that whole night is kinda blurry.  Sam (who had been running around like a mad man looking for his keys and wallet) was ready to go and I was still in wet clothes.  So I put on some dry clothes, threw some stuff in the diaper bag, grabbed a towel to sit on, and we went to the hospital.  It's usually about a 40 minute drive and I think we got there in less than 20.  I told Sam we didn't have to go so fast (I was barely even feeling contractions), but he didn't slow down very much.  We got to the hospital, checked in, hung out in triage for about an hour got stuck in the arm 3 times for my IV (I still have one of the bruises), then got sent to a room to play the waiting game.  The first nurse we had was kind of a weirdo. She also had all the sensors on me so tight I'm surprised I could even breathe because for some reason they weren't recording my contractions.  But luckily, shift change rolled around and we got a really awesome nurse.  One of the nurses said I would probably have a baby before noon that day - which is apparently a quick labor (but it didn't seem very quick to me).  I got an epidural around 9 and then I was happy.  I think I pushed for less than an hour, then he was here at 11:22 am.  I was crying, Sam was crying, Owen was crying.  We were a family.  I couldn't believe that I grew that little guy!  The stretched tendons that made moving painful, not being able to sleep on my stomach, peeing all the time, having ankles the size of Texas - that stuff was no big deal.  Even all the stuff that happens to your body after you give birth and no one tells you about doesn't matter.  I had my baby, and he was perfect.  6 lbs 1 oz 18.5 in long.  I never thought I'd have a small baby - but I guess delivering 4 weeks early will give you a small baby even if you and your husband were both 9 lbs when you were born!  

Owen and I stayed in the hospital for 2 days because he was technically pre-term and still having some problems with eating.  I was nice and let Sam go home both nights since the couch-bed was horrible.  

I always said I'd never be one of those women who had pictures of herself looking like crap with her new baby, but every time I look at these pictures I remember how I felt when I held him for the first time and that makes me not care how I look.  I'm glad the awesome nurse took them for us.  

Daddy holding Owen for the first time.

Taking a nap with Papa.

Happy dreams.

Our first family picture... Okay, it was really like the third, but this is the best one we have.  I was just ready to go home after being in the hospital for more than 48 hours.

Ready to go home!

Zoey thinks she is picked on now because she isn't the center of attention anymore.  

He loves the binky.

We love our little man!