And Owen Makes Four

We knew we were going to have a c-section with Owen because of the complications following Casper's birth, and that it would be scheduled for 37 weeks to prevent a possible uterine rupture. The surgery was scheduled for October 18 at 9:00AM, and we were so excited. It was kind of weird knowing when I would be walking into the hospital to have a baby, so unlike last time when Casper came so early and we basically had an emergency c-section followed by serious complications for both of us.

So, Andy, Gwen, Catie, and Joey were in town visiting us the weekend before we were scheduled to have Owen. It was so nice to have them here. It was especially great to have Gwen (who is a nurse) here because I had a couple of "scares" that weekend, just some little bleeding episodes but I wasn't sure if they were normal or not since I had never gone full-term before and experienced the end of a normal pregnancy. But nothing serious happened and talking to Gwen really helped ease my fears about the c-section.

My first c-section was so horrific and traumatic that I was really really really nervous about this one. I was scared about the spinal, I was scared that I would feel the surgery going on, I was scared that something would be wrong with Owen. I think that was normal considering the only other c-section experience I had ever had. But Gwen kept reassuring me that a scheduled c-section would be completely different and she was right.

We arrived at Inova Fairfax Hospital at 7:30AM to do paperwork and get prepped for surgery. Our doctor, Dr. Kelly from Capital Women's Care Alexandria, was so great. She came by several times to keep us updated because another of her patients went into labor and we got pushed back. Many of the OR staff came by to check in on us, too, including an anesthesiologist that began telling me all about the complications the surgeon might encounter and what they would have to do in case. She had no business telling us any of this since she wasn't our doctor and it didn't have anything to do with anesthesia, and I got really upset. Chris told me later that he spoke to Dr. Kelly about it before she came into the OR and apparently Dr. Kelley ended up telling the anesthesiologist not to talk to her patients again.

Anyway, I walked into the OR (again, very different from my previous c-section in which I was rolled in on a bed). The OR was huge, very bright and clean, and very cold. I was pretty nervous about the spinal, but Boris, one of the anesthesiologists, walked me through it, reminding me to keep breathing and distracting me. He was great.

After that it went so quickly. Chris came in and sat next to me holding my hand, they started the surgery and Owen was with us before we knew it. I saw Owen for a couple of minutes before he and Chris were taken to the recovery room and my surgery was finished up. Dr. Kelly said that everything went very well and she was able to clean up a lot of the scar tissue from the previous surgery. In fact, my doctors in Hawaii said that I shouldn't have more than one more pregnancy (meaning Owen), but Dr. Kelly is confident that everything looks so good there that I can have another baby if we want to, so that was really good news (although it will be a LONG time before I am ready to go through this again!).

It was so wonderful to have Owen with us after such a long and stressful pregnancy. I was so relieved to have the surgery go so well and be done with it so I could concentrate on my new little one. I was brought to recovery right away and able to hold Owen and we were soon brought to our hospital room.

I can't believe it has been 4 weeks (tomorrow) since Owen joined our family. Casper has finally gotten used to having a baby around, and calls him "my Owen." We are finally starting to get a nighttime routing down and getting used to the lack of sleep. I am so excited to have these two boys grow up together and can;t wait to see what life has in store for them.