Owen's Birth Story

Birth Story:

Early labor
Owen finally makes his appearance


My poor sweetie with his IV
Mommy's boy all snuggled up
Our new happy family, day we got to leave the hospital.
Owen on our first stroller ride, happy as can be!

Owen's first sponge bath:

All clean!
Owen Kai Hernandez made his appearance into this world on April 28th 2009 at 11:36 a.m. He weighed 8 lbs. 14 oz. and measured 21 inches long. However his birth story began much earlier. On Monday April 27th my water broke at around 4:15 a.m. where I then called into the hospital to see what I should do next as I had been having contractions since 3:30 a.m. They advised me to stay home in till my contractions got more consistent but that I would have to check into the hospital by 4:00 p.m. at the latest to be induced if my contractions had not progressed any. Not wanting to be induced I did all I could to get my labor into gear, Sal and I went for a long walk, I had some birthing tea, but come 4:00 p.m. my contractions had not progressed much. At the hospital I chose to take Cervidil to help soften and open my cervix but after 12 hours of waiting and working through some pretty rough contractions I was still only at 1 cm. I then had no choice but to be put on Pitocin. It didn't take long till my contractions were kicking my butt and I was dying to have some pain medication as I hadn't slept in about 24 hours. They could not give me an epidural as I was only 1 cm dilated so I chose to have Fentanil till I was ready to have an epidural as the pain and lack of sleep were just too much. And about 6 hours later I was ready to push...finally!! It took an hour of pushing and crazy burning pain to get our little miracle out but once we laid our eyes on him we knew it was all worth it. 

Week 38

Here are a few pictures of me at the beach yesterday at week 38

Belly Cast

The day after my baby shower (Match 15th 2009) Sydney, Jenna and I made a casting of my belly out of plaster. The whole experience was so much fun and the end product will be a beautiful memory of my pregnancy for years to come. So I hope you all enjoy the pictures I have posted of the steps to the final product of the cast. 

Oh yeah and there are only three weeks till baby Owen Kai's due date!!! EXCITING!!!

35 Weeks

Well there are only 29 more days left till my due date! I've got my hospital bag packed, the baby's clothes washed and put away, Sal and I are done with all of our prenatal classes, and I am more than ready to meet the little guy that has been growing inside of me for the last 8 months. As for birth itself I am feeling a lot more confident in myself again, thanks to my yoga teacher and my husband's amazing support, all we can do now is wait for this little guy to be ready to come out! 

Also I've posted pictures of me at 35 weeks along with pictures from the baby shower that was on March 14th and pictures of a painting I made for the baby's room. Enjoy!!

34 Weeks and 5 days

Well there are only about 6 weeks left till our baby's due date and I am definitely feeling anxious. I still have a list of a million things to get done before baby arrives and the though of birth is no longer such a pleasant one. However I am determined to re focus on the positive aspects of birth and that it will be a beautiful experience, painful yes but beautiful and unforgetable.

As for pregnancy symptoms I have been feeling lower back pain pretty much 24/7 but it being the worst at night. However my prenatal yoga is helping with this pain a lot. Other than that I am finally noticing some swelling in my feet and ankles but nothing too severe. Oh and I can't forget the acid reflux!! 

In other news last week I had my baby shower which was absolutely amazing and I will be posting pictures as soon as I get some. Also I had pregnancy photos taken by Jenna and she and Sydney helped make me a belly cast. In till I get my own copies of the pictures you can view some of the shots at www.jennatye.com/cali

P.S. picture is not of me at 34 weeks...it was taken about 2 weeks ago in the baby's room.

32 Weeks

Today I am 32 weeks pregnant, meaning there are only 56 more days to go till our baby's due date! Every day I get more and more excited to meet the little kickboxer that's been living inside me for so long now. At the same time however I am starting to stress more about the birth itself and about all the things that need to get done before our little baby boy arrives. However yesterday was my last day of work so I will now have plenty of time to focus on getting things done around the house for baby's arrival.  

My childbirth classes are going well, I really love all the information I am receiving . I also started up prenatal yoga which has helped relieve a lot of my back pain and the first hour of the class is actually a support group so that part is just great! Sal and I also went to our first infant care class this past monday where we learned about diapering, swaddling and different techniques for soothing a newborn baby. Next Monday is the last class where we will learn mostly about breast feeding. 

Also next weekend is my baby shower and I am SO excited for it....I actually can't believe that it is really next weekend as I have been waiting for this for so long now that I just can't believe that it is finally here. It should be a lot of fun, and I will be sure to post pictures!

How Our Baby is Growing at 32 Weeks: By now our baby weighs about 3.75 pounds and is about 16.7 inches long, so basically taking up a lot of room in my uterus!! I am going to be gaining about one pound per week now with about half of that going to the baby. In fact in the next 7 weeks he is going to gain a third to half his birth weight! 

29 Weeks

Here I am at 29 weeks pregnant...not too much bigger than last week but I have plenty of time for growing still!! Lately I have been having a lot of lower back pain, making it hard to get a good nights sleep. Also my belly has been just as itchy as ever. I'm having to lather on the cream all day long just to avoid scratching it like crazy, lol. Other than that I am enjoying all of the baby's new movements. Before I could only really feel kicks but now I can feel him when he stretches or moves positions in my belly and that is simply amazing! Sometimes I can feel where his head is positioned and I love to just lay my hand on it, makes me feel that much closer to him! Oh and tonight is my very first childbirth preparation class and I am very excited for that, I'll be sure to give am update on how that goes! 

How Our Baby is Growing at 29 Weeks: His lungs and muscles are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. 

28 Weeks: The Third Trimester!!

Today I had my 28 week OB appoitment where I received the results from my pregnancy diabetes test I took on Monday. The results were all fine except that they found that I am anemic again, meaning that I have low iron and so will need to start taking iron supplements. This is nothing new for me as I have been anemic before. Other than that I weight in at 145, so I have gained 2 pounds since my last visit which was three weeks ago. Blood pressure and baby's heart beat were both fine as well. I will now be seeing my doctor every two weeks from here on out. Only 2 and a half months to go!! Which by the way is so insane....I can't believe it is almost April already, time flies! 

In other news Sal and I got some baby furniture this past weekend and I thought it would be nice to post some pictures of the nursery. We still have to get the dresser and some other assesories for the room but I love how the room is coming along, nesting is way too much fun!!

Also I have posted a picture my my belly that we took this past Sunday where I am 27 weeks and three days. Although I am already almost 28 weeks so I am writing about that today. 

How Our Baby is Growing at 28 weeks: Our baby now weighs about two and a quarter pounds and measures 14.8 inches from top of his head to his heels. He can now blink his eyes, which now sports lashes. With his eyesight now developing, he may be able to see the light that filters through the womb. Exciting stuff!! 

24 Week OB Appointment

Today I had my 24 week OB appointment. I weight in at 143 pounds so that means that I have gained about 10 pounds since I got pregnant. Other than that they simply took my blood pressure and listened to the baby's heartbeat which both where normal. My doctor says that all is going well and that we have a healthy baby boy! 

In other news Sal and I got a new puppy this past weekend. She is a 3 month old miniature schnauzer and we have named her Bella. She has a ton of energy and curiosity, just the cutest puppy ever!! Here are a few pictures of her, enjoy!

23 Weeks

Here I am at 23 weeks pregnant, as you may be able to notice I can't do up the zipper in my jeans anymore and so the bella band isn't working its magic anymore so I guess I'll be switching over to real pregnancy pants and sweats from here on out. Horay! 

How Our Baby is Growing at 23 Weeks: Our baby's sense of movement is now fully developed and therefore can now feel me as I dance which I think is just amazing and so cool. We actually have been doing lots of dancing lately too so it is perfect. For new years we danced the night away so I'm sure he must have loved that!! Also our baby is now about 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound! This has been such a great adventure so far, I love being pregnant!!