Owen's Birth Story

On Monday June 18, I had my routine 37 week appointment. I went in and of course my blood pressure was high. We went in, I got checked and was still 3 cm dilated and about 40 % effaced. My doctor was talking to us and telling us he was concerned about my blood pressure, even though it was okay at home and decided to schedule my induction for the following week at 38 weeks. As we were scheduling the induction for June 28th, he decides he should run some more labs for PIH (Pregnancy induced hypertension). I have had these blood tests done about a billion times, so I didn't even think twice about it. So we got everything done and went home excited to know that we were going to have little Owen on June 28th! Two days later on June 20th, I got a call in the morning from my doctor's office. For some reason I knew it had to do with my blood work and I started to get a little nervous. I answered the phone only to hear the voice of my doctor's nurse. She said hi and asked me how I was feeling. I said I felt fine and she said well that is good because your labs are showing us otherwise. I was like oh great... Apparently my liver enzymes were elevated and my blood platelets were low, which were signs of HELLP syndrome. His nurse told me that he wanted me to come in immediately so he could talk to me about what was going on! So I called Tim to have him meet me at the doctor's office, then I called Tim's mom and got arrangements for her to watch Calla, called my mom and then off to the doctor I went! We got there and he showed me my labs and said that they weren't awful by any means and that we should be okay to wait until my scheduled induction... what a relief it was to hear that! We spent the rest of our time in the office with Tim and my doctor talking about golf haha :) Oh and I had to get more labs drawn before we could leave. So I went and got Calla and was driving home when I heard my phone ring... I looked at who it was and it was the doctor's office. I was kind of freaking out, so I answered it and it was his nurse again. She said my levels had gone up again and that my doctor was ready to get the baby out the next day. She had already rescheduled my induction for the next morning! I was kind of in shock and called everyone to let them know that baby Owen would be arriving the next day! That night we scrambled to get everything ready. I put my hospital bag together and got Calla all ready to stay at Tim's parent's house. The next morning we had to get up super early and wait for the call that they were ready for us to come in. We got the call at 6:30 saying that they were ready for us to be there at 7:30! We were freaking out, but we got Calla situated with Grandma and made our way to the hospital. We got there and got all settled into my room. I met my nurse Wendy, who was amazing and got in my gown. Now is about the time that everything kind of just took off! Wendy got my IV started, and my doctor came in, checked me and broke my water. Thankfully Owen was head down! I was still only 3 cm dilated, but his head was pretty low, so that was good. Both my doctor and the nurse said my cervix was really soft, and predicted that I would have him by the afternoon! A little bit after my water was broken, the nurse started my pitocin. I started feeling the contractions, but they were definitely manageable. The nurse kept telling me to get my epidural sooner rather than later, and I was like well I will see how far I can make it. So the contractions start to pick up a bit and it was getting really painful, but still manageable. The nurse came in and was going to up my pitocin, but wanted to make sure I didn't want my epidural first. I said no, but then like a second later I had a monster contraction and said I need it now... The anesthesiologist came in and it was the same one that did the one I had with Calla. He is hilarious and does an amazing job. I have pretty much had two perfect epidurals! Wendy then checked me after the epidural was in and I was only a 4. I was so disappointed that I had only made it to a 4 before I needed an epidural :(, but oh well, because I felt great after that was all done and was just so happy. While we were just waiting for me to dilate, we noticed Owen's heart rate would drop really low during my contractions which really scared me and Tim, but we were assured by the nurse that the doctor said everything looked just fine. Wendy told me to tell her whenever I started to feel pressure, and I said well I never felt that with Calla, but we will see if I do this time. A little bit after she left I started to feel some serious pressure like he was going to come out, so I called her in and she checked me and I was already 10 cm dilated! I went from 4 to 10 cm in 20 minutes! I was so thankful I had gotten that epidural when I did! Thank you Wendy haha! She quickly called my doctor to come down for delivery (their office is in the hospital). When he got there he put the stirrups back down and just put my feet on the side things because it was happening so fast. He started to have me push and they could see him coming pretty quickly! I could feel him coming out, but it didn't hurt. With just 2 sets of pushes Owen was here! I actually watched him come out which was a pretty amazing thing to see. Silly boy was holding onto his own cord as he was coming out! He just wanted to stay with mommy of course :) So Owen was out and just had a little bit of fluid in his lungs, but was just perfect and healthy as can be! Tim got to cut the cord and this time I actually saw him do it! He did great once again! :) Owen Robert Pranger was born on June 21 at 11:22 am weighing 5 lbs 12 oz and was 19 inches long! My doctor finished doing what he needed for me and was all finished! We thanked him and talked about needing to come see him in a week for repeat blood work and then he left to get back to his appointments upstairs, or another women in labor haha! He was awesome and I am so glad he delivered Owen :) I got to hold and nurse Owen and it was just amazing. I was then sent up to recovery with Owen, and let me just say I had the best nurses for this whole experience :) Labor and delivery and recovery were all amazing! Tim, Owen and I got to leave on Saturday, June 23rd and start our lives as a family of 4!

My External Cephalic Version Story!

So everyone should know by now that I had a successful ECV last Wednesday! I decided I would share my experience for anyone that is interested :)

Around 6 a.m. I called Labor and Delivery to make sure they had a room for me to come in. They had plenty of rooms available, which was good because I sure did not want to wait like I had to when I was induced with Calla. When I got there they got me all checked in and I had to put on a hospital gown. The nurse then started my IV, took my blood pressure, and did some blood work. The IV is started and ready just in case they have to do an emergency c-section if there were to be any complications with the baby. This is also why it is done in labor and delivery during a c-section time, so they have an operating room for you just in case. The nurse then asked me all of the fun questions about my medical history and things like that. Once all of that was done, she put on Owen's heart monitor and my contraction monitor and basically had me monitored like this for half an hour to 45 minutes. Around 8 or so, my doctor came in to do an Ultrasound. He came over and started looking and noticed that the Placenta was directly in front of Owen's face and that I had only a moderate amount of fluid. He kept looking and said he didn't think it would work, but that they would try everything they could. He went out and talked with his partner and they both came in and he showed him the ultrasound, where he realized maybe the placenta wasn't quite has high as he thought it was, which was good. So then they gave me a shot of something that was supposed to relax my uterus to prevent contractions during the procedure. Once that was ready, they began! His partner had the Ultrasound going, while my doctor turned Owen. Now at this point, I didn't watch, so I don't know exactly what it looked like, but according to Tim he basically pushed Owen up around his head a butt and put pressure around his head and butt to get him to somersault into the head down position. My doctor said it would hurt and to tell him to stop if I couldn't handle it anymore. I found it to be just really uncomfortable, because I felt like I couldn't breathe very well. At one point, my doctor started to kind of jiggle my belly to get him to get completely head down, which definitely tickled! It was hard not to laugh. The only other thing I felt was kind of nauseated because I could feel his little body just turning and it was such a weird feeling! This whole thing lasted about 1 minute and I looked up and said is he already down?! They looked at the ultrasound and found his heartbeat first, which looked great, and then confirmed his head was indeed down! Everyone in the room was very pleasantly surprised! They said Owen had no problem and wasn't even phased by the whole thing which was a HUGE relief! My doctor then decided to check my cervix to see how dilated I was. I was 3 cm dilated and 25% effaced and he could feel his head and possibly a hand next to his little face, which Owen's hand has since moved of course :) I was then put back on the heart and contraction monitors for about another half an hour to make sure that Owen was not in distress, which he definitely was not, he did perfectly! 

So my doctor sat and talked to us for a little bit and told us what happens next. He said if he will stay head down, then he would like to induce me at 39 weeks. We will be scheduling my induction on Monday assuming he is still head down for either July 3 or 5! The other thing that could happen, is if Owen decides to turn back to breech, than my doctor will have us do another ECV, break my water, and induce me right then and there! I feel pretty confident that he will not turn back, but I guess you never know right! Overall, I had a really great version experience! I was so happy with how it turned out and my doctor was so great with the whole thing! I definitely think I have the best doctor ever :) I sure hope we are still in Utah for the next two babies (which won't be for a few years, don't worry :)), so he can be the one to deliver them! 

Pregnancy/ Owen Update-- Getting Close!

So here I am, about 35 weeks and officially on bed rest. As most of you know, my blood pressure likes to rise significantly at the doctor's office, but be wonderful and perfect at home. Well, last night I took my blood pressure before bed, and it was about 126/88 (my normal at home runs in the 110's/70's). I had also been having some flashes in my eyes and a headache. When I woke up in the morning I took my blood pressure again and it was about 127/96. I went to my non stress test where my blood pressure is typically perfect, but every time it was taken today it was 140's-150's/90's. They measured my fluid and it is still on the low end of the normal range, but definitely not an issue, and Owen passed with flying colors! We also determined he was still breech, which I already knew. After my nst, I went up to my appointment with my OB-GYN. They took my blood pressure and lo and behold it was about 153/95. My doctor was definitely a bit concerned at this point when he saw the reading on the machine. I went ahead and went into the room and he came in and pretty much told me I needed to come back in on Thursday for another nst and a visit with him to see where my blood pressure is at. He said it looks like I will be having the baby around 37 or 38 weeks, if not sooner. Then we talked about the second concern, Owen being breech. We talked to him about the external cephalic version, and he really made us feel comfortable with having it done. We all decided that we should definitely get it scheduled and at least try to turn him. So my ECV is scheduled for a week from this Wednesday (I will be 36 weeks). We are really hoping that this will work, because he checked my cervix today and I am already 1 1/2 cm dilated and 25% thinned out! If this does not work, or we do not make it to 36 weeks due to my blood pressure, than we will just be scheduling a c-section. So for now, we are just trying to get my blood pressure to calm down and get Owen here safely whenever and however that may be!

Pregnancy/ Owen update!

I can't believe I am already 33 weeks! This pregnancy has flown by and it is starting to really hit that Owen is going to be here in just a few short weeks! This pregnancy has been a lot like my last pregnancy with Calla. I have had morning sickness since about week 7 and it has yet to go away. Thank goodness for Zofran! I have also had some awful heartburn like I did before as well. Owen is definitely more active than Calla was during pregnancy. I feel like he is just constantly moving and I love it! These past couple of weeks have been a little bit scary for us and we have been worrying about Owen a lot. At my 31 week appointment my doctor measured my uterus and I was only measuring between 27 and 28 weeks. I have also had some very high blood pressure readings at the office (not at home though!) He was a little bit concerned just because my pressures have been high, so we had to schedule a growth ultrasound and begin non stress tests this week. Well, yesterday Owen passed the non stress test with flying colors and we found out he has a normal amount of fluid surrounding him. Then when they checked his growth, they said he is measuring maybe a couple days smaller than what I am but he is pretty much perfect and on track at approximately 4 lbs 5 ounces! All of this was very reassuring for us, but of course there had to be something else... Little baby Owen is BREECH! :( This was rather disappointing seeing as my doctor was hoping he would turn by 32 weeks. So Dr. Kaelberer told me pretty much what my options are. 1. He says there is a chance that he will turn in the next few weeks. 2. If the ultrasound at my next appointment shows he has not flipped, than he will schedule me to have an external cephalic version between 36 and 37 weeks, which is where he will manually try to turn him from the outside (if that is what we want of course). 3. We will plan for a C-section. I am terrified of having a C-section, but I am also terrified of the risks that are associated with the version. So, my plan for the next two weeks... I think I will try some of the weird natural ways to turn a breech baby! Such as sticking my butt up in the air with my face on the floor :) I also will be having weekly non stress tests until he is born. My next appointment with my doctor is in about a week and a half at 35 weeks and we will see what Owen has decided to do by that appointment! Obviously in the end, Tim and I will chose what is best for Owen :) But I am really praying his will flip on his own!