Owen's Birth Story

We are sooo happy to welcome Owen Ganes McCulloch to the world and especially to our family! He was born Friday, August 13th at 3:01 pm in Albuquerque, NM at the Presbyterian Hospital. He was 6 pounds 3 ounces and 19 inches long. We are already so smitten and in love with him! Here is a shot of the baby announcements I made and sent out to close family and a couple friends:

The labor actually started early Friday morning (maybe around 3 or 4 am, but I finally got out of bed around 5:00 am). Unfortunately, the labor pains were TERRIBLE and all in my back again! They were honestly so much worse than my early labor with Emma. My pain was at the highest level I ever got with Emma (towards the end of labor) but from the very begining.. I had the contractions radiating down my thighs from my back and major nausea (vomitting and diarrhea!) from the begining. I was ready to be done with the pain as soon as it started!! I ate breakfast (which I soon threw up), said some prayers and then woke up John and my mom. As soon as they were ready we let Bob and Amy know we were heading out. John and Bob gave me a priesthood blessing before we left. I'm very glad they were here. It was so nice that Emma could just sleep in and spend the day at home with her cousins. Thanks Bob and Amy!

Unfortunately when the triage nurse checked me I was almost completely effaced but only about 3cm, so I had to go walk for two hours. Those were a tough couple of hours! We went down to the first floor of the hospital where I managed to get through the contractions by leaning over things and John putting counter-pressure on by back. I did throw up a couple more times and of course told John we were not going to have any more kids! I did not want to go through this again! (He laughed and said we will talk about that another time). I did decide though that I wanted an epidural.

By the time we got back to Triage I was dialated to 5 cm so I was admitted. I asked for the epidural right away and I got one about two hours later. I'm not sure if the pain was actually letting up or I was getting used to it, but the contractions seemed bearable right before the epidral, but I went for it anyways. I'm glad! I was only completly numb on the left side, which was good to me because I liked to still feel what was going on. They checked me right after the epidural and I was dialated to 8 cm and the doctor, Bruno Caridi (who was really great by the way), broke my water (no Meconium, yay!!) By this time I was feeling really great and happy! The stress from the pain was gone and I was able to lay there and get excited to have a baby! I was laughing and talking and relaxed.. I was NONE of those things during the last two hours of labor with Emma, without the epidural!

I really decided that Owen was waiting for his uncles to come into town to be born (especially being named after Ganes!) Since Ganes and Max arrived in Albuquerque that day he was ready to come. After I had the epidural and was happy they came up to hang out... and Max took a nap! haha! Amy also came up. We were almost done!

The epidural was wearing off a little (though my left leg was pretty floppy) but I was ablt to feel when I was ready to push. The nurse had me do a couple of "practice" pushes while she was getting the doctor. When he came back in I was really ready to push. The doctor and nurses gave really good instructions (which I didn't seem to get with Emma) and he was born in three good pushes! It was awesome! I was so happy I was laughing!

I love this next part! Right after he was born they placed him on my belly while they cleaned him a little and John cut the cord. Then I was able to hold him and hug him and get him to nurse. He actually latched on and nursed really well from both sides! It was awesome! I was able to hold him and nurse him for about an hour! The hardest part was getting untagled from the epidural tubes!

The sweet little guy had his first huge bowl movement on my tummy. Thanks owen! That was a mess! I think he may have lost an ounce from the BM so he was probably Emma's exact weight. 6.4 instead of 6.3

Look at all that soft hair!



The proud papa!

The glowing grandma!

I had the boys (execpt John of course) step out while he was actually delivered and I was nursing. Amy stayed for everything and I remember her saying..something like, "Oh, that's how it's supposed to go!" because it was such a smooth and great delivery..

Ganes and Max got to love on Owen for a little bit then went up to the Rhien reunion in Farmington.

We had our room full of visitors four hours after he was born! Bob and Amy came with all the kids. Emma wasn't too sure about him. She wanted to sit on my lap for a while and check him out, but then decided she needed to see what Robby and Madison were up to.. She is a great big sister though!

We didn't think we would see Nancy or Kenny for at least a week because Nancy JUST had a double hip replacement.. but they snuck out of Phoenix and were able to meet Owen just four hours after he was born. :)

He had his first bath six hours after he was born and I went to watch and take pictures.
He loved this part.

I thought it was really funny that the nurse parted his hair.. it just made me notice his cowlicks more! So cute!
We love you son!

Baby Hungry...

I have to admit that I was getting a little impatient for our son to be born! I felt a lot of pressure to have him.. John's family had a family reunion in Farmington the 13th and 14th that we wanted to go to.. my mom came to town to be there for the birth.. and had been there for a few days.. still no labor.. and of course Emma came 10 days early so I guess I just thought he'd come a little early too.. I did start to worry a little that he may be getting big too. I had my membranes stripped twice and had lost my plug.. surely I should be in labor by now!!!! Finally when I got to my due date I started to calm down and not worry so much or feel so much pressure to have him. I felt like I had to apologize to people.. how dumb is that?!! Now that he is safely here I am so glad he came when he did.. when he was ready.

Here's a little breakdown of what we did for the last few days while waiting.. and waiting..

Emma had her first experience with stamps! The ink on her eye was there in litteraly the first three seconds of her touching the stamps before I could even lay out the ground rules.. haha..

On Sunday, August 8th (three days before my due date) John, Emma and I went on a beautiful, and quite vigorous two hour hike up the Sandias. This was one of my impatient days (after going to church and hearing everyone exclaim..'You're still pregnant!!') I decided I would hike the baby out.. I had lots of great contractions, that went away on the car ride home.. haha

She is a great hiker.. she was so cute carrying all her treasures (rocks and sticks) around. We love you Emm J!!

John is a wonderful father to Emma. She is a very lucky girl..

My mom got to Albuquerque EARLY Sunday morning after driving all night! Thanks Mom! We were thinking that I would go into labor really soon since I had lost my plug on Saturday and my mom really didn't want to miss it.. I was feeling bad for a few days that she was here but no baby yet.. but I really am sooo very glad that she had those few days to spend time with me and with Emma Jane! Emma doesn't see her enough to remember her and know who she is so we remedied that this week. Now Emma knows who her grandma is and loves her well! It was a lot of fun having her here and she was so helpful around the house and with Emma. We went to an Isotopes baseball game Monday night. We tried letting her play on the grass and the attractions instead of sitting in the seats. She got about 10 free rides on this merry go round. She LOVED it!
My mom also pushed her on the swing to her heart's content!Also, Even though for the past six months I had been certain there was no way I would be able to make my dinner group for August because it fell on my due date.. I sure was still pregnant, so I made some yummy asian lettuce wraps and my mom and I headed over to Sarah's for dinner. (which was pretty funny because at first we were the only ones there and were all eating totally seperate things because it was me- with my lettuce wraps, and my mom, Sarah, the host and Terry and those three are all doing the HCG diet so brought their own special food)..
My mom and I also did some shopping, including getting a cute blessing tux for the baby, and walking.. and we even tried a new recipe and made some batches of homemade laundry soap. It was a fun week!

Bob and Amy got to Albuqueruqe really late Wednesday night. It was a lot of fun to see them and hang out with them!! I've been missing them a ton and Emma doesn't know Madison and Robby at all. They played GREAT together! It was a lot of fun!

And they brought their dog!! Which was a special treat for Emma.. she LOVES dogs.. any animals actually. Truman wasn't as excited about the dog.. he hung out inside for a few days.. :)

It was sooo awesome to have them here when I FINALLY went into labor early Friday morning. We had some great places lined up for Emma to go when it was "time" but it was really so nice to just leave her at home with her stuff and her cousins and uncle there... my mom and Amy came to the hospital with us and saw the big event.. the arrival of Owen Ganes McCulloch!

Just Call Me Martha

I've been working on some last minute projects the last few days besides the diaper bags.. this baby is going to be set! I'm now going to do a lot of cleaning and hiking.. if he still doesn't come I have one more blanket I want to make.. :)

I love love this animal print.. and thought it needed a satin ribbon binding..
A burp cloth made out of a cloth diaper.. (I love this flannel I originally bought two years ago for a blanket for Robby.. I wish I had a lot more of it because I can't find it in any stores now)

I LOVE this socky monkey and banana flannel. I made this blanket a lot bigger... was planning on doing a brown blanket stitch around the edges.. but got sick of un-tying knots in the embroiderary thread... maybe I'll add some to the matching burp cloths..

Here are the burp cloths.. Each one is two sided with the bananas and the monkeys.. Love it!!

Ready... Set... GO!!

I just finished diaper bag number two! Don't you love it? And all the space? You can make yours following these instructions.

So, I am packed and ready to go to the hospital... anytime now... Come on baby brother, don't you want a new place to sleep? Perhaps somewhere with a lot more room?

Diaper Bag, Number One

I made this today! Found this awesome tutorial to help me..
Look at all the spacious room and custom pockets!

Too bad I don't have a new baby yet!!

Pregnant in July

As stated earlier we decided to miss this year's McCulloch reunion to stay close to home since we were one month away from the due date. We sure have been busy though! We've been doing a lot of nesting.. John and I both! Emma on the other hand has picked up a new habit of throwing things.. food, papers, books, clothes, toys, fits.. I really wish she would stop.. maybe next year..

It has been a HOT summer for me. I really don't like sweating this much! But honestly I'm not a crabby person normally and I'm not a crabby pregnant person either... though I have met those.. I really do feel pretty good most of the days and know I could go on and on about the woa's of pregnancy in July- but actually I'm doing pretty good most days. I am soo grateful that the second week of July John put this baby up in our bedroom: A night-saver to say the least!!

However, the following weekend, our only two years old, deep soaking and pretty bathtub managed to crack (it was acrylic and installed poorly.. over styrofoam.. over a jack-hammered hole in the foundation (WHAT!?!)... so we/John tore it all out and I ordered a new one... it's in the garage in the box and we still have a hole in our floor.. so, does anyone know how to properly install a bathtub? We're hoping to learn SOON...

John successfully just completed another summer school class. So he now has more time to work on the bathtub.. but really just wants me to go into labor! (He gets 2 weeks paid paternity leave..) I don't blame him.. Work is the LAST place I've been wanting to go for about a month and a half. (By the way... John only has 4 more classes until he graduates and then it's off to grad school!)

Emma started having some sad seperation anxiety, which made me more emotional and stressed and tired.. She's doing a little better now though. I am only scheduled to work four hours this Wednesday.. I sure hope I don't make it!
Here I am at 36 1/2 weeks pregnant (taken July 18th).. almost term! I now have one of those bellies that always made my jaw drop at how big and far it sticks out..

One of my great friends Jennifer Radcliffe threw me a baby shower on July 24th. It was a lot of fun and turned out great!! I have some great friends at church and wonderful family members. (Nancy was planning on coming, but has to have one of her hips replaced on the 4th in Phoenix, so she really needed to rest and get a lot of things done in Farmington that day to get ready for the surgery.) We got lots of great things and had a fun time! Thanks everyone soo much!!

I loved the cake! Jessica Shaw and her kids made it. :)

We had friends and family write letters to the baby (and we decided to do it for Emma too) to be opened and read at different birthdays throughout their lives.. ages 1-20.. I love it!!

Jenn and I (later that day at a baptism..)
Here's some other things we've been up to this month..

Trying new recipes (grilled zucchini roll):

and using lots of favorite old recipes.. I just may be addicted to bruschetta...especially with fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden! Heaven!!

Long Sunday drives to the Sandia Crest, through a cloud! Lot's of Wheel of Time reading on our drives..

Burying Emma Jane in the sandbox

Swimming.. and unfortunately getting sunburned..

Hanging out with Megan for a few minutes here in Albuqueruqe!

Going to the aquarium with Johnathan, Darien and Annie

Practice being a big sister (with a little help from Heath and Berke Tew)


A little pregnancy update: I haven't had any other anatomy ultrasounds so I don't know if the echogenic cardic focus is still there on the baby's heart or if it will affect anything.. hope not..

Emma sweetly gave my belly a big hug the other day and said "My Baby Brutter" .. and she has been pointing out things around the house that are for him and talking about baby brutter! Yay! She will still go through a little shock though I'm sure..

Here I am at 38 1/2 weeks.. I am ten days away from my due date.. I have not been too anxious to have the baby yet (I've had too many cleaning and organizing and crafting projects to do!!!).. but I am defenitly getting there now. I think it's because Emma came ten days early.. so I should get that again, right? He has dropped and I've been having contractions like crazy but on Friday early morning I was only dialated to 1 cm and 50% effaced. When he's ready he'll come.. but I do hope it's closer to today then August 11th..