Meet the McCulloch's: 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. :)