Archive for August, 2006

The first round of pictures has been posted.

Owen Seamus Barry was born August 27, 2006 at 11:08 pm. He had a head full of hair, weighed 6 lbs, 8 oz and was 19.5 inches long. For being a month early, that’s a great weight.

Amy pushed for a little over 3 hours before delivering. For a while there, we thought she was going to have to get a c-section, but at the last minute, it seemed the impossible happened: Owen crowned. His face was turned sideways, which made the whole process very difficult for both him and Amy. As a result, his head was a little boxy, but that will go down after a few days.

I can’t explain how I feel right now. It feels like my heart has swelled past the rest of my body. It feels like since we’ve been talking about him for so long that I’ve known him forever, but then I’m surprised when I look over and see my son. Wow, my son… I’ll have to get used to that.

He’s sleeping right now. Be prepared, lots of picture are coming.

She’ll start pushing in about 30-45 minutes. The average pushing time for a first baby is about two hours.

Just hours before her baby shower, Amy started feeling pretty strange. We came to the doctor, and it turns out she had ruptured. The doctor broke her water and started her on medication to make her contract. That’s ironic, because just this morning, she was taking medication to keep her from contracting. She started having contractions quickly, minutes after each other, so she went ahead and asked for the epidural. About ten minutes ago she had the epidural, and now she’s feeling no pain.

Looks like we’ll have a baby in a few hours!

In a strange turn of events, the doctor came in this morning and said that there’s really no need to keep Amy at the hospital while she’s being as stable as she has been. So, before he could change his mind, we packed up and came home. Amy’s still on bedrest, but at least it’s in her own bed. She’s also still on her medication to keep her from contracting, so hopefully we’ll have a few days of rest before Owen starts to act up again!

It’s been a while since the last post. That’s because not much has changed. That’s a good thing. The longer Owen stays inside, the better. Amy seems to have defied the odds keeping as stable as she is. Yesterday, however, was a little different. It was definitely the most active day we’ve seen as far as contractions. She had several, only two of which they caught on the health monitor. It doesn’t look like we’re going home for a while, at least until she gets to 35 weeks.

On another note, I now have internet access via a cell phone card. This is my first experience using one, and so far it’s alright. It’s fast enough to get my work done, but it’s slow enough to notice.

If you’d like to send a note to Amy, you can email her at amy@moonlantern.com.

This is Amy’s 5th day in the hospital. Up until now, the doctors have said that there’s really no chance of Amy going home until she delivers. But this morning, we got some different news. Because Amy is responding so well to the medication that keeps her from contracting, they may let her go home sometime next week. She’ll be on bedrest, just like now, but at least it will be at home. Amy’s primary doctor gets back on Saturday, so we’ll know more then.

The doctors swapped Amy from an IV to an oral medication last night at 6 pm. So far, it seems to be working just like the IV med, but without the cumbersome IV tree following Amy all the time. Amy is feeling well. She’s had a few minor contractions throughout last night and one today, but they’ve all been very minor and completely isolated. When they start coming in waves, then the baby’s coming.

Sorry to keep everybody waiting. The hospital doesn’t have an internet connection, so I had to visit the office to do an update.

So here’s the story so far. Amy went into labor almost 7 weeks early. She didn’t really have any strong labor pains, just a really sore stomach. When the doctors checked her out, she was already at 5 cm. Since she was so early, they gave her some meds to stop the delivery and started her on some steroid shots to help the baby’s respitory system mature a little faster. Amy is stable, but in a sort of labor limbo.

We got to speak to Amy’s primary doctor last night. The ideal situation is for Amy not to deliver until 36 weeks (Aug 27). The critical period is until tonight at 6 pm, at which time the doctors will hopefully switch Amy from an IV to an oral medication. Whenever she does deliver, the baby will probably be in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) until that 36 week date.

So now it’s just a waiting game. Amy feels good right now. Hopefully, Owen will stay in a while longer.

I just talked with Amy and she’s still doing fine, holding steady at 5cm. I’m in Cincinnati now, about to board for a flight to Birmingham, which lands at 8:38 am. It looks like I might make the delivery!