Van Owen Johnson

This is long overdue as our little man is already 3 months old (YIKES!) but I wanted to make sure I took the time to share the story of how our sweet baby boy joined our family. Van Owen Johnson joined the world on October 6, 2010 at 2:01p, weighing in at 7lbs 14oz and 20 inches long. He was and continues to be absolutely perfect!

And here goes the story.....I was actually scheduled to be induced on October 6th but due to the way things were progressing my doctor thought our little one would make their much anticipated arrival before then. By the time October 5th rolled around (my due date) I was having pretty consistent (and painful!) contractions every 6-10 minutes. We had learned in our birthing class that you shouldn't go to the hospital until the contractions are every 5 minutes. So I spent the day trying to find any way I could to relieve the pain and anxiously waiting for them to hit that 5 minute mark. By the time Peter came home from work they were about 6-7 minutes apart and we were beginning to wonder if we would be heading to the hospital before 6a, which was when we were scheduled to go in for the induction. I had kind of secretly hoped for the "rushing to the hospital" moment and it looked like I might get it! We tried to go to bed around 10p but I found myself getting out of bed every 6 minutes or so when I would have a contraction. I soon realized that the sleepless nights had begun, there was no way I was getting any sleep that night! At around midnight we started wondering if we should just go to the hospital then, though the contractions were still about 6 minutes apart and I was convinced we couldn't go until they were 5 minutes apart, for fear we would be sent home. Finally, Peter took matters into his own hands and called the on call doctor, told him what was happening and got the okay from him to head in now. So around 1am we grabbed our things and headed out the door. It all happened so fast that I never really had a moment to take in the fact that when we returned we would be a family of three, bringing home our little boy or girl!

When we drove up to the hospital we realized we had no clue where we were supposed to go(smart, I know). We spent a good 20 minutes driving around the different parking lots trying to find an unlocked entrance, all the while I was having contractions! It wasn't fun, though I can definitely laugh about it now. Once we were able to get into the hospital and our room a nurse came and set us up and started monitoring my contractions. She told me they actually weren't that strong (totally demoralizing) but that since I was being induced we could stay. I spent the entire night walking around trying to find any way to ease the pain. The thought of asking to be checked or seeing if/when I could get my epidural (which I knew I wanted, I'm no wonder woman) never entered my mind. I just assumed they would tell me when I could get the good stuff and until then I had to manage the pain on my own. It was not a fun night, to say the least.

Around 6a a nurse came in and induced me, by starting the pitocin. For the next 4 hours I continued to have contractions and they only increased in pain, oh the joys of labor! At around 10a my doctor (who I LOVE) came in to break my water and check me. When she checked me we discovered that I was already 7 centimeters dilated and she did not seem too happy that up to that point none of the nurses had checked me. The only words I could muster out at that point were "can I have my epidural now?", to which she responded with an emphatic, yes! Turns out I could have had the epidural probably hours earlier...oh well, live and learn! She was great at getting the anesthesiologist in there right away. My parents hadn't yet arrived, but Peter called them to let them know things were moving pretty quickly and they got there just a short while after. After I got the epidural I was feeling pretty wonderful, was able to enjoy a delicious grape popsicle and relax a little before the real fun started. I got my epidural around 10:30a and at about 12:3op the nurse checked me and said I was ready to start pushing. It was at this moment that I realized we'd be finding out who this baby was very soon, up to this point I'd either been too distracted by pain or too blissfully happy with drugs to think about this!

After what felt like a very LONG hour and half of pushing (thought I know that's not that long...) I heard Peter yell out "it's a boy!" and there was a moment where it felt like all time stopped and I saw the most beautiful little person I have ever seen, my son!! Side note here, Peter actually decided to announce that the baby was a boy when he had just seen Van's face, before he saw the true proof of this, so he's pretty lucky he was actually right! After Van was born they laid him on my chest and for the next hour I was able to listen to the most wonderful sound ever, my baby boy's cry. That was definitely the most amazing hour of my life. You wait months and months to meet this little being and it is such a surreal feeling when you actually do finally meet. Words cannot adequately describe the experience.

So that's the story of Mr. Van Owen. Since then we have been enjoying every single moment with our perfect little man.