Amy Scott's Thoughts

First Family Photo

On Tuesday, October 8th, we welcomed Owen Richard into the Scott family. Monday night, Jeremy and I checked into the hospital. The thought was that they would give me some Cytotec to help get my body ready for labor and on Tuesday morning they would induce me. Well, that plan didn’t really pan out… When I arrived at the hospital I was already having regular contractions. They debated if I even needed a dose of the medication, but they still decided to go forward with the plan. However, my water broke around 12:30am and the contractions started coming on strong after that. By 3:30am, I was having an epidural. The pain came on quicker than I expected – thanks to the meds. After the few hours of labor I experienced, I’m not sure how women can do all natural for hours on end. By before 7:00am, my contractions were so intense that our little guy wasn’t doing well with them. Each contraction was cutting off his oxygen supply and his heart rate would drop considerably during each one. At this point, they gave me a shot to stop my labor. The doctor on-call came in and told me because I was only half way dilated, she recommended a c-section. I was nervous and scared, but I knew that this was a possibility from the beginning. My doctor got into the office a little after 8:00am and took over for the on call doctor. My doctor wasn’t as interested in the c-section option. They monitored the baby’s heart rate and once things looked good, they gave me Pitocin.  Once the Pitocin was in my system, I dilated quickly. 45 minutes of pushing was all it took for Owen Richard Scott to enter the world at 12:22pm. He weighed in at 7lbs. 5oz. and was 19 inches long.

Falling in love with this little face!

I don’t want to be one of those people who go into all the gory details of their labor. The labor process was totally different than I expected and I’m still amazed that my body could push out a little human. It’s amazing and strange. Life definitely changed the moment they put our little baby on my chest. It wasn’t an overly emotional experience for me. I think the emotions have settled in over time. One night this week, Jeremy and I were showing each other pictures on our phones and cameras. We were laughing and commenting on how cute Owen is. I felt like a parent. Here we were looking at our baby’s pictures like he was the greatest thing on Earth. I felt the tears coming. Another insistence of emotions sneaking up would be when I was texting my sister. I was commenting on how good things were despite the ups and downs. She responded by saying that God is good and again, I felt the tears. God is so good. We are so blessed.

It hasn’t been an easy journey. In the hospital, we were told that Owen was jaundice. He’s foot was poked each day, but they released him and told us to make a doctor’s appointment for the following day. This lead to a long process of daily doctor’s appointments and blood draws. It’s been hard to see him struggle and honestly, it’s been hard being out of the house every day. Today is the first day since Owen’s arrival that we’ve been home all day and that Owen didn’t have to have his foot pricked. We do have another appointment tomorrow, but I’m hoping that it will be last for a while. Because of the jaundice, Owen also struggled with being too sleepy to eat. His lack of interest in food led to him losing 10% of body weight which is the line for intervention when it comes weight. We’ve had to supplement with formula, but I’m happy to announce that Owen’s weight was up at his last appointment and his appetite has perked up. I’m really hoping for good news tomorrow when they weigh him.

There are so many milestone moments I could continue to blog about – that feeling when we loaded him the car and took him home or seeing Jeremy become a dad. I could write an endless blog about how amazing my husband is. He has been by my side through this whole process. We are truly a team! When Owen wouldn’t stay awake to eat, Jeremy would help me coax him awake. Jeremy has taken countless diaper changes and has snuggled and love on his son in the most adorable ways. Jeremy is a great daddy.

I’ve been so blessed! Jeremy is an amazing father. Our family has been so supportive of us. We’ve been brought meals from friends and our MOPS group every day. It’s been so great to not have to worry about dinner each night. It’s so 1950’s to bring a meal to a family with a new baby and makes me grateful for our community. Even though the hospital experience wasn’t “fun”, I had wonderful nurses and a doctor that made me feel like I could do anything. Overall, I can do nothing but sing praises! God is so good. I look into the face of my son and I don’t know what I did to deserve such an honor. I continue to be blown away by this new season of life and the little life we get to share it with!