Short Description of O's Wild Birth

Hey there, 

We had a wild ride, but as u know Owen is here and is so beautiful. Ash wants to tell u the story  b/c he thinks he can tell it better. I just wanted to let u all know that we are all fine and excited for u
to meet this little heartbreaker.



Ash here,


Alana is one tough cookie.  The love I have for her is unexplainable.
On with the birth story...
Alana's water broke around 12:30 in the afternoon on Friday the 20th.  We met with our midwife the day before and Alana was dilated to 2cm. Alana went into active labor around 5pm Friday and labored at home until 10pm, at which time our midwife came over, checked Alana's progress, finding her dilated to 7.5cm and decided it was time to head to the birth center.  Alana moved through transition (going from 8cm to 10cm) with barely a murmur in under 2 hours.  It was absolutely amazing to watch Alana in all her glory, so focused, strong and determined.  I have never seen her look so beautiful.  Around 12am she started pushing and pushed for almost five hours.  At 1am Owen had made it to +2 station in her birth canal and after that hadn't budged a bit.  The midwives tried every trick in the book to get this little guy out: every sling, birth stool, toilet, position, tub, homeopathic remedy for increasing contraction strength for extra push power...you name it.

At 4:30am our midwife decided it was time to go the hospital as Alana's contractions had slowed and thought some pitoccin and pain meds would maybe help since she had a sore back that was causing her to shake. Once at St. Joseph hospital Alana labored some more from 7am-12:30pm because two OB's said based on her ability to still push powerfully and how close he was to being born, that she could still give vaginal birth a try. Last resort would be to try the vacuum before a Cesarean. I cannot begin to explain the courage and strength I witnessed from Alana, it was absolutely amazing!  At this time the doc attempted to vacuum Owen out and he didn't budge at bit.  He was stuck and not going anywhere.  He had been in the same place he was at 1am even though her pushing had made progress, Owen's head swelling was too much to go further, as well as the way it was tilted in the canal.  The only way out was a c section.  Thank god for the miracles of science and technology.

Alana went in for the c section about an hour later.  I sat at Alana's head during the procedure and it was one of the most traumatic and amazing experiences of my life.  The procedure did not go smoothly as Owen was really stuck or should I say "anchored" into Alana.  Alana had spent the better part of 10hrs trying to push him through a space he was too big for.  I witnessed three docs pulling and prying on Alana and Owen attempting to dislodge from his holdout. 

The urgency in the room become tangible very quickly and I have never been more scared in my life.  Up until the c section Owen had not been in any distress and had maintained a regular strong heartbeat.  But once he had been pulled up and out he needed some help getting started. A doc ended up (we found out later) having to push Owen back up the birth canal through her vagina with their hand, while the other 2 docs pulled him from the other side. The docs and respiratory specialists were god sends, true saints.  I will forever be grateful to them and applaud their dedication to their craft and love for humanity.  After that he's been in great condition with a good set of pipes.  They even gave him a 10 Apgar score at his 5 min analysis. All in all the process was more than 36hrs.

Alana and Owen are so beautiful!!!  This was not the birth plan we thought we were in for but are so pleased with the final result: a
healthy mom and baby. Hopefully we'll be heading home tomorrow afternoon.  Sorry for taking so long to get the news out but I know
you all understand. 

We love you all and are so excited for you to meet our new little man.



P.S. Owen really lived up to his middle name so be careful what you
 name.  Our next one will probably be Slippery Pete or something of
 that nature.