The Bowens: Baylee Kate

Okay...I want you to know that I did start this post over a month ago. Then the computer froze and deleted over half of what I had written, so I gave up. :) But, now I am back. I'm sure I won't be posting as often as I did before. But I still want to be sure and get a few things "put on paper" so that I can show them to Baylee when she gets older. So, here it goes!

On October 23rd, God changed our lives forever for the better! Baylee Kate Bowen was born at 7:34 am, weighing 6 lbs. 14 oz. and 19.5" long...blue eyes and a head full of dark hair. I will try to give you the quick version of the events that day.

On Saturday (my actual due date), I had been having a lot of false labor contractions all day and just kinda felt yucky. I woke up a little after midnight with contractions that felt different. So, I decided I better pay attention and time them, just in case this was the real thing. At that point, Seth rolled over and I told him they were about 30 minutes apart. But that quickly turned into 20 mintues, then 15 mintues. When I told Seth they were 15 minutes apart, he was WIDE awake immediately! He decided to hop in the shower while we waited for the contractions to be close enough together to head to the hospital. Before he even got out of the shower, I was dressed and waiting on the side of bed...I knew we would be getting in the car soon. While Seth was in the shower the contractions went from 10 minutes apart, to 8, to 7, to 5 minutes apart!! In that short amount of time!!

My doctor told me to go to the hospital once my contractions were 5 minutes apart for an hour. I was able to wait for maybe 40 minutes when I told Seth we better get to the hospital NOW. It was about 2 am. The contractions were getting stronger every time.

I was breathing pretty heavy through the contractions as we headed to the hospital, but I was still able to handle the pain. Seth asked me if he needed to be running lights...I told him no, I wasn't doing that bad yet. We got to the hospital and walked up to the L&D area to get checked in. We were asked to have a seat and the nurse would be right there to get us. As soon as we sat down, WOW! The pain hit big! The contractions were maybe 3 or 4 minutes apart. I was gripping Seth's pants leg with a death grip to keep from screaming. We waited for 10 minutes, but it felt like an eternity! The lady at the desk realized that I was in REAL pain and told the nurse they needed to hurry. We were finally checked into a room and hooked up to everything at 2:30 am. Seth called our parents at this point and simply said, "It's go time!"

When they first checked me I was at 6 cm. At this point, I was ready for my epidural. However, who knew you had to fill out a TON of paperwork before you could even request the epidural...then you have to wait on the doctor to get there to administer it. Seriously!! Can't this paperwork be done BEFORE you get to the hospital! This was the one part of the experience that Seth was unhappy with. He could tell I was in pain, but nothing could be done about it until they asked a million and one questions. During this questioning process, one nurse kept telling me that plenty of women deliver without drugs just fine...so if I didn't get the epidural in time, I could do it. Since she kept saying this (in an encouraging, you can do it, sort of way), Seth was convinced that I was not going to get the epidural in time.

I lost all track of time, so I have no idea how long it had been when I finally DID get my epidural. My guess is that it was about 4 am when I got it. However, it only seemed to help the pain on one side of my body. I was still in a LOT of pain on my left side. After another hour of breathing through contractions that I shouldn't have been feeling, they decided to roll me on my side. Almost instantly the medicine seemed to kick in on that side! Sweet, sweet relief! I was in such a good mood after that...just ask Seth. I was a completely different person. :)

Before we knew it, I was at 9 cm, then 9 1/2. The last 1/2 cm is what took the longest. At about 6:30 am, it was time to start pushing. I pushed for about an hour....Baylee was born at 7:34 am! Five short hours after we arrived! We had a healthy, beautiful baby girl! (She did have the cord wrapped around her neck THREE times, but, amazingly, she seemed to be okay.)

The next few days are a blur. We had visitors, we ate a little, we slept a tad...that's about all I remember. But those were some of the best few days of my life!!

Here are a few pictures of Baylee Kate's first few days of life. I'll update more soon. Since she's already almost THREE months old, we have plenty to tell!