Owen's Surprise Arrival!

Owen surprised all of us on Wednesday by arriving early. Just 27 weeks and 0 days gestational age (original due date of 4/21/2010), he arrived via emergency cesarean on January 20th, 2010 at 6:20pm weighing in at a teeny tiny size of 2 pounds, 10 ounces and 14 1/2 inches long.


I'm going to write his full birth story soon, but in the meantime here is an update:


Last night he was taken off of the heavy duty ventilator and began wearing an oxygen mask (they compared it to the type of mask people with sleep apnea wear to sleep). He had a few 'spells' last night where he kind of 'forgot' that he was supposed to breath (he's only 27 weeks old, after all and this wasn't part of the job description yet!) but the nurses simply rubbed on his back to stimulate him. The key, they say, is to piss him off and it reminds him that he's not in mommy's belly anymore and there's work to be done! He hasn't had any 'spells' since early this morning, which is a great sign. They're also removing some of the lines that are run into his belly button (they do this instead of running an IV so they have quick access to veins for blood draws, etc). This means that hopefully this afternoon we will be able to hold him for the first time!!!!!! Overall we're ecstatic with how well our little guy is doing.


Look for daily updates to this blog starting today. I'll be posting health updates as well as photos and videos of Owen so we can all watch him grow!!


We'll post the full birth story soon - in the meantime, THANK YOU for all of the support and love you have shown. The outpouring of support we have felt from our family and friends have really helped make this crazy experience a little less daunting.


Finally, please feel free to share the URL of our blog with anyone that is interested in following Owen's growth.

Owen is 3 days old today.