Owen David King

Owen is a week and a half today. Life is good and full with him in our home and I am stealing these moments to reflect on his birth while he is sleeping on his Daddy's chest before the memories begin to fade. I could sit here and write a blow-by-blow of May 8th, the day which both Josh and I agree is the best day of our lives, but I feel it too mechanical when there was more to Owen's birth for me than simply how long it took me to get to 10 centimeters and how long I pushed. So instead, I offer a few threads of emotion that enveloped that crazy wonderful day.

GRATITUDE:

The first thing that comes to my mind is gratitude. As many of you know, Owen is a miracle. I know, I know, every child is a miracle. But his very existence is a blessing to us as God graciously healed my body and enabled me to get pregnant. He is the fulfillment of our heart's desire and we chose to reflect that in the meaning of his name "Beloved and Desire Born." I remember a moment as I gazed out the window, focused on breathing through contractions, where my eyes filled with tears as I realized how the Lord was continuing to fulfill all of my hearts desires even up to the moment he arrived. My pregnancy had been a dream, my labor was progressing with ease, I didn't experience any back labor, I was surrounded through the whole labor process by my loved ones, Owen came early enough that the threat of my Dad and best friend Heidi missing his birth would not be an issue, and in the end I achieved my goal of going through labor natural. All of these things were reasons for me to be grateful.


Naturally one must update Facebook during labor... and the view out our window that got me through the first stage of labor.

Labor Progress

JOY:
Joy is another emotion that most people experience the day a child is born. When thinking about labor in the days and weeks before my impending due date, if you had asked me if I thought joy and laughter would have been a part of my labor experience I probably would have responded by saying that joy would be at the beginning and end of the process but not in the middle. I was wrong. I remember joking and laughing at things Josh would say, cracking up as he played a cruel joke and took his "bundle of joy" (a wadded up sheet) out to expectant family in the hall, or playful teasing my sister-in-laws as they saw me in all my shining glory. That joy lasted till the final hour of transitional labor (i.e. once I reached 9 cms) but returned an hour and 14 minutes later when I held Owen in my arms for the first time.




Determination

I would be lying if I said that my labor was all smiles and gratitude. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It's not that labor was so painful that I couldn't bear it, or that I got to a point where I decided I truly was crazy for not wanting an epidural. It was more the challenge of maintaining that mental determination and resolve to see the process through to the end coupled with the physical discomfort that was the hardest. Before my labor I found this verse in Isaiah 50 which says: "Therefore, I have set my face like a stone determined to do His will." It was this verse that carried me through those tough moments for I had set my mind to the task at hand in order to successfully move beyond the physical discomfort I experienced. It was not easy. I remember looking over at my Mom and saying " I don't like this part" as the nurse continued to tell me that I needed to fight the urge to push by simply blowing through the contraction with shallow breaths in order to allow my body the time to fully dilate from 9 cm to 10 cms. In the moment it sucked, it was uncomfortable and I wanted it to be over with but I also knew that if I could just hold on he was coming. And he did. Owen David King was born May 8th, 2010 at 1:57 p.m. weighing in at 7lbs 8 oz and 21 inches long. My little man was finally here. My determination had paid off and I had everything I wanted and more.