He is here! And he is happy and healthy!! I am so proud and excited to announce the birth of my first son, Owen! He was born on February 23rd at 37 weeks gestation.  Him and I are both doing great!

Owen is such a sweet little boy! He is probably the chillest baby I have ever met! He rarely cries and when he does, it is usually because he has a burp or spit up that is brewing and hurting his little tummy.  He absolutely hates bath time and lets us know it! 🛁 He loves cuddles with his mama and could sleep on my chest all day! In fact, he has been such a champ when it comes to eating and sleeping.  He was born a tad early, arriving at 37 weeks via csection due to me having a uterine window.  It is pretty normal for a 37-weeker to take on some characteristics of a premature baby.  One of those characteristics is that they will sleep A TON! Newborns in general sleep a lot, but Owen REALLY sleeps a lot! At first, it made breastfeeding a bit challenging.  When it comes between sleeping and eating, he always prioritizes sleep first.  I would really have to make him uncomfortable in order to wake him up long enough to get some breast milk into his tiny, little tummy.  He would sleep in well over the 2-3 hour feeding marks if I didn’t wake him up and coax him into eating.  Now that he is two weeks older, he has really gotten a better handle on breastfeeding and at waking himself up to feed.

While in the hospital he lost 8 ounces of weight, which is very normal.  The goal for newborns is to have them back up or over their birth weight by the time they are two weeks old.  Yesterday, Owen had his two-week well child checkup with his pediatrician and I was so happy when they weighed him and he had put on 12 ounces, bringing him back up to his birth weight, +4 ounces.  His Doctor said he is looking great and that we have a very healthy little boy! Doesn’t get much better than this!

As far as me, my csection went great… with no issues and I am healing well.  This is my fourth csection and perhaps the best recovery I have had yet! When I delivered Roselyn back in 2018, I had minor issues with my surgery.  There were parts of the csection where I felt intense pain as they stretched my abdomen and pulled Roselyn out.  I was walking into this csection with a little bit of worry.  I was afraid I would feel the same pain I had felt prior with Roselyn’s birth.  I voiced my previous experience with the Anesthesiologist.  Not sure what she did, but I felt nothing during the entire surgery!

I am so happy that Owen is here! All of the fear and worries are behind me and I now have a healthy baby boy in my arms! I feel like my heart could just burst from the happiness! It feels so weird having my family complete (or as complete as it ever will be without Emilia here.) Owen is my last baby… this brings about so many emotions.  So bittersweet! While I am soaking in all of these precious moments, I am also mourning what has and what will be all of my lasts… last ultrasound, last baby kicks, last maternal hospital stay… last newborn stage, last first smile, last first steps.  There is a sadness in the complete awareness of knowing I am entering a new chapter, a new stage in my life.  As Owen grows throughout this next year, I also will being saying goodbye to my youth.  Life goes too fast and time slips threw your fingers.  I’m making sure to embrace these moments in the present.  In a time that seems ages away – but in all honesty will creep up on me -Adelaide, Roselyn, And Owen will all grow up and leave my nest.  These current moments will then be nothing but cherished memories.  I’m making sure right now to live in the moment before the moments are gone.

For those struggling with pregnancy and infant loss and/or infertility – I hope this post gives you hope.  Pregnancy became a terrifying journey for me after my second child, my daughter Emilia, was born asleep at 33 weeks gestation.  I learned then, in the most cruelest way, that nothing in life is guaranteed.  A miscarriage four years later, combined with an 18 month infertility struggle compounded the grief.  If you are longing for the child you lost or for the one that has yet to come, know that you are never alone! Reach out to me – to Emilia’s Wings – so you don’t have to walk this lonely journey alone.  There is no stronger individual than the one that continues to carry that hurt with them day after day.  Know that I am always here to walk beside you to help carry your burdens.