Orean Family

Monday, April 6, 2009

Amarie Grace Orean

Well she is finally here. After a month of labor Corin's water finally broke. At 9:55 PM Friday April 3, 2009 the water broke and the clock began. We called the hospital to see if we should come in, however there was no room in the inn. They told us to wait until morning to check in, unless the contractions got stronger. So Jim, Mary, and Marissa (Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt) came over and spent the night at our house. It was a sleepless night to say the least. Everyone was so excited that I don't think anyone got more than a few hours sleep. We arrived at the hospital around 8 am Saturday morning to find that there were still no rooms available. So we had to wait in a small triage room for a few hours before a bed opened up. The contractoins were very mild and she was only at 2 centimeters dialeted so there was no rush. Once we got into the room the doctors started Corin on Pitocin. This is a drug that helps to increase contractions. Once the Pitocin kicked in labor was intense. I never seen my wife in so much pain. Around 3:00 PM the doctor came in to start the epidural. Around 3:30 PM he finished and the pain subsided. At this point Corin was 3 centimeters dialted so we decided to take a nap. She needed to be at 10 centimeters in order to deliver and the average pregnant woman dilates at 1 centimeter an hour. So we were preparing for a long evening. Well at 5:00 PM we awoke from our nap to find out that Corin was fully dilated at 10 cm. That means she dialted 7 centimeters in an hour and a half. We couldn't believe that she was ready to push, none the less she pushed and out she came. At 5:09 PM Amarie Grace Orean was born. We were so happy. Poor Corin was not feeling so well though. She was ill from the painkillers and antbiotics that she was on. The nurses took the baby to be cleaned and examined while Corin was recovering. I got to hold my daughter for about 20 minutes while Corin recovered. Corin finally got to hold her for a few minutes before they took her to the NICU (that is the neo natal intensive care unit) That was the last Corin got to see her that day. The pediatrician came in to talk to us a little while later to inform us that she thinks our baby has some sort of syndrome. It is still not confirmed but we are pretty sure she has what is called Treacher Collins Syndrome. She tells us that this affects 1 in 10000 babies and it is mostly cosmetic, although hearing loss is often associated with it. Obviously this was hard to hear, espically only having such a short time with her that day. God is good and even though that was hard to hear things are working out well. I will elaborate more on that later. That night was hard, Corin was ill and tired from the medicine and the child birthing and I was an emotional basketcase. Jim, Mary, Marissa, Chris (my mom), Bryon and Anna (close friends) were all amazing and very supportive. I was able to take the grandparents over to see Amarie in the NICU later on that night. It was very hard telling her good night and having to walking away from her. I tear up now even as I write. After a good night sleep Corin and I felt much better. Amarie was able to come to our room later that Sunday afternoon and we got to spend some much deserved time together. The grandparents were absolutely in love with her. Lots of pictures were taken and spirits were much higher. It turns out her hearing is just fine. We had some tests done. Her heart, lungs, and kidneys were all tested and came back fine. So we are on our way home now and can't wait to start our new lives together.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

35 weeks

Still having contractions! She is a determined little thing! I had an OB appointment today. The baby is doing well. I had an ultrasound last week because my belly is still measuring two weeks behind where it should be. She is measuring right on track so I think its just because she is hiding around the side/back...some women have the little basketball..I have the tire :) She was 5 pounds 3 ounces last week! I'm still on bedrest (boring!) and on medicine to stop contractions (though it is only slowing them down, not stopping them. I still have a lot through out the day which is really frustrating...nothing like having pointless labor for a month. I'm thankful that I've been able to keep her cooking for this long but its not fun to have contractions all the time for no reason.) This Tuesday I will be 36 weeks so they are going to take me off of bedrest and off of the medication so we will see what happens!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

33 weeks

I went back to work on Saturday for the first time after the labor Wednesday...well, for about two hours. I had been having random contractions since then (about 10 a day...ouch they hurt!!). But while I was working Saturday I was having about 4-5 contractions an hour. So I told my midwife and she sent me back to l&d to monitor contractions (the nice thing about being at work was that my midwife was right there working on my floor too and I only had to go downstairs to get to triage...makes it easy!) They monitored a couple contractions and then did an ultrasound. She's doing great...active and a good heartbeat...we even got to see on the ultrasound that she has hair (sorry, they didn't give me any pics!) So its bedrest for me until it would be ok to deliver (about another 4 weeks) and medicine to stop contractions. Hopefully I won't go crazy!

32 weeks

Last Wednesday, I went in to labor at 32 weeks. Though I had been having contractions off and on for the last several weeks, they had been irregular up until this point. We had just gotten home from lamaze class when the contractions started coming closer together. Soon they started coming every 4 minutes like clockwork. So we headed back to Kennestone (my home away from home!). The contractions kept coming while I was on the monitor so they gave me two doses of a medication to stop them. That worked so we headed home around 4am. I think when we were taking the tour of labor and delivery during our class that night she thought it was time to come!