Poppy Baby

Some of Owen's nicknames include, but are not limited to:

• Poppy baby: This is the nickname that was lovingly given to him by his adorable 3 and 1/2 year old cousin, Austin. Why, you ask? Well, because Owen popped out of my tummy, of course!

• B.O.B. or Pepper: These were nicknames for our two embryos. B.O.B. was short for blast-o-baby, for when the embryo was in a blastocyst form during the IVF cycle and Pepper because the embryo was the size of a pepper flake.

• Voltron: When we found out we only had one fetus and not two, I asked Miles which one he thought had survived - B.O.B. or Pepper and what we should call it now. He said, "I think they fused together to form VOLTRON!" This was Owen's name until birth.
  
  
• Snow Baby: It snowed the morning Owen was born, so I called him "my little snow baby."
  
  
• Bubba, Bub, Bubs, Buddy, Bud: Miles initiated these nicknames while we were in the hospital. I quickly picked up on them as well.
  
  
• Squeaker: Owen has squeeked since the day he was born. From the time he was only a few hours old, Owen has made these gasping noises that sound like he can't breathe. They used to frighten me, but the doctor assured us they are normal and there is nothing to be concerned about. Now I don't even flinch when he gasps or squeeks and I think they are adorable. He has become our Squeeker because of these noises that he frequently makes while eating, playing, or sleeping. (I tried adding a sound clip for your listening pleasure, but it didn't work.) :(
  

• Sweet Pea, Pea Pod and Burritto: Names I gave him. Maybe it's cause he looks like a little pea pod when he's swaddled in his green swaddler...or a burritto in a straight jacket. :)

This is only the beginning, and I am sure there will be more nicknames to come!

You Can't Hide Those Tired Eyes

Really, I think the song is, "You can't hide those lyin eyes," but for my purpose...it's TIRED eyes. I had no idea how exhausted I would be after having a baby. People talk about sleepless nights and multiple feedings in the middle of the night, but until you've experienced it, there's nothing like it. Think you can handle it cause you've stayed up all night long on a few occassions? Think it's no problem cause you're a night owl? Think you can just catch up on your sleep while the baby is napping? Well, you'd be WRONG. Nothing compares to those first weeks of being a new Mom. And I can't even complain as much since I had a fabulous Mom and sister helping me out the first few weeks by sleeping in the same room as Owen at night so I could get my rest and they would wake me when he really needed to be fed and wasn't just mildly fussy or making his squeeky noises! (Again...thank you Mom and Kim!) But I think these pictures demonstrate that you just can't hide those tired eyes.

....Oh wait! Maybe I just needed some makeup!

3 years in the Making...

Well, it's taken three years for me to finally get my act together and do an actual blog post. And maybe the inspiration is due to our new little blessing who was also three years in the making...Owen Kyle Wright, born on April 30, 2010. That's right! Three years. I know most of you think babies are made and come into this world in a much timelier fashion of only 9 months gestation, give or take a few months for conception. But our little guy didn't get his spirit sent to us for quite a while (to no fault of his own).

Miles and I had been trying to get pregnant for about a year when we did some testing and found out that we only had a 3% chance of conceiving on our own. So...with the help of kind parents (thank you Mom and Dad) and amazing medical technology (thank you Reproductive Care Center), we proceeded with the In Vitro Fertilization process. It only took one outpatient surgery, 10 blood draws, 60 syringes of medication injected into my hips and stomach, 14 eggs extracted, 7 fertilized embryos, one assisted hatching, one implantation of two embryos, 1,000 prayers, a lot of money and voilà ! A baby is created! (Bet they didn't teach you that's how a baby is made in YOUR maturation class) 39 weeks later, Owen came into our lives. And boy are we glad! We would do it all over again! :)

(This is the image we got when we went in for implantation after 5 days of "culture." Those are the two embryos we used. The one on the right is in a blastocyst form, the other is more premature. Not many people can say they have pictures of their baby that young, now can they?!)

He went from THAT to THIS....

to THIS...!