Owie

Owen seems to get another nickname everyday. Owie (short for Owen), P.J. (Precious Jr. his daddy is Precious Sr.) K. J. (Kevin Jr. because he looks so much like his daddy), Brutis (Papa Jim calls him that because he's becoming such a big boy), Spike (he lost a lot of his hair and now that it's growing back he has this cute spike going on).

Owen loves to sit in his bouncy seat and stare at his arm. I catch him doing this all the time. It's so cute.

Owen's Baptism

Owen with his Godparents: Matt and Jayme


Owen slept pretty much through the whole thing :)

Mother's Day

Kevin bought me this beautiful garnet ring for my first Mother's Day. It's Owen's birthstone.

We also visited Great Grandma Malmquist so she could see Owen for the first time.

Owen's Surgery

Owen did pretty well the night before his surgery considering he couldn't have any formula after midnight. We fed him at 11:30 p.m. and he didn't wake up until 4:00 a.m. to have his first dose of pedialyte. Then he had a second dose of pedialyte at 7:30 a.m. He couldn't have anything after 8:00 a.m. That was when he started to get squirmy. His surgery was supposed to be at noon and it ended up getting delayed until 1:00 p.m.

Here is Owen in the waiting room

We had to wait in a hospital room for an hour before his surgery

The actual surgery took an hour and then we had to wait another half hour for him to wake up. It was really hard seeing him in the recovery room. First his whole body was swelled up from the IV to the point that it was hard to recognize him. Second he was starving and all he could have was a little sugar water but his tummy was filled up with so much air that he was really uncomfortable and couldn't drink. The nurse kept reassuring us that he wasn't in pain but that he was probably dizzy from the anaesthesia.

The surgeon said that Owen ended up having a second hernia on the right side too. His plan was to fix the hernia on the left and check the right to see if there was a hernia there that just wasn't showing yet. So both sides have stitches that will eventually dissolved on their own.

Kevin and I ended up having a total of two hours of sleep that night in the hospital. We tried to share a pull out couch that was made for one person. Owen was still uncomfortable and the only way he would sleep is if we held onto him. We took turns doing that throughout the night.

Owen after his surgery wrapped up in heated blankets. As you can tell I had to wipe away my tears to make that fake smile.

Showing his IV in his arm

While we waited for the doctor to come in to check on Owen we watched the River Bank Runners outside our window. We were discharged by 10:00 a.m. and were all ready to go home so we could rest.

New Trick - Tummy to Back

Owen learned a new trick today. Kevin put him on his tummy for tummy time and he rolled himself over onto his back. I didn't believe him so Kevin did it again and this time I saw it for myself. I wanted to tape it but I think after doing that twice in a row Owen was a little tuckered out. That's my little overachiever!

Smile?

Okay so it's a half smile. This picture also shows his umbilical hernia... just a tiny balloon.


Owen's surgery is tomorrow at noon and the nurse said he can't eat anything after midnight tonight. Luckily Kevin has tomorrow off work and graciously volunteered to take over with Owen tonight since I really need my sleep. Tuesday night Owen went to bed at 11:00 p.m. and woke up at 3:00 a.m. he didn't go back to bed until 5:00 a.m. Wednesday night Owen went to bed at 8:30 p.m... which is great... but then he woke up at 3:00 a.m. until 6:00 a.m. I am getting caught up on my Roseanne reruns. We really need to get TiVo.

Back to the Hospital

On Saturday Owen and I spent most of the day hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa Fritz's house. Owen was such a character! He was smiling and cooing to his Grandma a lot... I still can't manage to capture one of his smiles yet.

Owen has to have hernia surgery this Friday. So that means he has to stay over night to be monitored. I keep telling myself that everything he's being put through is only making him stronger. When he came home from the hospital he had an umbilical hernia which is very common in premature boys. His belly button bulges out like a little balloon when he cries. Nearly all umbilical hernias resolve on their own by the time they are 5 years old. A week ago I notice another bulge on Owen's left side so I took him to see his doctor. It ended up being another hernia... an inguinal hernia. This one is a little more serious and could become infected if not removed. After talking to the surgeon we decided to fix the inguinal hernia on the left as well as making an incision on his right side only to make sure he doesn't have a hernia there as well. We are also leaving the umbilical hernia alone in hopes that it will heal on its own.