Francom Family: OWEN! Our Little Warrior

On Sunday March 16, 2014, Owen decided he wanted to join our family 7 weeks earlier than expected. I was in the kitchen cooking spaghetti, Ethan and James were drawing at the table, Chloe had collapsed after church, and was sleeping soundly on the couch, and Bryant and Conner were in their room playing legos. It was a very nice afternoon. My parents were on their way back from a week long trip with my Grandma/pa Johnson. I was talking to Candace on the phone and she informed me that my mom was worried about going on a work trip the next week. I asked why she was worried, she said, my mom thought I could go into labor while she was gone. I told her, “I am not going into labor anytime soon.” I called an hour later to have her be with my kids, because my water broke. At about 5:00 pm I was just mixing ingredients and I felt a weird pop, some warm water, and a small gush. I went to the bathroom to see if I peed my pants (I have never just had my water break), and I was pretty dang sure it wasn't pee. I called James in and we called Candace on our way to the hospital.
We got checked in and found out pretty fast my water did break and I needed to be flown out to have the baby. James gave me a blessing, and after that I felt better about things, and knew everything would be fine. They gave me something to stop the labor, then two flight nurses (one for me, and one for if the baby came during the flight) came from the University of Utah Hospital. We were flown up to Utah Valley in Provo, instead of Grand Junction because that is where we had family and Dr. Nance who delivered Conner, Ethan, and Chloe was. They strapped me onto the board sideways because after your water breaks you can’t be directly on your back. We road in an ambulance to the airplane. The flight was about an hour, and then we road on another ambulance to the hospital and I was having contractions the whole way. Man did my hips hurt from being on my side, it was no first class flight. Once we were at the hospital they were able to stop the labor and give me steroids for the baby.

We went and had an ultra sound the next morning and met with the Perinatologist. The baby looked great, he weighed 5 lbs. 7 oz. She recommended that instead of waiting till Wednesday or Thursday I should have him the next day. After talking with Dr. Nance we were scheduled for Tuesday evening at 7:00. The next morning we went to tour the NICU where are little guy would be, while there we saw a distant relative's baby (the hospital didn't know we were related), who was the exact gestation as ours. They said that she would be what to expect. She looked really good, so we were really hopeful.

There was an opening so our c-section was moved up to 2:00. Which ended up being a blessing because there was a tear in my placenta and if we would have waited much longer, it could have been really bad. I was really worried but looking forward to seeing him. We still didn't have a name for him, but we were leaning towards Benjamin. I asked my Dr. if the baby would be able to cry, with him being so early, I didn't know what to expect. He said he should be able to. The c-section was like the others, my blood pressure went way down, I was way tired but fighting to stay awake. Then I heard him cry! It was the best sound ever. They hurried and took him into the other room to get him cleaned up and ready for the NICU. I could hear him crying in the other room, Dr. Nance said he had a really strong cry. I closed my eyes and decided to go to sleep when he stopped crying. Then I felt a little nudge on my head and I looked up to something I didn't expect. There was James holding our little boy. They let him bring him in to show me. He was soooo little and so beautiful. He looked surprisingly good. In my head I thought, ‘He looks like an Owen‘. The nurse told James she has never seen the Dr. let the Dad take the baby in to see the mom when the baby was that early. It was a really good sign. His lungs were developed so he didn't have anything to help him breath (miracle) Also when I got to hold him and try to feed him, they said he wouldn't know how to eat. Preemies don’t know how to suck, swallow, and breath, but he latched and knew how to eat right off. He was 5 lbs. 6 oz. and 18 inches long.

It was hard in the hospital not to be able to see him, and hold him when ever we wanted. When we first saw him there was an IV in his head. They told us sometimes the best veins are in the head, and not to worry when we saw him. He was so perfect. I was expecting him to look a little less developed, but he looked really good, just smaller. I was a little worried that I would be sad that he wasn't Javin, and I would be disappointed, but I had no feelings like that towards him, I just loved him so much.

James and I had talked about names before while in the hospital, we decided we better decide soon. We were leaning towards Benjamin. Owen was on the list, but it was probably 5th or 6th down. When I first saw him, I thought he looks like an Owen. Then after they took us back to our room and we were alone, I asked James what he was thinking for his name. He said he was now leaning towards Owen. It was a done deal when he said that. We then looked up what the meaning of Owen was and knew it really was perfect for him, it means “Little Warrior”, or “Little Fighter” and that is exactly what he was.

The next day when we went in the IV was moved to his arm, and he had a feeding tube in. Even though he knew how to eat, he wasn't strong enough to eat enough. The nurse said eating for preemies is the equivalent of running a marathon.

The 20th was by far the hardest day I went up to feed Owen and one of the nurses informed me that I was feeding him wrong. I had a hard time with this because I have nursed 4 other babies for over a year each with no problems. But preemies you have to nurse a little different. I had expected my milk to come in by now and it hadn't, which was really difficult for me because I remembered a year ago when I had Javin it had come in the next day in the afternoon. That was so hard the year before to not have a baby to feed, and then it felt like a slap in the face to have a baby who needed the nutrition and I couldn't give it to him. They had me pump after every feeding to get the “liquid gold” and it was pathetic. I also watched a video that had a 16 year old girl, from some inner city, who had a preemie talk about how important breast milk was for my baby. I was so annoyed. I didn't need her to tell me how important it was.

I talked to a lactation specialist about my frustrations and I started to cry. I told her about Javin and how frustrated I was. She was wonderful. I knew she cared, and was listening to me. We cried together and then she told me I needed to learn to enjoy Holland. She said having Owen was like planning a return trip to Paris. I got the flight, and everything else ready for Paris. I've been to Paris, it was familiar, I knew what sights I wanted to see, where I would eat, which places to stay. When the plane finally lands they announce I have arrived in Holland. I didn't want to go to Holland, I have planned on going to Paris. But if I focus to much on the trip that didn't happen I was going to miss the beauty of Holland. I needed to learn to love Holland and everything it has to offer, the beautiful tulips, the villages, the windmills. From then on I tried to have a better attitude. When ever we would get upset about being in the NICU I would say we are learning to love Holland, and it helped so much.

Owen continued to do wonderfully. We would go to our room and then come up to feed him every 3 to 4 hours. I felt like it was quite often we would come up and find that he had hit a milestone,. Every time we met with a Dr. they would ask if I was sure about my due date, because he was doing so well. I informed them that of all my children I was the most sure about him. These pictures below are from the 21st around 5:45 a.m.

He was able to get his feeding tube out on the 21st because he had passed his “test weights”, this is where they weigh him, and then have me nurse him and then feed him with a bottle and if he is getting enough food he can get the feeding tube out. Later that night James and I took a little CPR course from Owen’s night nurse Debbie, and then out came the IV and we were able to give him his first bath. Then Debbie got it all ready for him. Very warm, and they put him in a fleece blanket to retain the heat. He LOVED his bath.

After the IV and feeding tube were out they did the car seat test with the monitors on, they put him in his car seat for 3 hours and monitor him to make sure he does well, and of course our little fighter did. We had hoped to take Owen home the next morning, as long as his jaundice levels didn't go up. We met with a lady who talked to us about how to care for Owen when we got him home and what to expect as he grows. She said that in her 22 years of working at the hospital she had seen only two other babies at Owen’s gestation get out so fast. She informed us he was bringing up their stats.

The next morning we met with the Dr. and found out we would have to stay another day because he still had jaundice. He needed to be under the billie lights and then we would check again. I was worried he would hate the billie lights, and would cry the whole time, but he loved them. It was like he was sunbathing.

These are pictures of our different rooms. When I got checked out, the hospital let us stay in a room by the NICU since we would be going home soon.

Our favorite nurses, Debbie and Lisa. They were so good to Owen. It is so nice when you can’t be with your baby to know that he is well taken care of, by people who really love him.

The next morning on the 23rd we were able to take Owen home! 5 days after he was born, and exactly one week from when we were flown out. They say to expect to stay till your due date, but our little miracle baby did amazingly well. We are so proud of him.