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The Pregnancy

Jamie and I found out we were going to be a family right before the New Year began. The realization that our lives were going to change forever was both exciting and frightening at the same time. We immediately began to think about the future... Would we have a boy or girl? What would he/she look like? Will we be good parents?

As the next few months passed, we began to share the news about our baby. The pregnancy was going as smoothly as possible - not even any morning sickness to speak of. We had our first ultrasound, and we got to see our little peanut of a baby. That picture didn't look like much to anyone else who tried to make heads or tail out of it, but to us it was the world. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time.

In April, we found out we were having a boy! I was so sure it was a girl, so I was a bit taken back at first by the news. But as I started to dream about my little son, and to imagine him with his father, I fell in love with the idea of a little boy. I bought him a couple new little boy outfits - the first items I ever bought for our baby. We were able to feel the him move for the first time.

After knowing that we were going to have a boy, I began to notice more and more little kids walking with their parents at the Copley Mall in Boston, and I kept thinking how one day that would be me. I would get funny comments about how much strain it would cause on my back, because of my height, to have to stoop down and hold my son's hand.

I had spent a lot of time talking with co-workers that had children about how excited I was. I enjoyed hearing all of their stories about their own children. My Director John Hargrave and I spent a lot of time talking about kids in his office. He gave a lot of his time to sit with me and listen to me, and really help me plan for what was coming both with my family and with work.

We had another ultrasound in July. At this appointment, the doctor estimated that we were going to have a very LARGE baby. I was definitely frightened by the news! The pregnancy had still been going as smoothly as possible, so Jamie continued to reassure me that there was no reason the birth would be any different. I wasn't convinced though, so I told the doctor about my concerns and he scheduled another ultrasound to ease my mind. The last ultrasound did just that - the baby was estimated to be just about average size this time. My sister even tried to assure Sharon that babies are not always as big as predicted. My niece Emma was projected to be about 10lbs and was only 7 1/2lbs when she was born.

Everything was still going perfectly. We had our baby shower - so many people gave us such thoughtful gifts! The nursery was set up and ready for the little guy... We finally settled on a name - Owen Henry, but we decided to keep that a secret. I had always wanted to name my son after my father Henry, or have his middle name be Henry... We chose Owen because one day while we were looking online at baby names from past years, we came across one site that had both the boys and girls names listed side by side. There must have been about 100 names for each and at about #20 in the list, the boy name was Owen and the girl name was Riley! We knew right there that we had finally chosen the name for our son.

In August, as the due date was steadily approaching, my doctor's visits were scheduled every week. Tuesday, August 16 was my last scheduled appointment. Everything was still perfect. I got to hear Owen's heartbeat. I didn't know it would be the last time. Owen was now considered "full term" and we were anxiously awaiting labor to begin.