Introducing...

Osborn Jacob Skousen

Born Thursday, January 13, 2011

12:42 pm

10 lbs. 11.6 oz.

22 1/2 inches

The Fam. I can't believe we have FOUR! Each one a blessing.

Comparing noses. Osborn has some growing to do!

Proud papa.

My little man, time to come home from the hospital...at the same time as mommy!!

This delivery was very different from the others. As with the others, the doctors decided I should be induced at 38 weeks because of my Type 1 diabetes. Though I've had excellent control during this pregnancy, babies of diabetic moms are prone to be bigger than average and the placenta starts to deteriorate a little sooner too. So, even though baby was due January 26, they scheduled the induction for January 13.

On New Year's Eve, we thought we might get to meet baby a little sooner. I had been sick for a couple days and was slowly becoming dehydrated, unable to keep anything down. I started having pretty frequent contractions and was nervous that I wasn't able to eat or drink anything. So finally, around 10:30 pm, I called Jake (he was at my parents with the kiddos celebrating New Year's) and said we should go to the hospital. We drove to Columbia because that's where we needed to be if I were to have the baby. They admitted me to labor and delivery immediately to start an IV. Blood tests revealed that although my blood sugar levels were normal, I was actually in DKA, diabetic ketoacidosis. These elevated ketones were what was keeping me from drinking and causing the contractions. Once I was hydrated, the contractions stopped and the baby and I were determined to be in good health. SO...after 3 days, they decided to send me home, baby in belly.

We returned to the doctor 2 more times after the DKA episode to make sure that baby was still happy. The doctors decided that January 13th was the day to induce. On January 13th, we were admitted at about 7:30am and, after some initial efforts to get labor going, we had to start with the pitocin. I'm not sure why they were in such a hurry to get baby here that morning, but they got the job done...much to my chagrin. They dialed the pitocin drip up pretty high and hard, fast contractions started very quickly. I complained about the intensity and spacing of the contractions a few times and my complaints were met with condescending comments like, "hon, you have to have contractions to get the baby here." Well, duh! I knew that, but after 3 other deliveries I knew that we could slowly work up to the harder contractions and sometime in there, get an epidural. After a very painful cervix check by said condescending nurse, Jake STRONGLY URGED her to get the anesthesiologist up there for the epidural. Finally, my wishes were granted, the epidural was started, and the pain was taken away. I was so grateful to be out of the horrible pain and able to relax. Unfortunately though, the relaxing was not to be...all those hard contractions meant baby was ready to come!

So a few minutes later, the dr came in to check me. I WAS READY TO DELIVER! They dropped the end of the table, got gowned and in position, and by the next contraction, I was pushing. I pushed through that contraction and baby's head was out! Just as the dr. was saying I could wait till the next contraction to push again, I started coughing. That was enough to squeeze the rest of this toddler-sized baby out...with a little pulling from the Dr. too. Baby was a bit blue but started screaming immediately and before I knew it the cord was cut and he was laying on my chest. So, I delivered a 10lb. 11oz. baby with one push.

I just couldn't believe it was all over already! What a whirlwind! We had arrived at the hospital around 7:45 and baby was here 5 hours later! Wow. Don't get me wrong, I'm so glad it all went well and it was a relief just to have him here, but I think I could've done without all the rushing.

Baby was healthy! They poked and prodded him for awhile and found no need to take him to the NICU. We were so excited that he was doing so well after week long ICU stays that we had with Sydney and Kate. We found out, after taking him home, that he had broken a collarbone in delivery! That explained why he would sleep so well, but get very fussy at random times. Poor guy.

As for his name, it was probably the most difficult of all the names we've decided on. The process seemed to evolve just like the other kids; we had a list of names that we liked and both of us used vetoes to knock names off the list that we didn't like. The first day passed without any name jumping out from the final list of 15 or so names. At the end of the second day, Jake started checking off names. I followed suit. By the end of the day, we thought we would try "Soren" on for size. Our concern was that it was a soft name, for lack of a better description. But after Jake left that second day, I decided to put the name "Osborn" back on the table. It was name that Jake had found on a baby name website dedicated to Danish names. It was originally a Viking name that was used extensively in England. It means "God Bear" or "Divine Bear", referring to the Viking culture of strength. Despite being out of the top 1000 popular names for the last century, Osborn didn't seem like too outlandish of a name. It is unique, distinctive, distinguished, strong, and works well with Skousen. My main objection was that people would automatically make the Ozzy Osbourne association, although that "Ozzy" was short for Oswald. But Ozzy Osbourne is a passing fad like all celebrities. Our baby's generation may not know much about Ozzy Osbourne. I texted Jake just after he left for the evening on the second day. I said: "back on the table...Osborn". He responded: "Don't know that I'm sold on Soren either". After a day of thought, Osborn fit. So, baby was named "Osborn Jacob Skousen". His middle name is Jacob, just like Jackson, not because Jake is nacissistic - after all, it was MY suggestion- but because I didn't want Osborn to feel left out. We've used the simple, traditional spelling because we didn't want Osborn to go through the aggravation of rehearsing a non-intuitive spelling for people. Skousen is hard enough. Most people land on Osborn most of the time, rather than Osborne, Osbourn, or Osbourne. By the way, we know people will use Ozzie, and that's okay. Maybe, one day, 1000 years from now, people will ask: "Ozzie? Hmmmm. Do you mean the musician or the man who changed the world?"