THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 29, 1995 TAG: 9501260299
SECTION: HAMPTON ROADS WOMAN PAGE: 3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON
STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
DEBRA OWEN'S done it again - lost more weight. Seven pounds, 5 ounces, to be exact.
And she knows where the weight went - he's lying in her arms, staring up at her with round blue eyes.
Nathan Cole Owen was born at 3:29 p.m. Jan. 18 at Chesapeake General Hospital.
This child, the result of Owen's life-change 18 months ago, in which she began eating healthy, exercising and losing weight - and unexpectedly became pregnant after eight years of infertility - came into the world quickly and easily.
Almost too quickly.
Here is the story of this much-awaited birth:
The Owens knew when their son would be born. Debra's doctor, Chesapeake ob-gyn Derwin Gray, scheduled an induction of birth for Jan. 18 because he wanted to make sure the baby wouldn't grow too big for a vaginal birth.
Debra's first child, 9-year-old Brooke, was delivered by Caesarean section after several days of painful labor.
So on the evening of the 17th, Debra and her husband, Keith, went to the hospital where a gel pack was placed on her cervix to soften and prepare it for labor. Then the Owens went home and tried to sleep.
It was a stressful night. The two were uptight, nervous and excited.
Debra, especially, was worried. She'd been through a horrible labor once, would it happen again?
Early the next morning, they were on their way to the hospital, stopping only to pick up an extra large Diet Coke for Debra.
The Owens' nurse, Betty, who would stay with them throughout the labor, hooked Debra up to a variety of machines. A fetal monitor. A blood pressure monitor. An IV that pumped fluids and pitocin (a drug used to stimulate the start of labor) into her arm.
``It was contrary to every vision I'd had about a healthy pregnancy,'' Debra said.
By 10 a.m., when Gray checked her, her cervix hadn't dilated at all. He couldn't even reach the amniotic sac to break it.
The Owens were disappointed. At this point, they had two options - go home and try again another day. Or wait and hope something happens.
They waited. The thought of going through another night like the one they'd just spent was chilling.
At 12:30 p.m., when the doctor came back to check her, she was 1 centimeter dilated (she'd have to get to 10 before the baby could be born). But he had just enough access to break her water, which he did.
Now there was no turning back. Sometime within the next 24 hours, with or without surgery, this baby would be born. Gray guessed that she would deliver some time that evening, around midnight.
He turned to go, when Debra stopped him. Suddenly, the contractions were coming strong. And it was hurting, a lot.
She was ready for her epidural, an anesthetic that would numb her from the waist down. It took half an hour before the blessed relief from the drug flooded her body, 30 minutes of, Debra said, ``the hardest labor I could imagine.''
With another eight hours or so of labor to go, and the pain relieved, the Owens called home and told Debra's parents to bring Brooke to visit.
Keith decided to grab a bite to eat, Gray went to see other patients, and Debra and Betty were alone.
Fifteen minutes later, when Keith came back from his lunch run, he found Debra in a fetal position on the bed in the empty room, crying that she had to push. Betty had run out to find the doctor.
A second later, Gray came running in, joking that if he'd known the baby was going to come so soon, he'd have made an appointment to work out that evening at the gym.
He gave Debra the magic word: push.
And a few minutes later, out popped Nathan Cole Owen.
Debra sobbed in relief as they put Nathan on her chest. ``Oh, my baby,'' my baby,'' she murmured.
It was about a half-hour later, tired, clean and glowing, that Debra remembered Brooke and her parents. Where were they?
Keith found them outside in the waiting room, and Brooke rushed in to be, as promised, the third person to hold her new brother.
But the story won't end here. Debra is already counting the days until she can start her exercise regime again, get back on her healthy nutritional diet (which lapsed some during the last months of pregnancy) and continue her weight-loss regimen.
It's a story she promises to continue sharing with her readers.
MEMO: If you wish to leave a message for Debra Owen, call Infoline at
640-5555 and enter category 2621.
ILLUSTRATION: BETH BERGMAN/Staff
Debra Owen sits with newborn son, Nathan Cole.
by CNB