Ethan's Birth

I'm back! Kuddos to the hubby for posting a couple updates yesterday while I was one hot mess in labor. Will give you a recap of yesterday from what I remember and then going forward the blog will have lots more pictures of Ethan and much less of my ramblings ;)

So my water broke at 12:15am, and they started me on Pitocin at 9am. Started having contractions right away but they were mild and I was thinking - this labor thing won't be so bad. Silly me. At 9:45 I started withering in pain in the hospital bed and spent from 10am-1pm on the birthing ball in agony. Brian was great and stayed with me the whole time applying counter pressure and massaging my back. I was so out of it's still kind of hazy, but around 1 they checked at I was 3cm. Good enough to order the epidural and they were able to give me fentanyl for the hour while waiting for the anesthesiologist. It took the edge off and helped me relax but the contractions were still pretty powerful. Finally got the epidural in around 2pm and it was a lifesavor - highly recommend it to any mommys to be. They had me rest on my left side for 2 hours and went from 3 to 7 while snoozing - can't get much better than that! (this is when Brian updated the blog thinking we'd have a baby by dinner time) Flipped to my right side at 4pm and when they checked me at 5pm the nurse smiled and said "OMG you're at 10 already, it's time to push girl!" Eek!

So 4 really painful hours, and 3 gloriously epidural hours and it was time to push - all in all can't complain. This pushing things should be a piece of cake right? Well 3 exhausting hours later still no baby. It was so frustrating as the nurses said he was so close and I was doing everything right. The doctor finally intervened and said that my choices were an assisted deliver with forceps or a c-section. So scary - didn't want either, but the doctor said based on how he was positioned I could push for 5 more hours and it wouldn't help. I hated the idea of forceps but this was their recommendation since he was so close. They did an episiotomy and despite being in tears it only took 2 more pushes from me and the doctor had him out safely with just a circular mark on this left cheek to show for it.

He started crying right away and they layed him on my chest while they took his vitals. Holding him for the first time was such a great distraction from the unpleasant work that was being done on the other end. It was an amazing feeling to finally have him in my arms and I'll always treasure the look on Brian's face - such a proud new daddy! After they had put me back together they took baby to the warmer and did the initial screenings and got his stats. Was really excited he was under 8lbs ;) He has a full head of dark hair which really surprised us and he passed all of his tests will flying colors. The pediatrician said he was very strong - guess that's what happens when you're 10 days overdue! Finally got a good look at him after they weighed him and we decided that he looked like an Ethan Christopher. Christopher is Brian's middle name, and Ethan means strong and firm. Of course we're biased but think he is one handsome little man.

We were running on sheer adrenaline at this point and I was pretty excited at 10pm when the nurse said I could take a bath - we had visitors coming shortly and I was a disaster. Unfortunately it didn't go so well - I fainted/collapsed on the way which caused a big scene of running nurses/doctors and I woke up to 8 people standing over me. Scary. They carried me back to bed and gave me another IV and made me rest for 30 minutes so no time to clean up for pictures and visitors :(

Pretty much sums up our exhausting but amazing day! Had to photoshop a few of these pics to keep in clean - please excuse my appearance...