Ethan's Story

First day in the hospital.  Thanks Stacey Brooks for the amazing photos!!

The title of this really should be "Ethan's novel," but I'll try and keep it "short."  Ethan was due to arrive on Monday the 2nd of August.  On Friday the 6th when we went for a non-stress test and fluid level check to find that the amniotic fluid levels were too low for Ethan to continue taking his precious time.  The appointment was for 8am, and we were scheduled for an induction at 8pm.  That gave me the day to make sure that every last inch of the house was ready to go down to details like emptying the dishwasher.  The actual induction took place around 9pm.  Unfortunately, the Cervadil ended up causing one almost continuous contraction and had to be discontinued early in the morning.  I slept most of the night with small contractions on my own.  By somewhere around 6am the contractions had died down and they started Pitosin.  For the whole labor process, contractions were around two minutes apart.  At this point, I don't remember much about time except that I know we did a few hours of these contractions and three hours of really hard contractions until I finally ended up with the epidural.  We had had little progress all day, but towards the tail end, things went from zero to 60 in no time.  After 2.5 hrs of trying to deliver, the doctor determined that we were destined for a cesarian section.  The surgery was quickly prepped, and Ethan Michael was born at 10:51 pm (27 hrs after admission) on August 7th.  He weighed 8lbs 2oz.  Measured 20.5 inches.  Just a bit of trivia...in my immediate maternal family (my parents, brother, baby Ethan and myself), all five of us were born on Saturdays, and our birthdays are stacked one each month, April, May, June, July and August.

After what seemed like forever trapped in a bad hotel room, we finally escaped a day early today.  Lucky for me, the healing process is moving "quickly."  (or as quickly as you can recover after a long labor followed by surgery).  Things really sped up when I was finally disconnected from IV medication yesterday morning and could shower and put on pajamas!  Feeling refreshed and being able to move did wonders for how I was feeling physically.  I've been told that my progress is much ahead of most c-sections.  

Ethan's first night included mostly solid sleeping.  His first day he was amazingly content and slept often.  He was greeted later in the evening by a roomful of wonderful guests.  Then the second day and night hit.  Poor Ethan suffered a good deal of belly upset due to not being squeezed during birth.  Luckily for us, by this morning he a completely different baby....and tonight, he's doing his baby best at SLEEPING!  I'm so proud of him!!

Being bed bound for so long, baby care became quite the responsibility for a new daddy.  I have to say though that in most cases, Ethan is equally content with both of us....what a blessing!

We got home today at around 4pm.  I can't thank my lucky stars and our hard preparations getting the house ready.  Even though we were 6minutes from the hospital, we had to kick it right into baby gear the second that we walked in the door.....with one surprise element....my limited mobility and my restriction to using the stairs only once a day.  Not being able to bend made many baby tasks too difficult for me to accomplish, and we had to quickly think on our feet to create a setup where I could assist in the care giving.  Thank goodness we (by some stroke of luck) seem to have purchased all the right items to make what could have been an extremely difficult situations much easier.

So much more to share....some baby products have been worth their weight in gold and then some, even after just a few hours.  Photos and more photos...both of the family and the nursery.  And so much more.  Until then...I surrender this lengthy post!!!  (and apologize now for any nonsensical statements....it's been a long few days!!)