Ethan's Story

Last year I wrote a little about Ethan's entrance into this world in my A Contraction-Free Easter post, but it really only touched on the events of that Easter Sunday. So, for journaling purposes, I thought I'd write the rest of my little guy's story, kinda picking up where I left off. Feel free to check out that old post... it's back when I was still pretty new to the blogging world and had very few readers. This will probably be really long, so by no means do you have to read it. In fact, if what you want is a family update, check out our April Recap from a couple posts back.

The rest of the story...

April 8, 2007 (Easter)

Sean and I left my grandparents' house in Junction City sometime close to 10pm and the contractions were hard, but not unbearable and about every 6-7 minutes. Almost the second I got in the car the intensity increased and they started coming exactly 5 minutes apart. "Oh crap," I thought, "this is for real!" So we decided we would drive back to our house so that Sean could pack his bag and get some snacks and we could call the hospital to check in with them and tell them we were probably on our way. We got home, got everything ready and called the hospital. They advised us to stay home for a while still and wait until the contractions were coming consistently every 3 minutes for I think at least 1/2 hour. As if on cue, the contractions again increased in intensity and within 20 minutes to 1/2 an hour were coming every 3 minutes. I finally went into the hospital at midnight and I was in some serious pain. Nothing had let up. I got hooked up to some monitors to check me and the baby - we were both doing good. Then the nurse checked to see how far dilated I was. Holy moly, that hurt like a son of a gun!! Even worse, I was only at dilated to 1.5 or 2 cm. My pelvis is so narrow that she couldn't tell.

April 9, 2007
So we stayed at the hospital for another couple of hours to see if I made any "progress" (and at this point I still hadn't actually been checked in as a patient). The contractions continued coming strongly every 3 minutes and it was when Sean went to get my bag from the car (so I could put my jammie pants on since we were still in regular clothes) that I had my two strongest contractions yet. The first one sent me to my knees because there was nothing in the hospital room at the right height for me to brace myself against, so I got on my knees and used the couch/bench. The nurse came in right then and freaked out to see me on the floor. The second one was so strong that as soon as it was over I was running to the bathroom where I then threw up at least 6 times and pretty much purged myself of everything that was in my system (I told you you didn't have to read all this). It was gross. I didn't throw up once during my entire pregnancy and I felt like the Prego Gods wanted me to make up for it!

Finally, just before 4am, the nurse checked to see if I was any further dilated. This hurt like heck again and she thought I was still at 2cm, though she admitted that she couldn't tell for sure. So... since I was still 2 weeks before my due date, it was my first baby and it didn't seem like I was "progressing", I was sent home! They gave me some Ambien to help me sleep and sent me on my way. Meanwhile it takes about 15 minutes to walk to the car since I'm walking so slow and having to stop to breathe through contractions. I was a little ticked at this point. I didn't want to go home... the hospital was where the drugs were!

Well we got home and Sean got a little sleep. I tried, but it's awfully hard to try to sleep through pain like that. The Ambien did nothing for me. Eventually I took some Tylenol PM and tried sleeping in the recliner. This worked only because I was so tired that I was literally sleeping for the minute or so of downtime between contractions (which were now every 2 to 2 1/2 minutes). I tried taking a hot shower and walking around a little. Nothing helped. So at 8am we got back in the car, called my family and went back to the hospital. This time I was determined to stay! I had a different nurse and she was so helpful and comforting and just all-around amazing at her job. She is why I want to be a nurse!

At 12pm the on-call doctor comes in to check my dilation progress and I braced myself for both the pain of her checking and news that I may still be at 2cm. My contractions seemed like they had backed off in intensity so I was worried I would be sent home again. Good news, though! I was now 4cm dilated. Wahoo! And on top of that the doctor said I had a "bulging water sac" so it was time for her to manually break my water (with a long knitting needle-type thing, it doesn't hurt though). What a weird sensation, but I was happy to get things moving along again. I took another shower and changed into a hospital gown. That was when everything started happening. My contractions started coming the hardest and fastest yet. I went from 4 cm dilated to 8cm in less than an hour and felt it all. Finally it was getting unbearable. I was in bed, on my side, with white knuckles from gripping the railing so hard. It was so intense I could barely breathe. My nurse asked if I was ready for an intrathecal (according to my birthing plan) and I eagerly agreed! She had also previously attempted to get an IV in me (I was getting pretty severely dehydrated), but after 3 failed attempts left it for the anesthesiologist.

I was so scared when the anesthesiologist came in. He got the IV in me with no problems, but then it was time to put the intrathecal in through my back and I knew I would have to be very still. I sat up and leaned forward and I remember him telling me to be still and me saying (in tears), "I don't think I can!" The contractions were so bad, but he got it in and it was almost instant relief. My body really, really needed to rest after being in labor for over 24 hours and with no sleep in 30 hours. The doctor came in to check me again (finally it didn't hurt!!) and we found out that Ethan was head down, but face up which makes it harder for babies to come out. So for the next hour I did some "fake pushing" to see if he would turn. This didn't hurt because the intrathecal was still in full force. It also meant that my family could be in the room for a while - I scared my little sister off earlier when I hadn't yet received any pain relief. She was standing at the door and just hearing me semi moaning/screaming sent her running for the waiting room!

At about 2pm I started pushing for real. I pushed and pushed and pushed! For almost 3 full hours I pushed (I thoroughly despise any woman who tells me her "I pushed for 10 minutes" story!!) and believe me, the intrathecal had long since worn off (they only last about 3 hours). Finally the doctor said she was going to use a vacuum suction thing to help get him out and if that didn't work I was going to have to have a c-section. Oh heck no! I did NOT spend all this time in labor and all this time pushing just to have you cut me open! NOT TODAY!! Finally, at 4:48pm... He. Was. Here!!!! Ethan had arrived. Sean was crying. I was crying. And my mom kept saying, "I can't believe you just did that. That was amazing! I can't believe you just did that!"

I can not even begin to describe the emotions that were going through me when they put that beautiful, gunky newborn baby on my chest. I think I was in shock. 10 little fingers and 10 little toes and yes, it was a boy... they had wrapped him up so quickly that I asked Sean and the nurse standing there just to be sure! He weighed in at 6lbs. 7oz. and 20 1/2 inches long.

After a little trouble with the placenta (didn't know that would also require so much pushing), the doctor stitched me up and the nurses got to work cleaning Ethan up and checking him over and then helping me with the first nursing session. Once we were done with all of that, we called all of the awaiting family in to meet the new guy. My dad, sisters, grandma Sandy and grandpa Chuck were all eager to come in and there was a special order to who held him... It was obviously me first, then Sean, then my mom, dad and after much debate between Christine and Elisabeth it was decided that Christine was next in line!

At some point I got to take a much-needed shower and then finally got to eat some dinner. I was starving!! Sean called his family and some of our friends who live near by and then just before our birthing class was scheduled to start I sent him down to tell our instructor and the other couples our good news! They were already scheduled to take a tour of the labor/delivery wing of the hospital, so they stopped by our room while on the tour. Later that evening we had some church members come visit, including "uncle Tory's" mom, Melanie. [Funny side story (well, Tory doesn't think it's all that funny), but Melanie took some pictures when she came to visit and then put them up on their computer screensaver at home. The next morning Tory came down and saw them on the computer and was NOT HAPPY that he missed coming to visit on Ethan's actual "birth day" - he came the next day, though!]

We came home as a new family of three on Wednesday April 11th. And just as a testament to how shocked we were that he came early, there were still gift bags of clothes, etc. sitting in the middle of Ethan's room, waiting to be sorted from the last baby shower! There was also a partially eaten batch of brownies I had made the Saturday before to take some over to Tory as a thank you for mowing our lawn. He never got those, but I think we've probably made up for it with other yummy treats we usually have on hand when he's over!

[Just one more funny side story. The whole time I was pregnant at work, they were really worried about what to do in the office while I was gone. I made up an instruction manual and trained others on my job, but they were still very hesitant and kept making jokes that my water would literally have to break before they would let me leave to have the baby! Well, the Friday before Ethan was born, our office manager had already left for a quick vacation to Belize and was scheduled to be gone the next week, so worse case scenario would be for me to have the baby while she was away. As I left work Friday night, the other two women were reminding me to take it easy over the weekend and if anything started to happen, to cross my legs! Imagine their surprise Monday morning when my dad came to the office to let them know I wouldn't be in because I was in labor! All was forgiven... eventually.]

I think that's about it... so glad to finally have this written down. I know this was really long, but I did warn you! And props to whoever actually made it all the way to the end of this post, I know it was a doozy!