Ethan's Birth Story

Our little prince Ethan made his grand arrival on Friday, May 11 after 30 hours of labor, over an hour of pushing and then ultimately a c-section. Things didn't go according to the original plan as they rarely do, but he is here and perfectly healthy which is all that matters. Here's the story of how he made his way into the world.

On Wednesday, May 9 we were supposed to report to the hospital at 5:45 pm however, I got a call around 2 pm that they didn't have any labor and delivery beds available and that they were delaying my induction by a few hours. I was kind of bummed because we were both so anxious, we just wanted to get there and get started. We ended up not getting checked in until 9:30 that night. I checked in, changed into my hospital gown and got settled in and waited for them to start the induction.

They started my induction a little after 10 pm by inserting cervidil into my cervix to get things moving. I was only 1 cm dilated and 60% effaced when I was admitted. The cervidil needed to be in for 12 hours before starting on pitocin. Some people go into full labor with cervidil so they just had to wait and see how my body responded. I was definitely having contractions but the next morning when they removed the cervidil I was only dilated to 2 cm. They started the pitocin around 11 am and then broke my water around 1 pm. 

They started the pitocin at the lowest level and quickly kept upping the dosage to get my body to respond. Finally late in the afternoon my body started to respond. I was dilated to a 4 and my contractions were getting stronger and stronger and hitting every 60 seconds. They had to break my water again and once they did that things really started getting intense. My contractions were extremely strong and while I could handle them I was quickly getting exhausted from dealing with the pain every 60 seconds. I needed to rest so I would have the energy to push so I decided it was time for my epidural. I got my epidural around 7 pm and it was absolute bliss. I was able to relax and nod off in between checks from the nursers. At 8 pm I was 6 cm dilated and things were moving faster. Around 10 pm I was 8 cm dilated and my pain had returned. They gave me a booster in my epidural and I was pain free once again. Unfortunately Ethan was getting pretty tired as well and his heart rate was dropping. They put me on oxygen to help him out and he responded well and his heart rate increased.

Around 11 pm my doctor came in, woke me up and told me it was time to push. Before I knew it, my legs were up and I was pushing. Thanks to the epidural I wasn't in any pain and was pushing as hard as I could. I was making progress and they could see Ethan starting to come down. I pushed and pushed for about an hour but he wasn't coming down any further. My doctor wanted to try to use the vacuum to help get him out, but it wouldn't work. My doctor finally saw what the problem was, the opening of my pelvis was way too small for Ethan to make it through. I never thought I would have that issue since I have such a large frame. I looked at my doctor and said, "so what does that mean, c-section?" He said, "yes, and we need to get this baby out now because his heart rate is dropping." I looked at Michael, started to cry and then before we knew it, Michael was being thrown scrubs, they were shoving medicine down my throat and I was being wheeled into the Operating Room.

I was pretty freaked out and my body was in shock. It was super cold in the OR and I was shaking pretty badly. They got me up on the table, prepped and gave me more medicine in my epidural. They tested to make sure I couldn't feel anything and they started opening me up to get Ethan out. Michael hadn't even gotten in the room yet and they were already working on getting Ethan out.

  I'm smiling, but I was scared to death

About 7 minutes later at 1:13 am, I heard the most wonderful noise I've ever heard, the sound of our baby boy's cry. I was so overwhelmed with emotion to know that my little boy was finally here. They quickly put him over the curtain so we could see him and then got him cleaned up. I was shocked to see how much hair he had and how little he looked.

Kissing my sweet boy

Our first picture together

After they got Ethan cleaned up, they took Michael out of the operating room to go with Ethan and the nurse to get him evaluated. They worked on closing me up which took about 25 minutes. After I was closed up I was off to recovery. They worked on me for what seemed like hours and I was still shaking pretty badly so they wouldn't let me hold Ethan yet. That was by far the worst part of the whole thing. I had to wait almost 2 hours to hold my little boy. Finally after they were done cleaning me up and checking all my vitals for the 100th time, I got my hands on my little Ethan.

 He loved doing skin to skin contact with his Mama

I got to hold my little boy for a few minutes and then he went back to Dada and we were off to our room. It was around 4 am when we were wheeled into our room. I held my little boy for another hour or so and then they took him to the nursery for the night. I hadn't slept in almost 40 hours and I was completely exhausted. We slept for a few hours and then everyone in the family started making their way to the hospital to meet little Ethan.

Later in the day on Friday I got up and ate lunch in a chair. I was actually feeling pretty good considering everything I had been through. I finally got to eat for the first time since Wednesday as well. It was the best turkey sandwich ever! Friday night we sent Ethan to the nursery again so that we could get some sleep. We literally had about 6 hours of sleep since Tuesday night and we were just exhausted. We both slept about 9 hours and I woke up feeling like a new woman. I finally felt rested and I was in very minimal pain surprisingly. I got to take a shower and put on regular clothes. I felt like a million bucks. Michael and I took a walk around the hospital floor. They say the more you are up and moving around after the c-section, the quicker you heal. I was all about healing and getting out of the hospital so I was doing everything in my power to get moving and prove to everyone that I was healing well.

My parents came to the hospital to see Ethan again in the afternoon and we just relaxed and enjoyed our little boy.

Saturday night we kept him in our room with us so we could see what it would be like to get up at night. He did really well. He was waking up every 2-3 hours, which is not bad at all, he was so content as long as his belly was full and his diaper was empty. 

On Sunday, I was determined to get released from the hospital. They wanted me to stay until Monday but I really wanted to get out of there for Mother's Day. I woke up early and got myself all dressed and ready. I packed all my bags and had them stacked up. When my doctor came in around 9 she said, "You're ready to go home aren't you?" I said, "Yes, I really, really want to go home." She checked my incision and said that everything looked great and that I was bouncing back beautifully. She said all the nurses were stunned with how quickly I was up and getting around. I didn't feel like I had just had surgery a day and a half ago and so she said that as long as I took it easy she would release me. 

I was so happy. We just had to wait for the pediatrician to come see Ethan and release him and we would be homeward bound! The pediatrician came and saw Ethan around 10 am and said he was doing beautifully and we were free to go home. We just needed to bring him in for a weight check on Monday and Wednesday. We thought we would be stuck waiting for all of the release papers until the afternoon but surprisingly enough we had everything signed and ready at 10:30 am. We loaded Ethan in his car seat, took our first picture as a family of three and we were on our way. It was the best Mother's Day present ever!

We were home by 11:30 and it was the best feeling ever. We finally got to bring our little boy home. 

Both mine and Michael's family came over to celebrate Mother's Day and to spend time with Ethan. It was the best day and the most wonderful first Mother's Day I could have asked for.