Ethan's Birth

My birth experience was part exactly what I wanted and part compromise... Most importantly it resulted in a beautiful healthy baby boy. This post is going to be long so ignore it if you do not care or want to know details of how Ethan came to be (min out of the gutter) on the 20th of January.

It all started on Friday the 19th... It was an off day for me and Erich took the day off to spend with me running around doing things I wanted to do.

I will update this later when I have more time
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So today is April 14th, 2007 and I am finally updating my birth story. I wrote it as a letter to Ethan...

Dear Ethan,

I am going to try and tell you about your birth without writing a huge novel. So here goes….Your dad and I anxiously awaited your arrival for the 40weeks 4 days your grew in my stomach. The week before you were born I went to work and dealt with everyone looking at me like I was crazy to be working since you were officially due on Tuesday the 16th according to the doctors. I took half days all week, but I worked.

The day before you were born (Friday the 19th) was my non working Friday so your dad and I spent the day walking, talking, relaxing, eating ice cream, watching ducks by the pond, and towards the end of the evening we went to the spa so we could get massages. After the spa at 8pm, we headed home to go eat and than do your belly cast so we could remember how big you mad me grow J. Around 11pm we were done with the cast, I ate a sandwich and off to bed we headed thinking we had a few days left.

As usual, around 3am, I woke up with you pushing on my bladder and I really had to go use the restroom so I stood up and got really confused since I was leaking all over my self. I ran to the restroom and finally realized what happened. My membrane ruptured spontaneously… I was so excited because this meant that in less than 24 hours we would be meeting you. There was maconium in the fluid which worried me a little, but after calling our doula and the doctor it was off to the hospital.

Around 4:30am we arrived at the hospital and checked into our labor room. It was one of the small ones, but it did not really matter since I could not get into the tub with my membranes rupture anyway. The nurses checked me and I was only 2 cm dialated and not having any contractions. So we waited to see what would happen. Around 6:30am the doctor arrived to let us know that we needed to start pitocin to get contractions going and try to get labor moving along. So we started pitocin and the contractions were then moving along nicely. Between 8:30 and 10:10am, I was having contractions every three minutes and your Dad and Lisa, our doula, were there to support me. I was happy, excited, joking around with everyone, and relaxing great thru all the contractions.

At 10:25am the doctor checked me and I only had progressed 1 cm to be 3cm dialated, but I had moved on to being 80% effaced. Over the next 4 hours I progressed about .5cm each hour and you were hanging out really high in my tummy (-2 station). During that block of time your Oma, Aunt Stefanie, Abuela, Abuelo, Aunt Sue, and Uncle WL all arrived to wait for you. Since we were progressing so slowly I wanted to move around some and sit on the labor ball, but since you hated the heart monitor so much, they made me get back into bed.

By about 5:30pm I was dilated to 8cm and was resting well with deep relaxation. The doctor had me flipping from side to side to change position to try to help you move down into position. At 6:45pm they checked me and I was at 9cm and you moved down to zero station, so real progress had been made. However, at 8:00pm they checked me and I still was only at 9cm. The pitocin was on so high that I had been having back to back contractions for the past 2 hours and was starting to get tired.

They put oxygen on me to make sure you would stay strong and by 8:30 all that had happened was my cervix was getting inflamed and irritated from all the pushing when it was only dilated 9cm instead of the needed 10cm. Dr. Zylman called for a c-section at 8:45pm because she felt the cervix would not dialate any further due to the inflammation.

So the prep for surgery began. Your dad got dressed up in white cover ups, while I begged the nurses to turn off the pitocin (by now it just plain hurt and since they were going to go get you I did not want the contractions to occur anymore). They wheeled me off to the operating room and onto the surgical table where they gave me an epidural so I could stay awake during the surgery. At 9:30 they cut me open and your dad came into the room after the surgery had began. Shortly after he arrived, I felt a bunch of tugging and pushing on my abdomen and I heard the doctor announce “9:36… boy he’s a big one, there is hardly anything left of you!” Your dad snapped some pictures and the doctors wisped you off to the warmer so they could clear your lungs and finally we heard you scream. It was a beautiful sound. Your dad went over and watched the doctors clean you up and wrap you in a blanket as the doctors started putting me back together. They brought you to me and I got to kiss your head and touch your cheek before your dad went with you to the nursery while the doctors finished stitching me up.

I went to the recovery room and everyone came in to see me after the surgery. After all the visitors arrived in the room, your dad came in carrying you to me so I could hold you for the first time and announce your name to the family. I kissed you, talked to you, and sat there happy as a clam! What a wonderful day! You were born at 9:36pm weighing 8lbs, 3oz and measuring 19.25” long. Your apgar scores were 8 and 9 and you were a perfect little man! Your dad and I were so happy to meet you finally after our 40 week 4 day adventure!

Love,

Mom