Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Ethan's First Bath
So this will probably humiliate my poor child one day, but of course I took a million pictures of his first bath and seeing as how I'm using this blog to record all things Ethan, I thought that this milestone deserved to be documented here as well. Please don't use this against him one day! (Oh, and all things that should be covered are properly covered so as to retain some of his dignity!)
Friday, August 20, 2010
Newborn Photo Shoot - 8 Days Old
My friend Erin is a fantastic photographer and has her own business (let me know if you need her contact information...she is the BEST!) so when it was time for us to get Ethan's newborn pictures taken of course I had to call Erin and put her to work. Here are a couple of great pictures from our day together...enjoy!
What a Day!
So yesterday was an interesting day with my sweet little Ethan. Evidently (and I was completely unaware of this!) a baby is capable of spitting up the entire contents of their stomach...and then some! Ethan hasn't been much of a spit up baby up to this point, so I was mistakenly lulled into a false sense of contentment thinking that my child is not one of those really spitty babies. While he hasn't had an incident at all yet today (and it's already lunch time) I am no longer living under the false impression that it will not happen to me...it can and will happen again one day :)
Yesterday immediately following his first morning feeding while I was looking into his precious little eyes he looked up at me and launched a small projectile spit up directly in my face. Oh my! I will say that when it is your own child (and just baby spit up...we'll revisit this discussion one day when it's actual vomit!) it is not nearly as awful as it sounds, but it was still surprising. So I cleaned myself up and we went about our business for the day. Then, after his next feeding I was carrying him through the living room when my little angel went all exorcist on me and decided to empty the entire contents of his stomach all over me, his outfit, the carpet, etc. I was shocked that so much spit up could come out of one little person. At first it really scared me because I thought that something was wrong, but I've been told that this is not completely unheard of and not to panic. We were both soaked. What a day!
Aside from the great spit up of 2010, Ethan continues to do really well in his third week of life. I finally got his birth announcements ordered so I should be sending those out sometime next week. I realize that I am behind with this project, but it took me forever to pick the ones that I wanted, decide on the pictures, etc. etc. I think I am living life perpetually behind these days but I am surpirsingly okay with that. He finally fits into his newborn clothes and so I have been having fun dressing him in all of his sweet little outfits. (Although after yesterday's incident, he spent the remainder of the day in a plain onesie!) We are really adjusting well to life together, and starting next week all the company will have returned home and we'll be home alone together (for the most part - we have some visits scheduled with some wonderful friends to which I am really looking forward!) I am so excited about getting to be a stay at home mommy with this little guy and getting our daily routine established. I'll try to post some of my favorites from his newborn photo shoot here in the not too distant future too. We'll see how long it takes me to get this project completed!
Yesterday immediately following his first morning feeding while I was looking into his precious little eyes he looked up at me and launched a small projectile spit up directly in my face. Oh my! I will say that when it is your own child (and just baby spit up...we'll revisit this discussion one day when it's actual vomit!) it is not nearly as awful as it sounds, but it was still surprising. So I cleaned myself up and we went about our business for the day. Then, after his next feeding I was carrying him through the living room when my little angel went all exorcist on me and decided to empty the entire contents of his stomach all over me, his outfit, the carpet, etc. I was shocked that so much spit up could come out of one little person. At first it really scared me because I thought that something was wrong, but I've been told that this is not completely unheard of and not to panic. We were both soaked. What a day!
Aside from the great spit up of 2010, Ethan continues to do really well in his third week of life. I finally got his birth announcements ordered so I should be sending those out sometime next week. I realize that I am behind with this project, but it took me forever to pick the ones that I wanted, decide on the pictures, etc. etc. I think I am living life perpetually behind these days but I am surpirsingly okay with that. He finally fits into his newborn clothes and so I have been having fun dressing him in all of his sweet little outfits. (Although after yesterday's incident, he spent the remainder of the day in a plain onesie!) We are really adjusting well to life together, and starting next week all the company will have returned home and we'll be home alone together (for the most part - we have some visits scheduled with some wonderful friends to which I am really looking forward!) I am so excited about getting to be a stay at home mommy with this little guy and getting our daily routine established. I'll try to post some of my favorites from his newborn photo shoot here in the not too distant future too. We'll see how long it takes me to get this project completed!
Monday, August 16, 2010
Ethan - Week 3
Today marks three weeks since Ethan was born. It is so hard to believe and time really is flying by. Everybody said that it would, and they were not kidding! Ethan has been such a joy and a blessing to our lives. Sometimes I just look at him and am in awe that he is actually here with us and that I was able to get through pregnancy and labor and delivery without any real complications. (I was oblivious to the scare that occurred when he was born so I never experienced that fear or anxiety until well after the fact.) It still seems absolutely surreal that Patrick and I are actually parents and that for the rest of our lives we have a son. Here's a little bit about how he's doing so far:
Ethan is a champion sleeper at night. I could not ask for more at this stage in his development (although I am so looking forward to the day when he drops one of his two middle of the night feedings! Alas, he is too young for that just yet...) After his 10:00 pm feeding I put him down in his pack n play in our room (I am way too overprotective to let him sleep in his nursery yet...why did I spend so much time, energy and money putting a super cute nursery together? By the time I feel comfortable letting him out of my sight it will probably be time for his "big boy" room. But I digress...) He's up again every 3 - 4 hours but as soon as he is done feeding I put him right back down and he is out like a light. I hope this doesn't change because it has made my life much easier. I can drop back into sleep immediately these days so it helps to have a baby who does the same at night.
Days are a different story...After I feed Ethan during the daytime hours, he will spend the next 20-30 minutes having some quiet alert time. During this time I will put him on his activity mat and he'll kind of pay attention to some of the toys on it. (It really depends on the day though, because sometimes he is oblivious to the objects around him.) He'll follow my finger if I move it around in front of him and I also sing him some of the classics - NKOTB's The Right Stuff, Hangin' Tough, and I'll Be Loving You Forever as well as the theme song to the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. (Hey, it's one of the few songs to which I actually know all the words!) I've started giving him some "tummy time" during these awake periods, but he is not a fan of it at all. He makes these pathetic little whimpering sounds as he strains to pull his head up and I usually feel so sorry for him that tummy time doesn't last for more than a few minutes.
After about half an hour of awake time he falls asleep again until it is time for the next feeding. However, during the day if I put him down in his pack n play he wakes back up after a few minutes crying to get out. He will sleep for the next hour or two in his bouncy seat, vibrating chair, or swing though, so that's where he has taken to napping during the day. I'm not sure if this makes me a bad mom yet, but my survival instincts are to keep him (and me!) happy and this arrangement allows me to shower, do things like update this blog and work on his baby book, and even eat all my meals. (I've heard of new moms claiming that they forgot or were too busy to eat, but this new mama has thus far not had that problem!) Perhaps one day I will address the issue of putting him in his actual bed for his nap times, but considering we are only three weeks into getting a routine established I will take what I can get. If anybody has any advice to help though, I am all ears!
I can officially say that all the pregnancy pounds are gone (I am floored by this because I have not yet been cleared to exercise and I am not missing any meals or snacks!) but I will say that half of my pre-pregnancy wardrobe does not fit yet. I'm not sure if some serious time in the gym will fix this situation or if my body has changed forever (I'm starting to think that it will be the latter of the two, but we'll see.) I feel very fortuante to be in this situation, but at the same time I am really hoping that I'll actually be able to fit into the rest of my clothes sometime in the next couple of months. Seeing as how I am unemployed, I cannot afford to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe so whatever no longer fits is just lost and cannot be replaced. Ugh!
I had no idea how much your body goes through to support a pregnancy and labor/delivery. I am definitely feeling a lot better these days than I was initially, but I am still not close to being fully recovered. Oh, and here's a story for you - so one of the first days that we were home I was so sleep deprived that when I was walking down the stairs I managed to slip and fall down our large set of stairs. Fortunately I was not carrying Ethan at the time (it scares to think about what could have happened!) but I landed squarely on my bottom and slid down until my feet hit the floor. I had to call the doctor's office since I landed right where I'm all stitched back together and was humiliated to have to talk directly to the doctor that had just delivered Ethan and tell him about what a ridiculous new mom I had become. Here's my advice to everybody out there - allow people that offer to help to help you so that you do not become the sleep deprived person falling down the stairs. In those early days I told Patrick to sleep in the guest room so he wouldn't be up with the baby and could get a full night's sleep. Ha! That arrangement has changed and now in the middle of the night he helps with what I need and I'm more rested (although he's slightly more tired.) I somehow thought that I could do it all...evidently it took falling down the stairs to show me that I cannot!
Ethan and I are at home together most days and I am really looking forward to getting the all clear from his pediatrician to start bringing him out into the world. Hopefully at his one month appointment we'll ge the green light to start running errands and things of that nature together. I'm going a little stir crazy being stuck at home all day every day and getting out to run errands would make all the difference in the world. It's been way too hot for me to take Ethan on many walks around the neighborhood (we've done two so far in three weeks) but I will say that if he has a super fussy day that his stroller/car seat is going to be my lifesaver. As soon as we put him in his car seat (which connects to his stroller) that kid is out. We've taken him over to our neighbor's house several times and pretty much just left him in the car seat the entire time because it puts him right to sleep. I can see why some parents end up taking their kids for drives to put them to sleep because I honestly believe that a car seat/stroller has magical powers. Hopefully I won't have to put them to good use, but since Ethan is a baby I am sure that my days of "purple crying" are coming in the not too distant future and I want to have several potential solutions ready in my arsenal to make those times as manageable as possible for both of us.
There really isn't too much to report from here right now. Yesterday was one of the first days that the three of us were able to spend alone together as a family since Patrick went back to work and it was wonderful. I love our little family so much! Tonight Patrick and I have our fantasy football draft so cross your fingers that I get some good picks. This is the first time that I've been able to field my own team and I am excited but nervous about it. I really want to do well, but I am going in with low expectations since I really haven't ever done this on my own before. I'll keep you posted on our progress.
Ethan is a champion sleeper at night. I could not ask for more at this stage in his development (although I am so looking forward to the day when he drops one of his two middle of the night feedings! Alas, he is too young for that just yet...) After his 10:00 pm feeding I put him down in his pack n play in our room (I am way too overprotective to let him sleep in his nursery yet...why did I spend so much time, energy and money putting a super cute nursery together? By the time I feel comfortable letting him out of my sight it will probably be time for his "big boy" room. But I digress...) He's up again every 3 - 4 hours but as soon as he is done feeding I put him right back down and he is out like a light. I hope this doesn't change because it has made my life much easier. I can drop back into sleep immediately these days so it helps to have a baby who does the same at night.
Days are a different story...After I feed Ethan during the daytime hours, he will spend the next 20-30 minutes having some quiet alert time. During this time I will put him on his activity mat and he'll kind of pay attention to some of the toys on it. (It really depends on the day though, because sometimes he is oblivious to the objects around him.) He'll follow my finger if I move it around in front of him and I also sing him some of the classics - NKOTB's The Right Stuff, Hangin' Tough, and I'll Be Loving You Forever as well as the theme song to the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. (Hey, it's one of the few songs to which I actually know all the words!) I've started giving him some "tummy time" during these awake periods, but he is not a fan of it at all. He makes these pathetic little whimpering sounds as he strains to pull his head up and I usually feel so sorry for him that tummy time doesn't last for more than a few minutes.
After about half an hour of awake time he falls asleep again until it is time for the next feeding. However, during the day if I put him down in his pack n play he wakes back up after a few minutes crying to get out. He will sleep for the next hour or two in his bouncy seat, vibrating chair, or swing though, so that's where he has taken to napping during the day. I'm not sure if this makes me a bad mom yet, but my survival instincts are to keep him (and me!) happy and this arrangement allows me to shower, do things like update this blog and work on his baby book, and even eat all my meals. (I've heard of new moms claiming that they forgot or were too busy to eat, but this new mama has thus far not had that problem!) Perhaps one day I will address the issue of putting him in his actual bed for his nap times, but considering we are only three weeks into getting a routine established I will take what I can get. If anybody has any advice to help though, I am all ears!
I can officially say that all the pregnancy pounds are gone (I am floored by this because I have not yet been cleared to exercise and I am not missing any meals or snacks!) but I will say that half of my pre-pregnancy wardrobe does not fit yet. I'm not sure if some serious time in the gym will fix this situation or if my body has changed forever (I'm starting to think that it will be the latter of the two, but we'll see.) I feel very fortuante to be in this situation, but at the same time I am really hoping that I'll actually be able to fit into the rest of my clothes sometime in the next couple of months. Seeing as how I am unemployed, I cannot afford to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe so whatever no longer fits is just lost and cannot be replaced. Ugh!
I had no idea how much your body goes through to support a pregnancy and labor/delivery. I am definitely feeling a lot better these days than I was initially, but I am still not close to being fully recovered. Oh, and here's a story for you - so one of the first days that we were home I was so sleep deprived that when I was walking down the stairs I managed to slip and fall down our large set of stairs. Fortunately I was not carrying Ethan at the time (it scares to think about what could have happened!) but I landed squarely on my bottom and slid down until my feet hit the floor. I had to call the doctor's office since I landed right where I'm all stitched back together and was humiliated to have to talk directly to the doctor that had just delivered Ethan and tell him about what a ridiculous new mom I had become. Here's my advice to everybody out there - allow people that offer to help to help you so that you do not become the sleep deprived person falling down the stairs. In those early days I told Patrick to sleep in the guest room so he wouldn't be up with the baby and could get a full night's sleep. Ha! That arrangement has changed and now in the middle of the night he helps with what I need and I'm more rested (although he's slightly more tired.) I somehow thought that I could do it all...evidently it took falling down the stairs to show me that I cannot!
Ethan and I are at home together most days and I am really looking forward to getting the all clear from his pediatrician to start bringing him out into the world. Hopefully at his one month appointment we'll ge the green light to start running errands and things of that nature together. I'm going a little stir crazy being stuck at home all day every day and getting out to run errands would make all the difference in the world. It's been way too hot for me to take Ethan on many walks around the neighborhood (we've done two so far in three weeks) but I will say that if he has a super fussy day that his stroller/car seat is going to be my lifesaver. As soon as we put him in his car seat (which connects to his stroller) that kid is out. We've taken him over to our neighbor's house several times and pretty much just left him in the car seat the entire time because it puts him right to sleep. I can see why some parents end up taking their kids for drives to put them to sleep because I honestly believe that a car seat/stroller has magical powers. Hopefully I won't have to put them to good use, but since Ethan is a baby I am sure that my days of "purple crying" are coming in the not too distant future and I want to have several potential solutions ready in my arsenal to make those times as manageable as possible for both of us.
There really isn't too much to report from here right now. Yesterday was one of the first days that the three of us were able to spend alone together as a family since Patrick went back to work and it was wonderful. I love our little family so much! Tonight Patrick and I have our fantasy football draft so cross your fingers that I get some good picks. This is the first time that I've been able to field my own team and I am excited but nervous about it. I really want to do well, but I am going in with low expectations since I really haven't ever done this on my own before. I'll keep you posted on our progress.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Pictures - Weeks 1 & 2
Since I am totally behind on this blog I thought I would at least go ahead and share a few pictures from the last two weeks. I'll work on getting myself organized and updated here soon (I can at least see a light at the end of the tunnel now!) and in the interim here's a glimpse of what life has been like in the Strain household lately:
Me right after we got settled in the labor and delivery room...why do I look so happy in most of these pictures? There must be something wrong with me!!
What is referred to as the "baby closet" in the birth story post (a small room off the labor and delivery room where Ethan was taken immediately after delivery)
In labor (and 6 hours labor Ethan would be in our arms!)
Patrick changing Ethan's diaper...yes, he wore gloves the first several times he had to do this!
Getting wheeled out...I was put in a wheelchair when we arrived, wheeled from the labor room to our hospital room, and wheeled out (I could totally get used to this kind of treatment!) 
Our little family getting discharged from the hospital
The kitties meeting their new baby brother 
Daddy & Ethan on our first day home from the hospital 
Our first day home from the hospital - it was overwhelming yet wonderful to be home as just a family of 3 for a few days before our families arrived to stay and help out 
At his first pediatrician's appointment - 7 days old 
Ethan's first date with Faith (they were due the same day and born 2 days apart)...he brought her a rose since he is a little gentleman! 
Funny face - Patrick took this while holding him and I thought it was pretty cute 
Ethan's first ride in his stroller to the end of the cul-de-sac and back - 12 days old 
Hanging out in his baby papasan wearing an outfit from Aunt Jeannie Ethan's "Birth" Day Story
Sit back...this is going to be a long post! I wanted to record the story of Ethan's arrival before I start forgetting things and I may have gone a little overboard with the details. In any event, here's my narrative of the events leading up to and the day of the arrival of our precious little boy.
On Friday, July 23 I noticed that I wasn’t feeling well at all. I woke up around 4:30 am with some mild contractions and an overall yucky feeling. Since the contractions were not regular and were not getting stronger, I got out of bed and went to lay on the couch in the living room instead of calling the doctor or rushing out the door to the hospital. Patrick woke up for work at 5:30 am and when he saw that I wasn’t in bed he came out to the living room to see if I was okay. I looked up at him and my eyes filled with tears as I told him my contractions hurt, I didn’t feel good, and I just wanted my mom. I continued to cry because I was so fearful about the labor process and giving birth, which I suddenly realized was going to happen in the not too distant future. Patrick did his best to reassure me that it would all be okay, but I was a lost cause in that moment in time. By mid-afternoon the irregular contractions ceased and when I woke up for the day on Saturday I felt totally normal again so order was restored in my universe.
When I woke up on Sunday, July 25 I noticed that the overall yucky feeling was back. I found comfort in the fact that at least I wasn’t having contractions this time. My good friend Rebecca came over and spent a couple of hours hanging out at my house with me and I felt much better not focusing on the overall blahs that I was feeling. I really appreciated her willingness to come and just sit around the house with me while Patrick was at his softball game and later that night we went over to our neighbor Cliff’s house to hang out and visit with our neighbors. We were all sitting on the front porch when I started to really not feel too well. I went home for a few minutes to grab a popsicle in hopes that it would make me feel better and Patrick and I headed home around 10:30 that night. Since I still didn’t feel well, I went upstairs to watch some TV and finally made it to bed around 12:30 on the morning of Monday, July 26.
Around 3:00 am I woke up and noticed that I was having some mild contractions again. I started to think, “Ugh, not again. This is such a pain!” when I realized that the contractions seemed to be coming pretty regularly. They were totally manageable on the pain scale though, so I was not sure that I could actually be in labor. Just to be on the safe side, I started putting a few last minute items into my hospital bag. As I was doing this, Patrick woke up and immediately started worrying. I told him to calm down and go back to sleep because I probably wasn’t in actual labor but I was just getting prepared. He told me to start writing down each time I felt a contraction and as soon as I started doing that I saw that my contractions were coming every 4 to 5 minutes. Yikes! We promptly called my doctor’s office after hours line and we had a nurse call me back and the advice was for me to wait and see if the contractions continued in this pattern for a full hour. They did continue for the full hour so I called back with the news. She indicated that she would have the doctor on call give me a call as soon as possible since it sounded as if this could be the real thing and to sit tight. That did not go over as well with my increasingly anxious husband who had managed to pack the entire car before even getting the confirmation from me that this might actually be real labor! We agreed to start heading towards the hospital, so around 4:15 am we hopped in the car.
We spoke to the doctor as we were pulling into the parking lot and when I told him about the closeness of my contractions (although still not very intense so I was still unsure if I was just overreacting) he told us to come on in. I was so happy that Dr. James was the doctor on call at that time, because he is who I saw the most at all of my doctor’s appointments and for some reason I just had it in my head that he would be there when the time came. Patrick and I walked into the front doors of the hospital and the front desk personnel immediately put me in a wheelchair – it was pretty cool getting wheeled around! When we arrived in the maternity center I spoke briefly with a nurse and told her that I wasn’t sure if this was the real thing and if it was a false alarm I was really sorry. Yes, I apologized up front – what is wrong with me?!
The nurses took me back to a labor and delivery room (these rooms are huge and quite comfortable!) where the monitors were promptly strapped across my belly and they could begin monitoring my contractions and Ethan’s heartbeat. You guessed it – this was real labor! I was dilated 4 cm and my contractions were 2 – 3 minutes apart but still not overwhelming. I was able to just concentrate on breathing and keep up a conversation with Patrick the whole time (initially…there is much more to this story!) Since I’ve heard that walking can help labor along, Patrick and I decided to venture down the hospital corridors, with me wearing my fuzzy slippers from my dear friend Jennifer. We were doing pretty well until I started to panic about the thought of my water breaking in the hallway (although the nurses assured me it would not be a problem and happened all the time.) We made it back to our room just after I had a contraction that had enough intensity to make me grab onto the guard rails that line the halls of the hospital. (I’ve always wondered why those are there – now I know!!)
I’ve been very nervous about actually receiving an epidural, although I kept saying that I wanted one so I was still undecided about whether or not I was going to get one. I think after seeing me really concentrate and breathe my way through the last couple of contractions Patrick didn’t want to see me uncomfortable any longer and told me that it was time for me to get an epidural. Since I didn’t particularly enjoy the last couple of contractions I happily agreed and the nurse put out the call for the anesthesiologist to come to my room. When she arrived she was very nice and I never looked at any of the needles or anything that she was using (Patrick said it looked pretty scary, so I’m glad I never saw anything) and within minutes I was back to feeling totally normal again. It’s actually a pretty cool process – the nurse swabs a cold cotton ball of sorts on your arm and then on your leg to see if it still feels cold. While you can feel the cotton on your leg (you don’t totally lose feeling, which I thought that you would!) it does not feel cold anymore. They continue this process on your belly so they can see how far up the epidural reaches. I was still able to move my legs (which for some reason I thought I would not be able to and that totally freaked me out) and even though the read out from my belly monitor indicated I was still having contractions 2 minutes apart and they were reaching a plateau for awhile at the top instead of just peaking I was feeling no pain. I’m so glad Patrick encouraged me to go ahead and get the epidural because I was totally relaxed and enjoying the time I was getting to spend with my mother and father-in-law who had arrived from Burlington and my mom and sister who drove in from Raleigh. We were all chatting and having a pretty nice time when all of a sudden my blood pressure cuff (it was programmed to take my blood pressure every 15 minutes) sounded a scary alarm. When the nurse came in I asked her if I was dying – perhaps I was a little dramatic?!
I was evidently laying on a nerve or something, so in order to bring my blood pressure back down I was just moved to lie on my side for awhile. This was totally not a big deal until after a little while I started feeling some pressure, and then pain, during each contraction. It started to get stronger and stronger, so the nurse had me push the pain button on my epidural to pump out some more medicine. No dice…it did not help. I was flipped onto my other side, to see if it helped, but alas it did not. They finally called the anesthesiologist who came in to check my line and determined that it had somehow come out and so my epidural was wearing off and I would need another one. I will pause right now to say this much – I did not feel the full force of these contractions (I was in transition labor at about 7 cm at this time) but it was still strong enough that my hat is off to any woman who elects to give birth naturally. I cannot imagine choosing to go this route because I am evidently a wimp and was looking for relief the second I started to feel anything close to real labor. Our family members who were present were asked to leave the room while the epidural was administered and the second that new line was in I was back to feeling just like myself again. The nurse decided to check my progress a few minutes after I was back to feeling good again and told me it was time to push. I was kind of shocked and said, “What?!?!” to which my nurse laughed that her perky little patient just found her attitude. It was funny! I felt badly for our family members though, because they were anticipating coming right back into the room and now they were being exiled to the waiting room without getting any real updates as to what was going on.
I pushed for about two hours total, although it could have been a lot shorter had our little guy not decided to come out with his cord wrapped around his neck twice. Yes, you read that correctly…a double wrapped cord! I guess our little overachiever decided that if I needed two epidurals he was going to wrap his cord around his neck an extra time. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Pushing wasn’t too bad, and I didn’t realize that they would have me change positions every so often. I had a hard time getting the breathing down (bear down for 10 seconds, breathe in out and get right back on top of the bearing down for another 10 seconds – I kept trying to take more breaths in between pushes) but after about 30 minutes of what I would call not my best work (I was kind of nauseated for a bit) I found my second wind, my adrenaline kicked in, and I was ready to work. Patrick commented that you could see a huge difference in me after that first little bit.
Everything was going pretty well until he got to the point that the nurses were ready for the doctor to come in since he was “parked” in the correct position. When Dr. Termin took a look it was decided that since Ethan wasn’t making too much progress with the last several pushes they were going to go ahead and give me an episiotomy. Fortunately with my epidural I was still feeling no pain. I pushed through a few more contractions but there still wasn’t much progress so Dr. Termin decided that using a vacuum extractor was probably the way to go. He sent for the equipment and it arrived within a few minutes. Now I was unaware of what was going on with our families at this time, but evidently they were at the door of the labor room with their ears pressed up against it and then they saw the vacuum extractor come in and since my mother-in-law is a nurse she was able to explain what was going on to everybody else.
The vacuum extractor must have done the trick, because as I was resting in between pushes I heard the doctor say something about a double and Patrick was really quiet. I had no idea what was going on, but in these few minutes Ethan emerged with his cord wrapped around his neck twice. The doctor very calmly told Patrick (again, somehow I was completely unaware that any of this was going on) “I know you want to cut the cord, Dad, but I’m going to take it from here.” Dr. Termin took care of the cord situation and Ethan was placed on my belly. I STILL didn’t know that he was out (Patrick cannot believe that I was oblivious to all of this) but I guess I felt something on my stomach because my hand brushed down and felt something wet. I opened my eyes and to my utter astonishment and amazement there was our son laying right there on me. I then proceeded to say, “Oh my God!” about 15 times before Ethan was whisked away into what we deemed the “baby closet” to be examined and cleaned up.
During this time Patrick went over to the “baby closet” and got pictures of Ethan on the scale, being examined by the doctors, and several other really great shots of his first few minutes of life. In the interim, Dr. Termin was delivering the placenta (which, no, I did not look at although I did catch an ever so brief look at the cord and the color was enough to make me squish my eyes shut so I wouldn’t see anything more) and stitching me back up. I remember calling across the room to Patrick and asking if our baby was okay and then if he was indeed a boy. We found out at his ultrasound appointment that we were expecting a boy, but mistakes can happen and I wanted to ensure that Ethan was indeed an Ethan and not an Olivia. I got the all clear and confirmation that we had a son, and then they brought him over to me all swaddled up in hospital blankets wearing a pink and blue striped hat. The picture that Patrick took of my reaction to getting to hold Ethan in my arms for the first time is priceless – there is a joy on my face and in my eyes that I’ve never seen before. Having Ethan in our lives is truly a miracle and a gift from God, and we are so blessed to have been called to be his parents.
On Friday, July 23 I noticed that I wasn’t feeling well at all. I woke up around 4:30 am with some mild contractions and an overall yucky feeling. Since the contractions were not regular and were not getting stronger, I got out of bed and went to lay on the couch in the living room instead of calling the doctor or rushing out the door to the hospital. Patrick woke up for work at 5:30 am and when he saw that I wasn’t in bed he came out to the living room to see if I was okay. I looked up at him and my eyes filled with tears as I told him my contractions hurt, I didn’t feel good, and I just wanted my mom. I continued to cry because I was so fearful about the labor process and giving birth, which I suddenly realized was going to happen in the not too distant future. Patrick did his best to reassure me that it would all be okay, but I was a lost cause in that moment in time. By mid-afternoon the irregular contractions ceased and when I woke up for the day on Saturday I felt totally normal again so order was restored in my universe.
When I woke up on Sunday, July 25 I noticed that the overall yucky feeling was back. I found comfort in the fact that at least I wasn’t having contractions this time. My good friend Rebecca came over and spent a couple of hours hanging out at my house with me and I felt much better not focusing on the overall blahs that I was feeling. I really appreciated her willingness to come and just sit around the house with me while Patrick was at his softball game and later that night we went over to our neighbor Cliff’s house to hang out and visit with our neighbors. We were all sitting on the front porch when I started to really not feel too well. I went home for a few minutes to grab a popsicle in hopes that it would make me feel better and Patrick and I headed home around 10:30 that night. Since I still didn’t feel well, I went upstairs to watch some TV and finally made it to bed around 12:30 on the morning of Monday, July 26.
Around 3:00 am I woke up and noticed that I was having some mild contractions again. I started to think, “Ugh, not again. This is such a pain!” when I realized that the contractions seemed to be coming pretty regularly. They were totally manageable on the pain scale though, so I was not sure that I could actually be in labor. Just to be on the safe side, I started putting a few last minute items into my hospital bag. As I was doing this, Patrick woke up and immediately started worrying. I told him to calm down and go back to sleep because I probably wasn’t in actual labor but I was just getting prepared. He told me to start writing down each time I felt a contraction and as soon as I started doing that I saw that my contractions were coming every 4 to 5 minutes. Yikes! We promptly called my doctor’s office after hours line and we had a nurse call me back and the advice was for me to wait and see if the contractions continued in this pattern for a full hour. They did continue for the full hour so I called back with the news. She indicated that she would have the doctor on call give me a call as soon as possible since it sounded as if this could be the real thing and to sit tight. That did not go over as well with my increasingly anxious husband who had managed to pack the entire car before even getting the confirmation from me that this might actually be real labor! We agreed to start heading towards the hospital, so around 4:15 am we hopped in the car.
We spoke to the doctor as we were pulling into the parking lot and when I told him about the closeness of my contractions (although still not very intense so I was still unsure if I was just overreacting) he told us to come on in. I was so happy that Dr. James was the doctor on call at that time, because he is who I saw the most at all of my doctor’s appointments and for some reason I just had it in my head that he would be there when the time came. Patrick and I walked into the front doors of the hospital and the front desk personnel immediately put me in a wheelchair – it was pretty cool getting wheeled around! When we arrived in the maternity center I spoke briefly with a nurse and told her that I wasn’t sure if this was the real thing and if it was a false alarm I was really sorry. Yes, I apologized up front – what is wrong with me?!
The nurses took me back to a labor and delivery room (these rooms are huge and quite comfortable!) where the monitors were promptly strapped across my belly and they could begin monitoring my contractions and Ethan’s heartbeat. You guessed it – this was real labor! I was dilated 4 cm and my contractions were 2 – 3 minutes apart but still not overwhelming. I was able to just concentrate on breathing and keep up a conversation with Patrick the whole time (initially…there is much more to this story!) Since I’ve heard that walking can help labor along, Patrick and I decided to venture down the hospital corridors, with me wearing my fuzzy slippers from my dear friend Jennifer. We were doing pretty well until I started to panic about the thought of my water breaking in the hallway (although the nurses assured me it would not be a problem and happened all the time.) We made it back to our room just after I had a contraction that had enough intensity to make me grab onto the guard rails that line the halls of the hospital. (I’ve always wondered why those are there – now I know!!)
I’ve been very nervous about actually receiving an epidural, although I kept saying that I wanted one so I was still undecided about whether or not I was going to get one. I think after seeing me really concentrate and breathe my way through the last couple of contractions Patrick didn’t want to see me uncomfortable any longer and told me that it was time for me to get an epidural. Since I didn’t particularly enjoy the last couple of contractions I happily agreed and the nurse put out the call for the anesthesiologist to come to my room. When she arrived she was very nice and I never looked at any of the needles or anything that she was using (Patrick said it looked pretty scary, so I’m glad I never saw anything) and within minutes I was back to feeling totally normal again. It’s actually a pretty cool process – the nurse swabs a cold cotton ball of sorts on your arm and then on your leg to see if it still feels cold. While you can feel the cotton on your leg (you don’t totally lose feeling, which I thought that you would!) it does not feel cold anymore. They continue this process on your belly so they can see how far up the epidural reaches. I was still able to move my legs (which for some reason I thought I would not be able to and that totally freaked me out) and even though the read out from my belly monitor indicated I was still having contractions 2 minutes apart and they were reaching a plateau for awhile at the top instead of just peaking I was feeling no pain. I’m so glad Patrick encouraged me to go ahead and get the epidural because I was totally relaxed and enjoying the time I was getting to spend with my mother and father-in-law who had arrived from Burlington and my mom and sister who drove in from Raleigh. We were all chatting and having a pretty nice time when all of a sudden my blood pressure cuff (it was programmed to take my blood pressure every 15 minutes) sounded a scary alarm. When the nurse came in I asked her if I was dying – perhaps I was a little dramatic?!
I was evidently laying on a nerve or something, so in order to bring my blood pressure back down I was just moved to lie on my side for awhile. This was totally not a big deal until after a little while I started feeling some pressure, and then pain, during each contraction. It started to get stronger and stronger, so the nurse had me push the pain button on my epidural to pump out some more medicine. No dice…it did not help. I was flipped onto my other side, to see if it helped, but alas it did not. They finally called the anesthesiologist who came in to check my line and determined that it had somehow come out and so my epidural was wearing off and I would need another one. I will pause right now to say this much – I did not feel the full force of these contractions (I was in transition labor at about 7 cm at this time) but it was still strong enough that my hat is off to any woman who elects to give birth naturally. I cannot imagine choosing to go this route because I am evidently a wimp and was looking for relief the second I started to feel anything close to real labor. Our family members who were present were asked to leave the room while the epidural was administered and the second that new line was in I was back to feeling just like myself again. The nurse decided to check my progress a few minutes after I was back to feeling good again and told me it was time to push. I was kind of shocked and said, “What?!?!” to which my nurse laughed that her perky little patient just found her attitude. It was funny! I felt badly for our family members though, because they were anticipating coming right back into the room and now they were being exiled to the waiting room without getting any real updates as to what was going on.
I pushed for about two hours total, although it could have been a lot shorter had our little guy not decided to come out with his cord wrapped around his neck twice. Yes, you read that correctly…a double wrapped cord! I guess our little overachiever decided that if I needed two epidurals he was going to wrap his cord around his neck an extra time. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Pushing wasn’t too bad, and I didn’t realize that they would have me change positions every so often. I had a hard time getting the breathing down (bear down for 10 seconds, breathe in out and get right back on top of the bearing down for another 10 seconds – I kept trying to take more breaths in between pushes) but after about 30 minutes of what I would call not my best work (I was kind of nauseated for a bit) I found my second wind, my adrenaline kicked in, and I was ready to work. Patrick commented that you could see a huge difference in me after that first little bit.
Everything was going pretty well until he got to the point that the nurses were ready for the doctor to come in since he was “parked” in the correct position. When Dr. Termin took a look it was decided that since Ethan wasn’t making too much progress with the last several pushes they were going to go ahead and give me an episiotomy. Fortunately with my epidural I was still feeling no pain. I pushed through a few more contractions but there still wasn’t much progress so Dr. Termin decided that using a vacuum extractor was probably the way to go. He sent for the equipment and it arrived within a few minutes. Now I was unaware of what was going on with our families at this time, but evidently they were at the door of the labor room with their ears pressed up against it and then they saw the vacuum extractor come in and since my mother-in-law is a nurse she was able to explain what was going on to everybody else.
The vacuum extractor must have done the trick, because as I was resting in between pushes I heard the doctor say something about a double and Patrick was really quiet. I had no idea what was going on, but in these few minutes Ethan emerged with his cord wrapped around his neck twice. The doctor very calmly told Patrick (again, somehow I was completely unaware that any of this was going on) “I know you want to cut the cord, Dad, but I’m going to take it from here.” Dr. Termin took care of the cord situation and Ethan was placed on my belly. I STILL didn’t know that he was out (Patrick cannot believe that I was oblivious to all of this) but I guess I felt something on my stomach because my hand brushed down and felt something wet. I opened my eyes and to my utter astonishment and amazement there was our son laying right there on me. I then proceeded to say, “Oh my God!” about 15 times before Ethan was whisked away into what we deemed the “baby closet” to be examined and cleaned up.
During this time Patrick went over to the “baby closet” and got pictures of Ethan on the scale, being examined by the doctors, and several other really great shots of his first few minutes of life. In the interim, Dr. Termin was delivering the placenta (which, no, I did not look at although I did catch an ever so brief look at the cord and the color was enough to make me squish my eyes shut so I wouldn’t see anything more) and stitching me back up. I remember calling across the room to Patrick and asking if our baby was okay and then if he was indeed a boy. We found out at his ultrasound appointment that we were expecting a boy, but mistakes can happen and I wanted to ensure that Ethan was indeed an Ethan and not an Olivia. I got the all clear and confirmation that we had a son, and then they brought him over to me all swaddled up in hospital blankets wearing a pink and blue striped hat. The picture that Patrick took of my reaction to getting to hold Ethan in my arms for the first time is priceless – there is a joy on my face and in my eyes that I’ve never seen before. Having Ethan in our lives is truly a miracle and a gift from God, and we are so blessed to have been called to be his parents.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Ethan Burgess Strain
So obviously I am way behind on this blog, but in my defense I have a very good reason. Last Monday, July 26 at 4:29 pm Patrick and I welcomed our beautiful son, Ethan Burgess Strain, into the world. I am working on writing out the story of my labor and our first week together as a family now (I'm on page four already!) so that I can post it here and put a copy of it in his baby book. Perhaps I am being a little too detailed, but I really want to write everything down before this all becomes a distant memory.
Ethan at 3 days old preparing to come home from the hospital
Life with Ethan has been fantastic and although it sounds like a cliche, I cannot imagine that life can get any better than this. We are so in love with our boy and so happy together as a family right now that truly my life has been blessed. I'm sure that there are many challenges that lie ahead, but I know that being a mommy to this precious little boy is exactly where I am supposed to be in life. He is such a good baby so I am going to take advantage of the fact that he sleeps all the time to adjust to life as a full time mom. I'm sorry that this post is so short, but I am working on a massive update and have tons of pictures I can share with anybody interested. (I just don't want to overwhelm everybody with all of my baby pictures, but if you want to see any let me know and this proud mama would be happy to send you the links to all of the pics I've uploaded into Snapfish.)
I don't look at all happy, huh?! This was taken right after delivery once he was examined by the doctors and brought back to me for our formal introduction
One very happy (and tired!) Daddy - watching Patrick take care of Ethan is the most incredible thing!
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