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Welcome baby Ethan to our world...**LONG POST**

1K views 12 replies 8 participants last post by  clittle760 
#1 ·
Hey all,

First time papa here, posting a birth story for my wife. I originally joined this board to get some information about some cramping and discharge that DW had somewhere around 20 weeks, if I recall correctly. So, here goes:

We saw her doctor on Fri Jan 12, and he said that he would schedule her for an induction on Monday morning, and that often times, the baby is just born by itself before the induction. As of that visit, she was 41 weeks into her first pregnancy. So, we scheduled the induction and went home.

Saturday was a good day, nothing odd to speak of just some minor cramping/contrax that could have been BH, but not sure.

Along comes Sunday morning (2:00AM to be specific) and oh boy, watch out. My DW woke me up at that time and told me she thought she might be going into labor. My first thought was, let's time the contrax and see how often they're coming. So we timed them for an hour or two. I can't remember exactly since it was the middle of the night. I told her that if the pain was still there in the morning we would go to the hospital.

Then, at 8:15, off we go. I already had the diaper bag and her bag loaded up in the car, because I knew it was going to be soon. We got there around 8:45 and the L&D unit is FULL. I was really flabbergasted. They put her on a gurney out in the hallway hooked up to one of those monitoring things that has the bands that go around her belly. They finally gave her a room and we just sat and waited for things to progress. They figured that since she was scheduled for the induction the following morning, they would just keep her in the hospital rather than sending her home since she was 10 days postdate.

She labored all day Sunday and into Sunday night, and had lots of contrax but guess what? No dilation of the cervix, AT ALL. Stuck at 1cm for the whole day. So, Monday morning they gave her a little bit of Pitocin to get the cervix to dilate. Worked like a charm. She was 2-3cm at first, then a couple hours later she was 4-5, and then 3 or so more hours and she was 5-6, then 45 minutes 7-8cm and FINALLY 10cm. Her water was broken right around 2:00 in the afternoon on Monday 1/15/07.

They wheeled her into the delivery roomat around 2:15 - 2:30 and then it began. Tremendous pressure! Her doc was awesome. He has his degree in osteopathic medicine, so he likes the lights to be turned down low, and have it very quiet (no machines beeping, no intrusive instruments, no vacuum or suction devices etc..). She pushed for about 45 minutes, and at 3:12pm our son Ethan came into this world. He is the most beautiful thing I have ever laid my eyes on. I cried like a baby (how appropriate) and told my wife I was very proud of her. The placenta all came out in one piece, so no problems there.

They placed him on her chest right afterwards and let him suckle on her breast for a while. It was truly a beautiful sight! Here's a few pics of our boy:

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/6682/ethan005lr5.jpg

http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/5972/ethan003cv0.jpg

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/9638/ethan001uh4.jpg

Currently, he has developed some sort of "blood infection" so he's in the NICU at the best hospital in town with the best doctor money (or insurance in our case) can buy. Since her milk supply came in this morning, she's been pumping breast milk every 2-3 hours and freezing it. They FINALLY told me some details after I fired one pediatrician (at the hospital he was born at, not the one he is currently in). They found "cocci" in his blood which is some type of bacteria, so they are treating that. The little guy's not feeling too well, so he hasn't been eating much, just a lot of sleeping. They're going to run some more tests tomorrow and try to pinpoint the problem.

For now, keep us in your prayers. I am sure he will pull through this (he's a little trooper like his Daddy) and be fine.

Last little note, I HATE hospitals.
: I am pretty sure our next birth will be at HOME.
 
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#3 ·
Congratulations on the birth of your son
. Your family is in my thoughts, and I'm hoping ds is healthy again very soon. It was very interesting to read a birth story from the perspective of the father ... I wish my dh would write down his version (although I think by now it would mostly go like, "We didn't sleep for 3 days, dw was in a lot of pain, she just about broke my hands during pushing, everything came out in the end."
).
 
#5 ·
No broken hands here. Just a few "shut up Chris!"


We went and took him some breast milk in the NICU today so he won't have to eat that nasty formula. My wife is pumping to keep her supply up, and he should be home soon within a few days I hope. We got a lot of people praying for the little guy.

Thanks again for all the well wishes!
 
#8 ·
Talked to the doc today. He said that so far the cultures came back negative but they want to monitor him for one or two days. On another note, my wife is producing lots and lots of breast milk, so thats good. We are going in there @ 11 tonight for his next feeding to see if we can get him to latch on a little better. Wish us luck, and keep those prayers coming!
 
#10 ·
Just wanted to let you and your wife know I'm thinking about your family and know full well how unfair it feels to have your baby have to stay for a length of time in the hospital before going home
:
Our second baby had to stay exactly 10 days in the hospital too because of premature lungs and I remember pumping my milk out just crying my eyes out because all the other mothers had their babymoons already and all I had was the breast pump to suckle me...


I feel like I missed out on so much ...like I was cheated somehow...
I too am taking birth back for our 3rd and last child and if the good Lord permits then this next one will be born in the peaceful place he/she was conceived
:

How is mommy and baby doing?
How's the breastfeeding going?
Those pics are just precious!
 
#11 ·
Momma and Baby are doing just fine. Thanks for the kind words. The breastfeeding is, eh... so so. We'll leave it at that. My wife WANTS to breastfeed but she's dealing with a lot of hormones right now so she's not always in the happiest of moods. But, our little man changes so much everyday that its just amazing! Here's another pic, in which I caught him sleeping just like Daddy does, on his side with both arms up under his chest/head. You can see the bassinet in the background, which he hates. Looks like we'll be co-sleeping. Enjoy!

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/2651/ethaneq5.jpg
 
#12 ·
Hurray for that one last thought!!! Love the pics. Mama, just go to bed with baby when he gets home, and feeding will naturally progress to the easiest task you've ever accomplished!! Good for you papa, our western medicine doctors need to know that they ARE replaceable.
Keep us posted with updates. BLESSINGS!!
 
#13 ·
I wasnt sure where to put an update so I figured I'd put it here. My son is about 12 lbs now, and 6 weeks old. It's amazing how time flies! Everything is going so well, we just got through his 6 week growth spurt (I think) where he consistently nursed/bottle fed for 3 days! Tough work on mama, but she's a trooper. Anyway, keep us in your prayers please!
 
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