Ethan's Birth Story

As we neared our due date (aug 30) I started to go to the doctor every week.  At 39 week check I was 1cm dilated and  slightly effaced.  I was happy any progress was being made because I had yet to feel a single contraction, not even a single Braxton Hicks.  1 week later I had progressed to 50 percent effaced but still no contractions.  At that appointment we set up a day to be induced,  we were given the choice of sept 10th or 11th, it seemed so weird to potentially pick your kids birthday but we decided to go with the 10th.  We were counting on murphys law to ensure we wouldn't have to use the induction date.  Aug 30th came and went without a single sign we would be meeting our baby soon.  

40weeks! No baby :(
I refuse to enlarge this thanks to my triple chins

We headed into labor day weekend with plans to finish the nursery and celebrate our 1 year anniversary.  I was really hoping I would not have to go back to work the next week.  My parents came over on sept 1st to finish up some last minute things.  My mom helped me clean and started cooking a few dinners to stock our freezer.  Meanwhile, my dad and Alex were working on putting up the wall decal I had ordered.  I was "supervising" the decal application when I started to feel more consistent contractions.  I had felt a couple that morning but they were very irregular and I wasn't even sure if they were truly contractions.  Through the afternoon they slowly got stronger and more consistent.  I decided to try out my contraction timer app and noted the contractions were lasting for about 30 seconds and about 8 min apart.  My parents left that day making me promise to call if the contractions got worse.

Decal that went up the day before our baby arrived

I really didn't want to make anything for dinner so I decide to pick up soup and salad from olive garden.  I remember sitting in my car hoping I could make it there before my next contraction because they were starting to hurt.  Walking into the olive garden I had to stop and control my breathing because I was getting more uncomfortable.  After dinner the contractions seemed to ease up and I thought maybe it was a false alarm and we would get to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary the next day.  I went to bed around 11 that night and slept for 2 hours before the contractions woke me up.  Not wanting to wake Alex I slipped into our nursery and timed contractions for the next hour while reading Harry Potter (I was re-reading the series for the millionth time).  Sure enough the contractions were 1 min long and about 4 min apart, so it was time to call our doctor.  I went to wake Alex and tell him I thought it was time.  I have never seen him get out of bed so fast.  He ran around packing his bag and getting everything ready to take to the hospital.  He told me later he didn't realize it took so long for babies to come otherwise he would have taken more time :).

Last pic of the belly

 I remember thinking I should eat something but by this time it was 3 in the morning and I was too excited to eat.  Big mistake, next time I am eating a big Mac and fries before checking into the hospital.  By the time we arrived at the hospital the pain had intensified and I was hoping they were going to let us stay. I got checked and was 4 cm dilated and 80% effaced, based on that we were admitted to labor and delivery. It was really happening!  At that point we decided to call my parents because they would be taking care of Layla for us and I wanted my mom the in the delivery room.  I spent the next few hours laboring by walking the halls and using Lamaze breathing through the contractions.  By about 9 in the morning I had only progressed to 5cm and was starting to get very uncomfortable.  They suggested I get in the tub to help control the pain.  The water felt heavenly.  I sat in the water with a warm towel over my belly and Alex sat behind me applying counter pressure to my back with each contraction.  We spent the next 2 hours working through the contractions this way.  We were so tired we were both falling asleep in the tub between contractions. By 11am the contractions were getting unbearable.  They checked me again and I was 6 cm and going through transition (the most painful part of labor). By this time I had been in labor since the previous evening and I was exhausted.  

So tired!

I realized if I continued like this I might not have enough energy to push.  So after discussing it with Alex I decided to get the epidural.  Before they could give me the epidural I had to have a full bag of saline via iv.  So 1/2 hour later the anesthesiologist finally came to perform the epidural.  I was in agony at this point.  This was also the scariest part of labor for me.  The nurse had me curl in a ball while tears poured down my face as I waited for him to insert the needle.  Thankfully Alex was there to talk me through it.  At last the needle was in and the doctor said this is the last contraction you are going to feel and he was right.  After that it was sweet sweet relief.  I'm not sure why I waited so long!  At this point I realized I was starving and requested a popsicle.  It was delicious. 

Popsicle FTW!

 Finally, I was relaxed enough to sleep.  I took a 2-3 hour nap while I continued to labor.  Thank goodness we took the time to sleep.  Considering the insane sleep deprevation we would go through in the next few weeks this was the best thing I could have done for myself.  Around 4pm the nurse checked me again and pronounced me 10 cm dilated!  At that point I decided to wait and labor down a bit before pushing.  We knew I would only be allowed to push for about 2 hours due to the possibility of our baby having osteogenesis imperfecti before they would recommend a c-section.  So I wanted to make sure I was in the best possible position before I started pushing.  Well they must have got really busy because we didn't see our nurse again for another 2 hours, and were more than ready to get the show on the road.  

Waiting for the nurse to come back

During this time I had really bad reflux and ended up vomiting.  Finally there was a shift change and my new nurse requested we start doing some "practice pushing" after a few of those were were given the go ahead to start pushing for real.  I think the epidural started to wear off because I could feel the contractions again, through they were no where near as painful as they were before.  It was actually kind of nice because I could feel when I was suppose to push.  With each contraction I would push 3 times for 10 seconds each.  This is actually much harder than it sounds.  I remember joking I should have been practicing holding my breath instead of breathing through contractions.  Alex was holding one leg and would coach me through each set of contractions.  I remember just focusing on his voice as he told me how great I was doing and how we were almost there.  After about 20 min of pushing the nurse had me stop so she could get our doctor because she could see our baby's head. On the second set of pushing after Dr. Dix arrived our baby was crowning.  This is when they say you feel the "ring of fire".  Holy hell did it burn.  I remember thinking I could do this, I was just about to meet our baby.  Suddenly the doctor told me not to push because the cord was wrapped around the neck and needed to be cut.  Not pushing was way worse then pushing.  Every fiber of my being was screaming at me to push that baby out.  Plus the pain was incredible and I knew there was only 1 way to make it stop.  We had to wait for my next set of contractions before I could push again.  It seemed like forever.  Then on the next 2 pushes I delivered our beautiful baby.  The baby was lifted onto my chest.  I started crying that it was a BOY!  

Welcome to the world kid!

I can't describe the amount of love I felt for this little person but it was bigger than anything I felt in my entire life.  I couldn't stop crying and staring at our little man.  Because of the possibility of oi the neonatal NP took him for a quick exam.  It was at that time they weighed him and had Alex cut the rest of the cord.  

Looking shell shocked

As the doctor was stiching me up I started to feel a lot of pain.  The doctor told me to hit my epidural button so I did.  Next thing I knew my blood pressure started to drop and a bunch of anesthesiologists were called back in.  They gave me a shot of epi and hung a bag of colloid fluid.  This part was sort of a blur to me but Alex says it was pretty scary.  During this time he was holding the baby.  We had come to the hospital with 3 boy names in mind; Oliver,Lucas,and Ethan.  After staring at our little man Alex looked at me and whispered Ethan? I nodded my head, Ethan fit him perfectly!  

Daddy holding his baby

Once I was stable Alex left to tell our family the good news.  We basically had a waiting room full of people waiting to hear if it was a boy or girl.  Alex announced the arrival of our son,Ethan Charles schlosser 7lbs, 13oz 19 inches..  It took a while to get me cleaned up and transferred to our new room so they took Ethan for his first bath.  I didn't want to miss it so the nurse helped me into a wheelchair.  Because I had recently given myself more epidural meds in was unable to feel my legs or bear weight so I needed a lot of help.  They wheeled me down to the nursery where our baby was getting his first bath.  Outside the glass about 15 of our family members were also watching him get his first bath.  I remember wiping the tears away because I was so over whelmedby how much I loved him already.  After his bath I was taken back to the room were I got to share a few very special moments with my dad, who shares Ethans middle name.  Then our room was filled with family as Ethan was passed to each family member for them to hold.  (prepare for photo bomb of baby holding pictures)

Ethan Charles Schlosser

Nan and Pops

Uncle Sean

Grandma and Papa

Aunt Liz

There were a LOT of cameras in that room! (please note me eating the most delicious sandwich ever made)

Grandma, Aunt Carrie, Papa, Aunt MaryAnn, and Uncle Frank

It was nearing on midnight when everyone went home and we were suddenly left with just our little family of 3.

Ethan you are by far the best thing I have ever done. I promise to love you forever, I'll take care of you always, as long as I am living my baby you'll be.