The first week home

Well Ethan and I were released from the hospital on Thursday. When the nursery nurse brought him in to me at 5:30 she mentioned his bilirubin #'s were high and that he was jaundice. Of course I freaked out and called Norm and he came to the hospital. We waited around to be discharged and for the Pediatrician to come and tell us what was going on. When she showed up she said the #'s weren't that high and we were good to go. So we went home to face our first night alone. As soon as we got home Norm called and made an appt with Polly, our lactation consultant. She told him to stock up on snacks b/c this night would be the hardest on us. Boy was she right. Ethan wouldn't eat and he cried alot. I was getting frustrated from lack of sleep and thinking my child was starving. Thank goodness we have Polly b//c I called her at 1 am and she told me to try pumping and giving formula. I didn't like it but Ethan got formula his first night home. Norm and I survived the first night!

Friday morning we went to Polly's for a consultation. She confirmed that he did have jaundice. We came up with a plan to keep him well hydrated and hoped that would work. When we got home my mom suggested calling his pediatrician and let them know what was going on. Well that phone call landed us in the ER. It was the hardest thing to watch Ethan having blood drawn. We were there for 4 hours. Ethan's bilirubin #'s did rise. They went from 9.2 to 13.7. The ER doc wasn't concerned. Our instructions were to call the ped in the morning. Erin and Ryan arrived shortly after.

Saturday, Norm called the doc and they wanted another blood draw. So we packed up again and made our way to the hospital. Ethan is so strong. he didn't even cry when he had his heel pricked. We recieved great news that his # was down to 11.4. Keeping him hydrated was working and the bilirubin was leaving his system. :)

On Sunday we had a little photo shoot with my family and Ethan. He is the cutest baby. My family left and we were all alone.

I survived my first day home with him and the rest of the week. He's getting stronger and better at breastfeeding. We are trying to overcome obstacles. He's been gaining weight and we go back to the doctor this Thursday.

Norm and I are completley in love with him. He is the best thing to ever happen to us.

Ethan James is here

On Monday February 9 I had a GTG with my girlfriends. They were joking about me going into labor that night since Amy had Zoe the day after a gtg and Melanie was saying how she had brownie and coffee the day her water broke with Justin. I got home and Norm and I went to bed. Around 2:20am I woke up to use the bathroom. As soon as I got out of bed I felt a gush. Great, I just peed myself was my first thought. I came back to bed and started having cramps. I got up again to use the bathroom and the cramps were getting worse. I told Norm that I was going to go downstairs to see if these were timeable contractions. No sooner did I sit on the couch when felt another gush, ran to the bathroom and my pants were soaked. I screamed for Norm to wake up and called the doctor. At this point it was about 3am. The doctor said it sounded like my water did break and to come to the hospital. Norm showered and I finished packing my bag. When I went to put my socks on there was another gush. We got to the hospital at 4:20. I was checked by the resident and he said I was 4 cm dilated and my water did break I was being admitted. I was also having back labor and it was painful.

At 6 am I recieved my epidural. It was more painful than I thought it would be. But after it kicked in it felt great. Unfortunately since Ethan was sunny side up I had to lay on my side. It could only be my left b/c on my right his heartbeat would drop. This caused pain in my right hip and I was feeling every contraction in my hip. The anesteshioligist came back and added something to my epi.

By 8 am I was fully dilated. The doctor came in at 9 and said we would start pushing as soon as she was done with a c section. I thought it would only be a few minutes but it ended up being 1 1/2 hours. At 10:30am I started pushing. Over the course of 40 minutes I pushed for 5 contractions 3 times for 10 seconds each. Ethan was born at 11:10 am. The doctor laid him on my stomach and I fell in love. They took him away and Norm went with them while I delivered the placenta and got stitched.

We then got to spend an hour with Ethan before he went to the nursery. I went to a private room. Norm and I couldn't have been happier with our beautiful little boy.

10 days to go

Well I'm still here and he's still not. I tried the eggplant Parmesan. It didn't work. Oh well. I am just going to have to be patient. Eventually I will have my baby. Norm's work threw him a baby shower on Monday. The decorated his desk and had a cake for him. They were extremely generous and got us a gift card for Babies R Us. So this weekend we will definitely finish buying everything we need. I'm so excited I have another weekend off. I don't know what we are going to do. We've talked about heading over to Canada to eat at the Brazilian restaurant. I think we should go to dinner and do something since it will hopefully be our last weekend of just the 2 of us.

38 week appt

This morning was my 38 week appt. I am 2-3 cm dilated and his head is very low. Cheryl the nurse practioner also tried stripping my membranes. She doesn't think I will go past my due date and was impressed I was as far as I was. I think tonight's dinner is going to be eggplant parmesan and raspberry leaf tea. I'm hoping it won't be much longer. We are pretty much ready for him. We have a couple things to still pick up at Babies R US but Norm knows what and where everything is so he can go and get it.