Ethan Gabriel's Birth Story

Yes, I know I suck at blogging.  I was doing really well with this blog, but then I just tossed it aside.  My apologies for that.  However, Ethan is now here and has been for over 2 weeks now.  Below is his birth story to the best of my recollection.  It's a bit long and a ramble.  Up until the day I delivered I had bouts of rhythmic contractions that would go on for hours and then stop, this lasted about a week or so...

Ethan Gabriel was born on Monday, July 23rd at 7:28PM weighing 7lbs 12 oz and 21.3 inches long at 38.2 weeks gestation.

Ok so lets see.  As stated above my contractions were on and off all weekend.  I would contract for hours on Saturday and Sunday then stall out for hours.  On Sunday we walked and ran some errands after the first stall out of the day.  The more I walked the closer they got and more pressure I felt down below.  I noticed that when I swayed side to side I would feel more pressure.  So I did that for some time too.  Later that night I felt a strange pain down there.  It was like a pop, stretch and poke all at once.  I went to the bathroom and that's when I noticed I was losing the rest of my plug.  Let me tell you that feeling was a first and very strange one to feel.  I thought and hoped that it was my water breaking, but no such luck.  Sunday night I thought was going to be the night, but I wanted to be sure since I didn't live close to the hospital.  No need to be sent home when I live about 30 mins away.  So I waited it out and was able to fall asleep. 

Monday morning came and the contractions were getting closer.  Ranging anywhere from 5-8 mins apart or less.  They weren't that painful but hurt enough for me to know they were legit.  I still waited a bit to be sure since DH had an important meeting that day.  By the time he was done with his shower, I knew it was time to go to the hospital.  I took my own shower ate a bagel, waited for him and T to be fully ready and around 8:30AM we left.  Unfortunately, that is also rush hour traffic so we were stuck in that for about 45 mins. 

Once we get to L&D it was now closer to 9:30AM.  It took them a bit to get me registered, another person was in there ahead of me.  I get registered by 10:00AM and get sent back to triage.  They have me undress put on those stupid monitors, check my blood pressure and do all that "good" stuff.  I was contracting pretty regularly but when I was checked I was still only 1 cm dilated, -2 station and just started effacing, I want to say I was about 30%.  I truly don't recall the numbers for effacement.  I was worried I was going to be sent home, but my blood pressure had them worried and they wanted to monitor that for a bit.  A few minutes go by and they recheck my blood pressure, still really high.  So OB thinks it's either hypertension or pre-eclampcia.  This is where they draw my labs and stick an iv in my hand.  They told me what was going on and I kinda felt defeated.  I honestly was afraid that they were going to want to do a c-section once I heard they suspected pre-eclampcia.  Sometime around then I was asked if I wanted to deliver or go home, which I thought was an odd question since umm yeah I want to deliver I am contracting pretty regularly after all.  Now, with hindsight, I think it was more of a rhetorical question.  The ob on call, who was my regular ob's partner, told me they were going to treat me like I had pre-eclampcia since they were pretty sure I had it considering my swelling, high blood pressure and +2 protein in my urine.  She said the only cure is delivery and that they were going to induce with pitocin.

I'm taken back to the labor room all the while T is looking around all amazed by what's going on.  Hearing the heart beat and watching the print out of my contractions really had her fascinated.  The nurse got a kick out of me saying birth control to T every few minutes.  Every time she looked at something and commented, I responded with birth control. lol I think I got my point across. lol  The nurse hooks me up to the monitors again and goes to get the iv fluids, pitocin, and magnesium. By 10:30 or so they began the induction. Kev didn't even realize that they started inducing.  He could have sworn that they had only given me the iv fluids and magnesium.  I informed him that the pitocin was in already and had been in for a bit now.  Poor man can be so clueless at times.  Time goes by and we start to get hungry.  Kev asks the nurse if I can eat and she tells us no because of the side effects of the magnesium.  I wanted to cry at this point since all I had was a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast.  Had I known I would have had a bigger breakfast.  Around 1PM Kev takes T to get some lunch and I'm left alone watching some TV. 

The nurse and resident doc inform me they want to check me and break my water.  This is where I told them no one was doing anything like breaking my water until I get the epidural. (I'm not sure if this happened before Kev and T went to lunch or after.) Anyways, I was forced to wait because something was a bit off with my labs and the doc needed to talk to me.  This is where I text Kev to get back.  They return a bit after that text and I'm still waiting to hear from the doc.  Nurse goes on lunch and another nurse takes her place.  I'm left to wait some more.  They finally track down the doc and yes, my labs were a bit off, but not off enough to not allow the epidural. 

So now I'm waiting on anesthesia to come and place the epidural.  The anesthesiologist shows up and begins to prep.  Which feels like it takes forever.  He finds what he believes is a suitable spot for placement and call another anesthesiologist in to oversee everything.  The hospital I'm at is a teaching one so there is always another person there to oversee things.  The guy sticks me and he stuck the wrong place.  That freaking hurt!  I have back issues as is and what he thought was a pocket was actually my messed up bone.  On top of that I was already sore from labor and him pressing the freaking spot like crazy while waiting for the other doc.  I have to say I had an awesome replacement nurse coach me through the placement.  So now I get stuck a second time on a higher spot on my spine.  This one bothered but didn't kill me like the first failed jab.  By 3:30PM the epidural is in and the doc gives me a boost of meds, instructs me on how I can press this button x amount of time in a hour to get more boosts of the epidural. 

I'm checked and my bag is attempted to get broken.  The resident has a hard time breaking my water so the OB needs to do it.  She gets that done and ask the resident where she thought I was at.  Resident declares I was at 3cm and 70% effaced.  OB agreed with cm but not effacement, she put me more at 50%.  Around 4:30PM I was checked again and I effaced some more and dilated to 4cm.  Things seemed to be moving faster now.  By 6PM I was finally at 100% effacement, -1 station and 8cm dilated and getting tons of pressure.  By 7PM I was almost at a full 10cm but had a lip hanging on that didn't want to move.  The OB asked me to start pushing anyway and see what happens.  What she didn't know that with each contraction I started pushing a bit since it was the only thing that relieved the pressure.  I begin pushing with Kev helping by holding my foot while I have my hands around my thighs and T is feeding me ice chips and also pushing the magic epidural button for me every 6-10 mins. 

Getting Ethan to crown was a pain, he decided it was time to play peek a boo.  Kev declared he saw a head full of hair so I asked if I crowned and he said no he went back in.  This kept up for a few mins until I found the strength to push really hard.  I have to admit the ob, resident, and nurse were really good at coaching and telling me I was doing good with pushing.  I felt like I wasn't and they were kinda annoying me.  I still appreciated the coaching though.  I just had a hard time cause my asthma makes it hard for me to hold my breath and push.  I finally get Ethan to crown and now I have to push him out.  I pushed about 5 times according to Kev and by 7:28PM he gets delivered and placed on my belly.  I look over at T and Kev and T is in tears.  Seeing her cry made me start to tear up.  I'm not a crier at deliveries.  I'm more of an in awe type person.  They let the placenta pulse some then clamped, I would have liked for them to allow it to stop completely before clamping.  The resident claims they did and that is did stop pulsating, but I didn't buy it and still don't.  They ask Kev if he wanted to cut the cord and he refuses just like last time.  He tried to get T to cut but she was to teary to even try so the doc cuts it. 

They take him after a bit to get him checked out and stitch me up, I tore some when he crowned.  They yell out his weight and APGAR scores, which were 9/9, took his foot prints and asked Kev if he had a shirt to put prints on.  This is where he kicked himself cause he forgot a shirt and considered buying one while out to lunch but didn't.  I get Ethan handed back to me and I try to nurse.  I was having a hard time getting him to latch, started feeling like a failure and couldn't decide if I wanted to nurse or bottle feed.  I really didn't want to stress him or myself out by not being able to provide.  I must have changed my mind about 3 times.  I think I drove the poor nurse nuts. 

While I'm waiting for my room to be ready they inform me about the mag and how I need to be on it for 24hours after delivery, this means no food until then.  Just clear liquids.  OMG the torture!  By 11PM I was in my room, Ethan was in the nursery getting his bath and being fed some formula.  They finally bring him into the room and tell me he didn't really eat.  That he only took a bit of formula and then spit up some phlegm.  The nurse said that I should try to get him to breast feed and knowing how he reacted to the formula gave me the incentive to keep on trying.  I'm glad I did since he's nursing pretty well 17 later and hasn't lost any weight since being discharged.  I actually weighed the both of us recently and I do believe he put on a pound or two.  He's definitely over 8 pounds for sure.

Well, that's my long drawn out rambling birth story.  Sorry it took me a while to get up, but hey it's my blog and I blog when I want to. ;) 

Meet Ethan 

 Few hours old

 We have hair

 mmmmm yummy thumb

I'm plotting my next poop victim...

Yes, I know I suck at updating lately

I'm being lazy and going to do a cut and paste job from another place.  Sorry folks, but I'm not up to blogging lately.  


So all and all I'm doing OK and so is Ethan. His heart beat is nice and strong and my fundal height is right where it should be. My blood pressure was normal, so that's good.  I took my 1 hour glucose test, they had the orange drink and it was cold, so it made it easier to drink. The only thing that I'm not happy with is the fact that I put on 7lbs since April 9th. EEEKKKKK!!!! If I keep putting on weight like this I'm going to be way too heavy. But you can't see it. It appears to be all belly. My shirts that are non maternity still fit. Granted they're coming up short on the belly area, but they're not stretching like crazy. My polo shirts from last summer fit with no problem. My pants are fine, they don't really bother me. Some of my sweats and jogging pants (non maternity ones) are just now starting to bother me around the bottom of my belly. So I don't know where it all is, I guess it's belly mainly.

I mentioned to the OB how my braxton hicks contractions are starting to be more painful than I remember before, and she said that I'm probably doing too much and need to slow down and relax more. I've been walking to get lil man from school and it's not a close walk. It's up hills and it take me 20 minutes one way without walking too fast. It's not helping my back and making it hurt more, it's also causing pains in my uterus. So next week he will be on the bus going and coming to school. We were being cheap and trying to save, since it's an out of pocket expense. But at this rate I'm going to collapse before I even make it to him.

I'm also nesting like a mad person. I'm bleaching anything and everything down that I can without ruining it. My kitchen and bathroom get bleached down daily. I'm sweeping the floors multiple times a day. And there isn't a single dish in the sink for longer than a few minutes, unless I'm exhausted then I'll let them sit. But it annoys me to see them. So I clean then bleach down the sink once I'm done. I wish I could vacuum but it's too heavy for me non pregnant so I won't push it now.

I'm putting my foot down with the girls and telling them they need to help me more. That I'm doing more than they are and they get paid for these chores, I don't. Lets see how long I can get them to actually do their chores for. I only ask them to keep their bedroom, lil man's bedroom and the living room clean. I take care of the rest of the house.

So that's about all that's going on with me and Ethan. Oh he's none stop moving to the point that his movements hurt. Big Kev gets so shocked to see how hard he's moving about. You can see my entire belly move through my clothes. 

My most recent belly pic.  I believe it's about one and half weeks old now.

 

It's been so long since I've updated

Sorry for that.  I just haven't been in the mood to be honest.  I have met with my new OB and I love her so far.  She has a very wonderful bedside manner and seems to be a pleasure to be around.  The only down side that I'm not guaranteed that she will be there at my delivery since it's a group practice.  I do, however, get a chance to meet all the doctors so I can familiarize myself with them and know the OB who will be delivering me if it's not her.  During my visit she asked if I minded having another scan done.  Of course I don't any chance to see Ethan is very much welcomed.  So I did schedule an anatomy scan for the follow week, which has come and gone.  See how badly I've been neglecting this place?  She did measured my uterus as was happy with it's size for 19 weeks along.  She also listened to the heart beat but I forgot to ask the rate.  It was nice and strong.  She commented on how wonderful I looked for 19 weeks also.  My weight was OK too.  I've gained 8lbs so far.  She said she would reserve the poking and prodding for the next appointment which is in 2 weeks.  Another downside was that she had yet to receive my medical records from the last OB.  When I explained why I changed, she understood and said she didn't blame me.  She was going to check her main office for the records or have an employee track them down from my old OB.  I'll finally get the results of all that testing I had done between 11 & 16 weeks.


Now for the anatomy scan.  All went well and he's still a boy.  The tech was shocked by how much of a boy he was. LOL  My son appears to be well endowed.  Daddy is proud.  So is my mom, she was proud to announce that it runs on both sides of the family. lmfao  It was so adorable watching him be scanned.  He kept moving around and running from the tech and when he got mad he would punch up at my belly. The tech did get most of the important things looked at.  He has 10 fingers and toes.  His head, brain and spine look great.  His kidneys look good.  He has nice long legs and arms, even if he looked like he was scratching his butt. lol  He also put his hand up against his head as if complaining that we're not leaving him alone.  The only thing is that he was stubborn, like his parents, and wouldn't flip over so she couldn't get good measurements of his heart.  Kevin did the same thing to me.  I'm going back next week to try again for that one.


All in all that's about everything.  I'm doing good, he's growing just fine.  Kicking up a storm and daddy was finally able to feel it.  Ethan does enjoy playing games with people.  I'll have them come feel when he starts up, but the moment he feels a hand he stops.  Once the person gives up, he starts again. lol Tomorrow I'll be 21 weeks and half way done with this pregnancy. 


One last thing, don't forget to play my ExpectNet game.  I'm most likely giving away a small gift card from Amazon.com for the person who gets the closest guess.  You can find a link next to the game on my side dashboard.  Have fun.

it's a...

This little one wasn't shy in the least bit.  Had their legs wide open for the tech today.  I will say they were lazy at the time.  We did get a nice wave and got to see baby open and close their mouth at the end.  I'm so glad we paid for this privately.  It was a great experience that neither my husband, our son, nor myself will ever forget.  T was really cool about the 2 people in the room rule and said that lil guy can come with instead of no one going.  I was going to be fair and only go with the hubs, but she said lil guy can go since he really wanted to.  She's a great kid and I wouldn't switch her out for anything.  I can only hope this new addition is just as wonderful as my other kids.  


OK now for the big reveal.  I'll let the picture speak for itself. lol

Ethan says hi

Movement clip of our lazy little guy

belly pics at 16 weeks 5 days

Whoa belly is all I have to say...

Bare Belly

Shirt Over Belly

finally heard the heartbeat

And it was the most beautiful sound I've heard in years.  That was the only good thing about yesterdays appointment.  I'm so fed up with this OB it's not even funny.  They have yet to get my blood results from the NT scan done on Jan. 17th and now had to do the triple screen blood draw that's a follow up to that one.  However, with nothing to cross reference the blood results to, it sorta serves no purpose at the moment.  Now the hunt is on, yet again, to get those damn results and try to see if the same lab could run yesterdays blood draw.  The OB asked if I could take the blood to the lab or to the place where I had the NT scan done so they can forward the blood.  Umm what?  Sorry but I don't care if it's my own blood, I'm not walking around with a vile of blood in my purse to play messenger.  You have got to be out of your damn mind!  I told the receptionist last night that I will not be returning.  She fully understood.


As for the rest of my visit.  I put on 3 pounds in 4 weeks, so I'm OK with that.  My blood pressure was perfect and my urine was fine.  He didn't do a fundal measurement, so I have no idea if my belly is measuring big, small or average.  But by the looks of things, I would say big. lol  I'll try to upload the heartbeat and post that later.  I did record it to my phone.

the big scan

I've made the appointment for the big scan.  On February 26th I will be getting a 3D scan that will hopefully be able to determine the sex of this baby.  Am I growing a penis inside me or a vagina?  I can't wait to find out.

had a scare this morning

Nothing major, thankfully, but I almost passed out on my way to work. I was on the bus, standing up because it gets that crowded and people don't offer a seat for nothing, when I suddenly got really hot. So I opened up my coat, still hot. Took off my scarf, still hot. Took off my coat, still hot. Started sweating and then saw some stars before my eyes. Thankfully, I carry water with me everywhere I go, so I was sipping on that. Still no help. I finally had to ask some college kid for a seat. Oh man I felt horrible for then majority of the ride. I almost got off and was going to call Kev to come get me. But I started to feel a bit better after sitting and chugging my entire water bottle. So I decided I was going to continue heading into work.  I have shit to do at the office.  I don't get paid for being home.

 

Then of course travailing in NYC leads you to deal with stupid fucking douche waffles! So I had to deal with a dumb bitch too after already feeling like crap. After the bus I need to take a train for two stops so I do that.  The train was crowded but not sardine packed like usual. Being only two stops I was able to manage that one OK. 

 

As I'm walking up the stairs, slowly cause I'm feeling like shit, plus the fact that pregnancy makes a woman take in less oxygen combined with being asthmatic equals one slow walking Liz up and down stairs.  Some dumb chick who thinks I can't hear cause of my head phones says to a friend of hers "...and then you have people walking like old ladies." I didn't catch the entire sentence but I did catch the "people walking like old ladies" part clear as day.  Brushes past me in a rush, to which I replied "It's called being pregnant you idiot!" She looks back opens her mouth then shuts it right up. Damn right I heard you dumb ass, you stupid bitch! And I know you were talking about me cause now you have nothing to say you fucking piece of shitty twat waffle!

Well that has been my Friday morning. The joy!  Oh and the partner at work flipped out on my co-worker because she made a major mistake that could get him disbarred and face criminal charges. YIKES!

I just hope my afternoon is better. I'm gonna continue chugging water and get some lunch in a bit. I'm probably gonna junk out with McD's but I need a junky meal. I've been eating healthy all week and had a healthy breakfast. After the morning I've had I'm entitled to a crap meal that will make me feel better. And heaven help the mother fucker that comments on my food.  I will rip your head off and take a shit down your open wound.

second trimester

woohoo I have officially made it into the second trimester.  I am now 13 weeks and 4 days pregnant.  I have made it out of the scariest part of pregnancy.  I am no longer on progesterone and things are moving along well.  I still have morning sickness.  But hey it's not all day nor that bad so I'll deal.  I have yet to get my results from the NT blood work, it's annoying but I'm not going to worry about it.  It's just not worth the worry.  I would rather just continue on knowing that the scan was good and things looked fine.  I need to take another picture but I did take one last week at 12 weeks 5 days.

ob visit was mostly full of aaughhhhhhhh

Sorry but this is a copy and past from somewhere else.  I've been meaning to update, but I've been too tired this week.


OK so appointment had its ups and downs. Up side the NT scan showed baby actually measured ahead at 11 weeks 5 days which moved my due date up to Aug. 2. And that the thickness was within normal range 1.18 or something like that. So that's good news. Blood draw results from last ob visit were good. Everything within normal range except for the hemoglobin and something else blood related were a bit low, but not by much. I'm back up to 150lbs, so I feel like I'm doing OK with weight gain so far.


My aauggghhh moments...doc did not have my blood results from the NT scan. So even though the scan showed normal levels, without the blood, we don't know the risk for sure yet. I have to call he place I went to tomorrow and see if they have the results or not or find out how to get them over to my doctor. My other aaughhh moment...the freaking battery died on the doppler so we couldn't hear the heart beat. He did offer it up for me to go see him next week to hear, I'll see what I'll do depending on the blood results. My final aaugghhh moment is that he wants me to take the progesterone for another week. BLAH! Just when I thought I was done, it sucked me back in. I felt bad for DH. He left work early to meet me there just to hear the heart beat. Next time I go see him I'm bringing a double A battery just in case.

had my nt scan on Tuesday

All appeared to be fine.  I won't know full results till my follow up with my OB on Monday.  I did get to see my little rainbow baby being active and had a lovely heart rate of 168 beats per minutes.  I also got to hear the heart beat for a brief second, but by the time I realized what it was it was gone.  The tech didn't warn me that she was turning on the sound or turning it off.  She also didn't bother to look and see if the pelvic bone development gave any indication as to the baby's sex.  I was really hoping for a sneak peak at the possible sex.  Another good things is that Rayne measured right on target. Baby finally caught up.  I knew (s)he would, I just feel better knowing it.  


OK I've blabbed enough it's time for pictures...

ET Phone Home

Side Shot

if one more person...

comments on my very limited caffeine, or the one weekly unhealthy meal I allow myself...is going to get my foot shoved so far up their fucking ass that my size 9 will show in between their two front teeth!  Look mofos I eat very healthily for the most part.  I cut out all my damn coffee and only have one can of soda with lunch Monday-Friday.  If I'm at home, soda isn't even in the fucking fridge.  At home I eat a decent well balanced meal and my breakfast are healthy too.  I snack on fruit a few times a day.  So if you see me giving in to a soda, half a cup of coffee (which I haven't had in weeks), a bag of chips, or some greasy meal.  Leave me be.  I will not be held accountable for the stump you will most likely be pulling back!  K, we got that? Is that clear!!!  Fucking assholes on their high horses.  Let me see you pregnant and then try and eat nothing but healthy all the damn time.  Oh wait...you will never be pregnant because a. you're a man, or b. have officially hit menopause and have been there for years!


ASSHOLES!

It feels like forever since I've updated

Things are moving along just fine.  My beta from last time was nice and high, so was my progesterone so the doc dropped me down to once a day instead of twice. woot  My belly is getting bigger and harder to hide now.  Not that I'm trying but it's noticeable now.  I'm still tired all the time and face is breaking out here and there.  BLAH  I'm getting cravings for things but nothing crazy, yet.  All in all things are as they should.  I do have to go in for a nuchal translucensy (NT) scan.  It was either that or the amnio and I'm sorry doc, but the fact that I turn 35 in a few days is not reason enough for me to have you stick a large needle in my belly that comes with a risk of miscarriage.  Now, if the NT scan shows that something isn't right, then I'll do it, but not before then.  OK time for a belly shot...

9 weeks 5 days